ABSTRACT
When writers, painters or theatre-makers choose, adapt or even fabricate from nothing a form for their work—a world, frame or register in which their work has its being and communicates whatever it communicates—they do so with a relationship in mind. It is when that relationship is instantiated, in the act of reading or viewing, that the form of the work is realized. In theater, each member brings with them their own ‘content,’ ranging from their ‘brain’ to their social and economic circumstances. David Henry Hwang uses the stabbing as a kind of recurring feature across works in different genres, one that changes meaning as it moves between audiences and forms—the nonfiction account, the stage musical, and the televised domestic drama. The background and training of many playwrights encourages them to challenge aesthetic assumptions and bring new ideas to available technologies, rather than merely dredging up old habits to be viewed through new mechanisms of consumption.
