A queer sort of materialism

In this eclectic collection, leading theather critical and cultural commentator David Savran explores the intersections between art and culture, offering smart, compelling interpretations of the economic and social contexts of theatrical texts and practices. Acknowledging theather´s marginal status in U.S. culture, "A Queer Sort of Materialism" takes on "the troublemakers" -the ghost, closeted homosexual, masochist, drag king, Third world laborer, even the white male as victim- who figure more prominently in theater than in other cultural forms. In impreccably researched and argued essays that range in subject matter and style from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Paula Vogel, from Suddenly Last Summer to Iron John, Savran uncovers the ways that such troublemakers both challenge and reinforce orthodox social practices.