Ben Fink

Art in a Democracy, edited by Ben Fink, provides a history of Roadside Theater through both essays and an actual history as well as a selection of plays. Volume one focuses on its roots in Appalachia while volume two focuses on its intercultural and issue-specific work.

While I suspect most readers will be drawn more to one volume or the other, reading both is essential for understanding the work they do. Admittedly the second volume was the one I was most interested in, but I think I would have cheated myself if I had skipped the first.

This is, I think, a perfect example of how important reading some plays within the context of their creation can be. Alone, I probably would have appreciated them to some extent. Knowing how and why they came into being made them more powerful as well as more meaningful.

Recommended for those interested in drama and those interested in Americana. Regional history and/or literature buffs will find a lot here as well.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)