访美十个月,除了参观、交流和讲学以外,在西部的洛杉矶和东部的纽约看了不少戏。回来数数节目单,居然有二十多张,还不包括看过的那些舞台剧录象。这些戏涉及各种不同的类型、样式和层次,专业的和业余的、大剧场和小剧场、商业性和实验性、正式演出和“座排”等等。它们构成了我对当今美国戏剧的一个粗略的印象,虽然说不上十分全面和深入。给我的总体感受是,美国近年来戏剧有两个显著特点。其一,由于经济连续几年的衰退,造成文化市场萎缩,戏剧的发展也受到影响。和六、七十年代相比,演出的数量和创作的质量都有所下降。不过在纽约、旧金山、洛杉机、芝加哥等大城市,戏剧仍保持着一定的规模和势头。一批有志于戏剧艺术的人在经济萧条情况下还在努力奋斗,坚持创演好戏。所以,戏剧至今仍是吸引大部分中产阶级观众的一种高层次的文化娱乐形式。其二,经过相当长的一段时期的发展,当今美国戏剧明显地带上了后现代艺术的烙印,其重要标志就是高度的多元化和综合化。多元化是后现代社会失却中心的必然结果。如今戏剧舞台上,从极端非理牲的反叛,到超级现实主义的生活戏剧、即时戏剧、环境戏剧,形形色色同时存在;从突出文学性 Visiting the United States for ten months, in addition to visit, exchange and lectures, in Los Angeles in the west and east of New York saw a lot of drama. Back to the number of programs, actually have more than twenty, not including those who have seen the stage play video. The shows cover a wide range of genres, styles and levels, professional and amateur, large theater and small theater, commercial and experimental, formal performances and “seating arrangements”. They make up a rough, though not comprehensive, and in-depth impression of contemporary American theater. The overall feeling for me is that in the United States in recent years drama has two salient features. First, the development of drama has also been affected by the slump in the economy for several years in a row, resulting in a shrinking cultural market. Compared with the sixties and seventies, the number of performances and the quality of creation have declined. However, in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities, the drama still maintained a certain scale and momentum. A group of people interested in theatrical arts are still struggling in the economic recession and insist on creating good shows. Therefore, drama is still a high-level form of cultural entertainment that attracts the majority of middle-class audiences. Second, after a fairly long period of development, American drama has obviously brought the stigma of postmodern art. Its important symbol is a high degree of pluralism and integration. Diversification is the inevitable result of the post-modern society losing its center. Today, on the theatrical scene, everything from extremist irrational rebellion to super-realistic life drama, real-time drama, and environmental drama exists in all forms. From the perspective of highlighting the literary nature