Defying the post-racial in contemporary American commercial theatre

As American society purports to no longer see race, efforts are made for a public colorblindness that often cements the inequality that an ideology of post-racialism would seek to dismantle. This thesis examines how commercial American theatre intervenes in this ideology to prove the persistence of racial animosity and tension in the United States. To conduct this investigation, an analysis of four key plays will be undertaken: David Mamet's Race, Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park, Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced and Tracey Scott Wilson's Buzzer. Among the most produced, celebrated and awarded plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatres nationwide, the efficacy of these works waxes and wanes. Sometimes hegemonic, often incisive and consistently entertaining, this thesis interrogates how the contemporary American theatrical canon as exemplified by these works approaches race.