Theater's new stars are Bush, Rumsfeld, and Condi

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Theater's new stars are Bush, Rumsfeld, and Condi
By Liza Weisstuch
Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK – American theatergoers are getting serious. Many of the shows commanding top dollar for tickets, both on and off Broadway, aren't just fluffy affairs featuring Tarzan swinging from the rafters or showtunes based on songs by The Four Seasons. They're plays with topics ripped from the headlines: terrorism ("The Lieutenant of Inishmore"), military culture ("Guardians"), racial discrimination ("Defiance"), educational pedagogy ("The History Boys"), and even the Iraq war ("Stuff Happens").

These productions and others are part of a resurgence of theater's role as social commentator. That legacy traces its way from World War II through Shakespeare back to the Greek tragedies, when playwrights probed the hot-button issues of the day. The popularity of the current crop of "morality plays" is a reflection of the public using art to find answers to some of today's toughest questions.

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