''America Hurrah'' is a satirical play by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which premiered at the Pocket Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on November 7, 1966. Directed by

Jacques Levy Jacques Levy (July 29, 1935 – September 30, 2004) was an American songwriter, theatre director and clinical psychologist. Early life and education Levy was born in New York City in 1935 and graduated from the City College of New York in 1956. ...

and

Joseph Chaikin Joseph Chaikin (September 16, 1935 – June 22, 2003) was an American theatre director, actor, playwright, and pedagogue. Early life and education The youngest of five children, Chaikin was born to a poor Jewish family living in the Borough Pa ...

, the play was an early expression of the burgeoning 1960s counterculture, expressing discontent with American

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

and involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. ''America Hurrah'' consists of three

one-act plays A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

: "Interview"; "TV"; and "Motel".

Production history

New York City

Two of the one-acts were first presented at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1964 and 1965. ''Interview'' was directed by Peter Feldman, and ''Motel'' was directed by Michael Kahn. ''Interview'' had begun as an exercise at Chaikin's Open Theater. When the trilogy premiered in 1966, ''Interview'' was directed by Chaikin, and ''TV'' and ''Motel'' were directed by Levy. Stephanie Sills produced the trilogy, and incidental music was composed by Marianne de Pury and Fred Cantor. Ken Glickfeld was the stage manager,

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...

, and

lighting designer In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...

, and Tania Leontov designed the costumes with assistance from Beckie Cunningham. The cast included

Cynthia Harris Cynthia Lee Harris (August 9, 1934 – October 3, 2021) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in the television series '' Edward & Mrs. Simpson'' and the sitcom ''Mad About You''. Life and career C ...

Conard Fowkes Conard Fowkes (January 4, 1933 in Washington, D.C. – December 14, 2009 in New York City) was an American actor. He was best known for acting in soap operas, including '' Kitty Foyle'', ''Dark Shadows'', ''The Edge of Night'', '' The Secret Storm ...

, James Barbosa,

Ronnie Gilbert Ruth Alice "Ronnie" Gilbert (September 7, 1926 – June 6, 2015), was an American folk singer, songwriter, actress and political activist. She was one of the original members of the music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete Seeger, Le ...

, Brenda Smiley, Henry Calvert,

Bill Macy Wolf Martin Garber (May 18, 1922 – October 17, 2019), known professionally as Bill Macy, was an American television, film and stage actor, best known for his role in the CBS television series '' Maude'' (1972–1978). Early life Bill ...

, and Joyce Aaron. ''Motel'' featured actors wearing large doll heads constructed by Robert Wilson. The Pocket Theatre production closed on May 5, 1968, after 634 performances.

Australia

The show was performed in Australia by the New Theatre in Sydney in 1968, causing police action to be taken against the acting company. After 13 performances, ''Motel'', in which two big dolls scrawl obscenities on the walls of a motel room, was banned on moral grounds by the

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Chief Secretary. While the production continued, with the banned segment replaced by a satire about the ban, a committee called ‘Friends of America Hurrah’ prepared plans for a one-night performance of the original version. This played to a full house in the Teachers Federation auditorium while thousands of people waited outside on Sussex Street, hoping to get in. Audience excitement was high at the end of ''Motel'', when police attempted to arrest the two heavily disguised dolls in the cast as they ran for the auditorium door. The actors appeared to vanish, but protected by fellow cast members, they actually shed their costumes and returned to mingle with other cast members who were trying to stop the police from tearing apart the set to take as evidence. There were no prosecutions, and the confiscated pieces of the set were eventually returned. The cast at the New Theatre in Sydney included

Maggie Kirkpatrick Margaret Anne Kirkpatrick (née Downs; born 29 January 1941) is an Australian stage and screen actress who starred in the cult TV series ''Prisoner'' (otherwise known as ''Prisoner: Cell Block H'' in the UK and North America), where she was bes ...

, John Hargreaves, and Carole Skinner.

Publication

''America Hurrah'' was first published by

Coward-McCann G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...

in the United States and by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.mass market paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...

by Bantam Books, then by Grove Press.''America Hurrah and Other Plays'' ( Grove/Atlantic, 2001). Acting edition: Dramatists Play Service.

Awards

* 1966-1967 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Production * 1966-1967 Drama Desk Award

References

External links

* * {{OL work, id=OL15158732W 1966 plays American plays Off-Broadway plays