An investigation into how in the 1960s and 1970s the United States avantgarde theatre companies used guerrilla theatre techniques to evoke political change, with reference to The San Francisco Mime Troupe, The Living Theatre and Bread and Puppet Theater.

Abstract

This study places emphasis on the work of The San Francisco Mime Troupe, The Living Theatre, and The Bread and Puppet Theater, in order to explore how, during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, emerging avant-garde theatre companies used guerrilla theatre to evoke political or social change.

The study uses previously published academic research, peer reviewed journals, first-hand testimonies from those who witnessed the work of the three companies, and the companies’ artistic and political manifestos, to explore how the political and social environment of the time led to their formation, and to establish the factors that encouraged the three theatre companies to use guerrilla theatre, and how their work influenced later generations of theatre practitioners.

Through analysis and evaluation of The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s, The Living Theatre’s and the Bread and Puppet Theater’s work and influence on more recent theatre companies, the study concludes that the fluidity of guerrilla theatre’s techniques makes it possible for the form to change and adapt to the needs of 21st century theatre.