Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century, and: Theatre, Society and the Nation: Staging American Identities (review)

Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century, by John H. Houchin, comes at a critical time in U.S. history, when the National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) long-range future is tenuous, and the congressional conservatives' attempts at cutting arts funding in order to stifle controversial productions and artworks sees no end in sight. Since the conservative agenda of the current Bush administration seems to have set the "moral tone" for the present, and there are very few books dedicated to the subject of the workings of censorship, an examination of the social and political forces in this country that have created and perpetuated it seems more than merited.

In this thorough survey, Houchin explores the links between performance and culture in the 20th century. Viewing the century as a series of political and social shifts, he adeptly shows the relationship between theatre and the culture in which it is located. In his Introduction, Houchin defines the reasons for the censorship of theatre, showing how the conservative culture attempts to maintain the religious, political, social, economic, sexual, and moral structures that create the mythology of their society. He suggests that the conservative spirit seeks direction from the past and fears change, and artists who represent that change challenge those traditions and rituals, "playing" with them without respect for their continuance (2). Furthermore, these artists—who represent passion, vivacity, and dynamism—are the ones responsible for debunking the traditional beliefs in which conservatives find meaning (2). Here Houchin's argument fails to acknowledge that rituals are not only fixed, but can be flexible, interactive, and transformative.

Out of fear that artists' work may succeed in overhauling and refurbishing the core beliefs of U.S. culture, conservatives seek to prevent it through censorship. Throughout the 20th century, this censorship has been evident in a multitude of ways that include outright banning of artistic productions, arresting the participants, cutting funding, accusing the participants of disloyalty to the country, blacklisting, boycotts, and a plethora of other no less devious means used to prevent a performance.

Before examining the complexities of censorship in the 20th century, though, Houchin summarizes the late 18th and the 19th centuries, showing the roots of Puritan and Victorian morality as well as American commercial and political interests as they existed in those centuries, and how those influences affected the development of theatre in the United States. Houchin's analysis begins with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, moves through the Quaker opposition to theatre, and settles into a discussion of the professional theatre of William Hallam and David Douglass and their successors. Covering such diverse topics as the Astor Place Riot, the Bowery Boys, P.T. Barnum's Lecture Room series, as well as the plays The Drunkard (n.d.) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), the book focuses on the notorious events and productions that shaped the culture of early America. Furthermore, he explores other popular entertainments such as burlesque and the Follies, and their opponents, including lawmakers and feminists. Finally, he concludes with a discussion of the evolution of the first duly appointed censor in this country, Arthur Comstock.

The second through sixth chapters not only provide a chronological investigation of each of the major plays that provoked controversy or outright censorship, but they also divide the 20th century into discrete cultural movements, many of which have fueled the opposition to free speech and freedom of expression in the U.S. Chapter two, "Bad Girls, Tough Guys and the Changing of the Guard," which covers the period up to 1920, pits the Moral Reform Movement, the Drama League of America, and Catholicism against such productions as...