ABSTRACT
Postmodernism has well-established connections with literature and the arts, philosophy and criticism, architecture, economics, and politics, as well as the media, mass culture, and many other fi elds. Although the meaning of the term is still evolving, a cursory Internet search will show that its evangelizing phase is nearly over and that many of its conventions are already widely in use in the cultural climate we live in. This is not to say postmodernism is either a positive or negative enterprise, just that it is here to stay. The worry is that actors, directors, and designers attracted to the creative possibilities of postmodernism are often undersupplied with the analytical
tools needed to understand it and, most important, actualize it on stage before an audience. What is needed, in this author’s view, is an earnest jargon-free attempt to address this shortcoming, and by this means encourage new ways of thinking and expand the range of ideas about what play production is or can be.
