This seminar addresses the representation of violence on the American stage from the 1950s to today.Topics include the violence by and against ethnic groups, females as perpetrators and victims, state violence, physical as well as psychological violence, domestic violence/ violence within the family. Violence in establishing national identity and the omnipresence of violence in today's society. Among the playwrights to be discussed are Tennessee Williams, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, Paula Vogel, Ann Nelson, Naomi Wallace, Christopher Shinn.