American Political Plays in the Age of Terrorism: Break of Noon; 7/11; Omnium Gatherum; Columbinus; Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them

by Allan Havis (Editor)

This powerful anthology brings together reflective and raw plays by American playwrights surrounding the psychic and political boundaries of the many faces and shadows of terrorism.

Allan Havis's introduction addresses a variety of terrorism cases from the last 25 years, examines several theories of the root causes of modern terrors, and underscores how theatre forms a unique contour to social and philosophical thought on terrorism.

With a foreword from Robert Brustein, the anthology

Break of Noon by Neil LaBute
7/11 by Kia Corthron
Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros
Columbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen Karam
Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by Christopher Durang

352 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2019

Reviews

[E. C. Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good anthology of dramatic responses to contemporary terrorism, both domestic and international (which is to say that not everything here is about 9/11/Iraq War/Afghanistan War). The direction each play’s finger is pointing toward is a reconsideration of the respective terrorists’ motivations, meaning that we’re meant to escape the terrorists-are-pure-evil cultural narrative in order to see how their actions belong to a logic (even if the tenets of that logic remain unaccountable (which they should)). With the endless war about to end, there are worse things to read right now.