Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

experimental works. Like other New York residents, who made up the majority oftheatre-goers in 1967, the Yippies had a wide variety of theatrical entertainment availableto them (Moore 71).There were plenty of new plays and musicals to entertain those who could affordprime seating at the high cost of $9.90 to $12 for a hit Broadway show, and even forthose who scraped together $2 for seats at the rear of the mezzanine (Guernsey, 67-68 6;66-67 16). With Plaza Suite (1968), Neil Simon, the darling of American comicplaywriting, added to his string of Broadway hits: The Star-Spangled Girl (1966), TheOdd Couple (1965), Barefoot in the Park (1963), and the musical hit Sweet Charity(1966), for which he wrote the book. Broadway saw a British invasion in 1967: HaroldPinter won the 1967 Tony award for best play with The Homecoming (which opened inJanuary, 1967), and a young Tom Stoppard won the 1968 Tony for Rosencrantz andGuildenstern are Dead (which opened in October, 1967). Comedy, not tragedy, ruled thestage, with Simon's light comedy of manners, Pinter's dark comedy of menace, andStoppard's literary comedy of the absurd.This trend for comedy seems incongruous from a historical perspective, because1967 was a year of violent social upheaval across the United States. In addition togrowing opposition to the Vietnam War, a summer of urban rebellions protesting povertyand racial inequality left dozens dead and thousands arrested. While the predominatelywhite hippies celebrated the “Summer of Love,” their African-American peers in citieslike Detroit and Newark witnessed a summer of violence and rage. After October’s113