1.4: Theatre in the Contemporary World

In an age of social media, blockbuster visual effects extravaganzas, and twenty-four-hour on-demand entertainment, theatre remains relevant. Why? It may be because theatre somehow feels real. That is a strange thing to say considering the artform is self-consciously inauthentic and not real. But there are no hidden cuts in theatre, no barrage of AI-generated slop. The pacing is slower, too. Compared to an eight-second video one might see while scrolling social media, even the most madcap satire is positively glacial. Theatre asks us to pause and consider. It still holds the power to astonish and delight. The old tricks still work because human beings are mimetic creatures. Imitation predates spoken language and writing as perhaps the earliest form of communication. We clawed our way to the top of the food chain not with claws but with symbolic interaction, with performance. Theatre is a vestige of this vital communication technology. It is a memory machine. As such, it is a crucial tool in the battle of memory against forgetting. The artform is simultaneously ancient and new. Intimately connected with role-playing, storytelling, politics, religion, and ritual, theatre continues to reinvent itself.

One way this process of reinvention happens is through contemporary theatre artists breathing new life into ancient texts. For example, Sophocles’ Antigone, written in 442 BCE, continues to resonate in times of political oppression. The play centers on Antigone, who defies her uncle Creon’s order to leave her brother Polyneices unburied, insisting on honoring divine law over state law. Their clash—between individual conscience and authoritarian rule—has made Antigone a powerful protest text across centuries. Jean Anouilh’s adaptation was staged in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944. In apartheid South Africa, Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona’s The Island (1973) dramatized two political prisoners rehearsing Antigone while incarcerated on Robben Island, a notorious prison. Argentinian playwright Griselda Gambaro’s Antigona Furiosa (1986) reimagined the story to confront the atrocities of Argentina’s Dirty War. The Peruvian theatre company Yuyachkani’s 2000 one-woman adaptation of Antigone addressed the country’s two decades of civil violence. More recently, Antigone in Ferguson (2016) recontextualized Sophocles’ tragedy in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s killing by police in Missouri. Across these diverse settings, Antigone becomes more than an ancient tragedy—it is a living tool for dissent, mourning, and imagining justice.

Theatre’s adaptability ensured its survival during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as in-person gatherings became impossible. Institutions of higher education like Northern Illinois University’s School of Theatre and Dance transitioned to “Zoom Theatre,” using online platforms for live or recorded productions while reimagining actor training for the virtual medium. Professionally, many smaller theatre companies shuttered, while larger ones pivoted to streaming services like London’s National Theatre at Home, which offers global access to prerecorded productions. Major international theatre festivals, such as the Edinburgh Festival, were cancelled while others, like South Africa’s National Arts Festival, offered online viewing experiences. The pandemic also spurred reflection on industry norms. In March 2020, playwright Paula Vogel launched Bard at the Gate, a digital theatre company dedicated to producing “plays that were too ambitious, too quirky, and too smart to be contained” (2021). Now in its third season, the company proves both the longevity of digital theatre and its potential to recuperate plays that fall outside of Broadway producers’ narrow tastes. America’s ongoing racial reckoning also impacted the theatre industry. On June 8, 2020, “We See You, White American Theatre,” an open letter signed by hundreds of Black, Indigenous, and people of color theatre workers demanded industry-wide shifts toward anti-racist and sustainable practices. These developments highlight theatre’s resilience as well as its potential for transformation.

In addition to its remarkable flexibility and its ability to connect the past, present, and imagined futures, theatre has a wide range of contemporary applications beyond traditional performance spaces. In the field of wellness, theatrical tools are used to promote compassionate care practices. For example, actors often serve as standardized or simulated patients to help train medical professionals—including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and athletic trainers. Many educators who train these actors are themselves former or current theatre practitioners. Theatrical methods such as roleplaying, storytelling, and improvisation are also central to drama therapy, a professional practice used in therapeutic settings. Beyond healthcare, theatre has proven valuable in communicating scientific and technological concepts to the public. Its techniques also influence modern business marketing strategies. Many employers seek skills theatre uniquely cultivates: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, project management, and leadership. As generative AI continues to reshape the global job market, these human-centered theatrical skills may prove not only resilient but increasingly essential.