A People's History: The American Experiment on Stage

A People's History: The American Experiment on Stage is on view at the McNay Art Museum through early November, with the exhibition running through November 8. It arrives as the United States marks its 250th anniversary, and it approaches that milestone through a specific lens: the stage. Instead of a traditional history of the country, the McNay is showing how theatre artists have interpreted major moments in American history, from the fight for women's suffrage to the Vietnam War and the protests that followed.

The whole thing is built around the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness set out in the Declaration of Independence. It's not just a collection of programs and posters; the display brings together actual works from across the centuries. One of the earliest pieces is The Contrast, a 1787 production described as the first play written and produced by Americans on an American stage after independence. It's a good place to start, seeing how the new nation began to look at itself through the theatre almost as soon as it existed.

From there, the exhibition jumps forward to more recent and political work. You'll find a larger-than-life puppet by Vermont's Bread and Puppet Theater, a group known for using theatre and puppetry to protest the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons. Beside it are paper cutout designs by Robert Indiana for the opera The Mother of Us All, which explores the women's suffrage movement. Seeing those two side by side—the puppet and the opera designs—gives you a sense of how different artists have used the stage to push back or speak out during some of the country's most contentious eras.

It's a broad look at how the American experiment has been played out on stage, from the early days of the republic to the protests of the late twentieth century. The exhibition runs through November 8 at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio.