Pre-Class Thoughts Jencks 9/29

 Postmodernism and Theatre

Throughout the Jencks reading, I found myself thinking more about then just architecture within the frame of postmodernism. The quote I feel ecompasses my thoughts from this reading is this: “This form of double-coding allows us to read the present in the past as much as the past in the present, as if history proceeded by a gradual evolution of a permanent forms rather than a succession of revolutionary styles each one of which obliterates is predecessor” (Jencks, 289).

This passage, taken from the Jencks reading for today’s class, highlights for me one of the more important takeaways of postmodernism: the lack of one true way of thinking or multiple truths within the world. The way we constantly view our past within the present is always changing   Though this article was talking specifically about architecture, I found many similarities between contemporary theater and contemporary architecture. Much of theater coming out today reconciles with our past but also is framed in the present in many ways. A good and popular example is the Broadway musical Hamilton (2015). Thought it explores America’s past and the revolutionary war, it also changes that past to reflect our current race and gender politics. Thus, it represents America’s past and present at the same time, while also commenting on that past and present. The musical, in essence, brings together contemporary and old America without differentiating the two strongly as the musical progresses through the plot.

(picture is of Hamilton and the other “founding fathers” of the country)

Besides Hamilton, there are other pieces of theater that represent this concept of “multiple truths.” For example, in the play The Humans (which was performed in the Annie Russell Theater in 2019), the audience follows the story of a family having a thanksgiving dinner, which ultimately unveils the secrets they have been holding from each other. The way that the playwright frames each character is that their perspective of the other is not necessarily wrong; it is based on their own experiences which have framed their truth within their world.