Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>

This essay explores theatrical drama alongside aspects of religious dimensionality David Tracy analyzes in terms of limit experience, limit language, and limit questions. The claim is that metatheatrical forms can correlate with limit dimensions, a correlation which may prove as pertinent as ritual...

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Main Author: Larry D. Bouchard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/2/94
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spelling doaj-09b6f679ac09459b9d9d5f5dc7b0f9c22020-11-25T00:35:19ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442020-02-011129410.3390/rel11020094rel11020094Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>Larry D. Bouchard0Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USAThis essay explores theatrical drama alongside aspects of religious dimensionality David Tracy analyzes in terms of limit experience, limit language, and limit questions. The claim is that metatheatrical forms can correlate with limit dimensions, a correlation which may prove as pertinent as ritual for linking drama with religious experience, thought, and practice. Here, metatheatre and limit dimensions are further defined in respect to Thornton Wilder&#8217;s 1938 play, <i>Our Town</i>, and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine&#8217;s 1984 musical, <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>. The essay identifies distinct though often overlapping forms of metatheatre: plays or performances that (1) explicitly refer to themselves, or (2) represent theatrical or theatre-like works within their stories and expressed worlds (e.g., plays within plays), or (3) dramatize theatre-like and performative aspects of ordinary life. Just as Wilder foregrounds metatheatrical relations to create an impression of the eternal, Sondheim and his collaborators reflect on their work&#8217;s ontological conditions of possibility by bringing to life another work, a painting, at distantly separated moments in time. <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park</i> invite us to enter social and ritualized spaces inhabited by commonplace yet archetypal persons; they culminate in moments where the audience is to discern past, present, and future in simultaneous proximity; and with their different contents and forms, they prove good plays for elaborating relations among theatre, limit experience, and religious dimensionality.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/2/94metatheatrelimit experiencereligious dimensionalitywildersondheimlapine
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Larry D. Bouchard
spellingShingle Larry D. Bouchard
Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
Religions
metatheatre
limit experience
religious dimensionality
wilder
sondheim
lapine
author_facet Larry D. Bouchard
author_sort Larry D. Bouchard
title Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
title_short Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
title_full Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
title_fullStr Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
title_full_unstemmed Religion and the Limits of Metatheatre in <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>
title_sort religion and the limits of metatheatre in <i>our town</i> and <i>sunday in the park with george</i>
publisher MDPI AG
series Religions
issn 2077-1444
publishDate 2020-02-01
description This essay explores theatrical drama alongside aspects of religious dimensionality David Tracy analyzes in terms of limit experience, limit language, and limit questions. The claim is that metatheatrical forms can correlate with limit dimensions, a correlation which may prove as pertinent as ritual for linking drama with religious experience, thought, and practice. Here, metatheatre and limit dimensions are further defined in respect to Thornton Wilder&#8217;s 1938 play, <i>Our Town</i>, and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine&#8217;s 1984 musical, <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>. The essay identifies distinct though often overlapping forms of metatheatre: plays or performances that (1) explicitly refer to themselves, or (2) represent theatrical or theatre-like works within their stories and expressed worlds (e.g., plays within plays), or (3) dramatize theatre-like and performative aspects of ordinary life. Just as Wilder foregrounds metatheatrical relations to create an impression of the eternal, Sondheim and his collaborators reflect on their work&#8217;s ontological conditions of possibility by bringing to life another work, a painting, at distantly separated moments in time. <i>Our Town</i> and <i>Sunday in the Park</i> invite us to enter social and ritualized spaces inhabited by commonplace yet archetypal persons; they culminate in moments where the audience is to discern past, present, and future in simultaneous proximity; and with their different contents and forms, they prove good plays for elaborating relations among theatre, limit experience, and religious dimensionality.
topic metatheatre
limit experience
religious dimensionality
wilder
sondheim
lapine
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/2/94
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