Women, War and Home in Contemporary American Drama

This dissertation explores an emerging body of work in dramatic literature: the woman-authored war play. Building on the overlooked tradition of women’s war writing, a number of contemporary American women playwrights have written theatrical responses to war, particularly the Vietnam War and the conflicts in the Middle East. These plays share a common theme: home. Although most of them address war by dramatizing soldiers, civilians involved in the war, or actual war settings, these plays also comment on families or domestic issues, complicating depictions of soldiers and the war itself. This dissertation places women’s war plays within broader conversations about American war culture, the myth that war belongs to men, and the question of what constitutes authentic war narratives. Because dramatic war literature continues to have a dialogue with itself and culturally embedded ideas about war, chapter one explores David Rabe’s Vietnam War trilogy, a pillar of contemporary American war literature. By challenging the masculinized view of war, Rabe’s trilogy anticipates the concerns of contemporary women playwrights in terms of gender and the domestic. Chapter two considers how Emily Mann, Lydia Stryk, and Quiara Alegría Hudes each depict men’s relationships to their families after they return from war and the family’s role in their reintegration. Chapter three argues that women playwrights—Paula Vogel, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, and Danai Gurira—take up the inheritance of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage by rejecting top-down narratives of war. Instead, they portray war from the perspectives of those without control over its events, particularly women. Finally, chapter four examines women-authored plays with female soldiers. Plays by Ellen McLaughlin, Helen Benedict, and Lindsey Ferrentino extend the critique of traditional war narratives by considering the experiences and concerns of these soldiers. Although women dramatists have received theatrical accolades for their war plays, it is iii important that their contributions be incorporated in scholarly discussions of contemporary U.S. drama.