Early 20th Century Avant-Garde

This timeline chronicles the development of the avant-garde movement in theatre from the late 19th Century through the 1950's.  This Modern period was marked by innovation and the unified artist's vision of a new world, one which rejected the sociological nature that the naturalists presented in their works.  Some of these responded to technological innovation, some to social dilemmas, and others still to the horror and destruction of World War II.  This is only a "brief" overview, and hopefully will serve as a good introduction to the subject.

Symbolism & Modernism        Futurism & Constructivism        Dada        Surrealism        
Epic Theatre        Absurdism
Bibliography     Theatre Home Page

Throughout the 20th Century, artists have attempted to create a theatrical experience which not only captured the reality of life, but also its spirit and meaning.  Desiring more than a "slice of life" to be presented onstage, people such as Alfred Jarry, Fillipo Marinetti, Oskar Schlemmer and Bertolt Brecht sought a better way to express not only the observable reality but also the emotional, psychological and spiritual realities of life.

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1880 - Thomas Edison develops 1st practical electric lights
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1890 - First moving picture show appears in New York
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1893 - Henry Ford builds his first car
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1897 - J. J. Thomson discovers the electron
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1900 - Max Planck formulates quantum theory
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1905 - First neon signs appear
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1905 - Albert Einstein formulates Special Theory of Relativity
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1912 -Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
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1914 - World War I begins when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo
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1917 - The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
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1917 - Freud's Introduction to Psychoanalysis published
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1918 - World War I ends
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1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
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1927 - Charles Lindberg flies the Atlantic alone
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1929 - Stock Market Crashes in the United States
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1932 - Amelia Earhart first woman to fly across the Atlantic alone
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1933 - Philo Farnsworth develops electronic television
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1945 - World War II ends with 55 million dead
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1947 - More than 1 million war veterans enroll in college under the U.S. "G.I. Bill of Rights"
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1952 - First hyrdogen device is exploded
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1961 - Berlin Wall is buit
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1964 - Martin Luther King, Jr. leads civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
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1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
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1969 - Woodstock music festival
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1970 - Four students killed at Kent State University by National Guard
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1986 - Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl
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1991 - Collapse of the Communist bloc in Europe
 

 

  
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Symbolism & Modernsim(1885)

 

 

 

 

 

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Futurism & Constructivism (1909)

 

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Dada (1916) & Surrealism (1925)

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Epic Theatre (1918)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Absurdism (1945)

 

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