Fairy tales to reality: A study of the path taken by theatre for young audiences

The purpose of this thesis is to review the historical path taken in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) by presenting a brief history of the genre and by examining the plays and philosophies of three respected playwrights in the field - Charlotte Chorpenning, Aurand Harris, and Suzan Zeder. The brief history of TY A in America addresses the struggle for respect which the genre has experienced due to the widespread conception that dismisses it as 'just a bunch of fairy tales' . The contributions of Chorpenning and Harris have been fully discussed in Roger Bedard's dissertation, "The Life and Work of Charlotte B. Chorpenning" ( 1979), Janet Rubin's 1978 dissertation, "The Literary and Theatrical Contributions of Charlotte B. Chorpenning to Children's Theatre," and Coleman Jennings's dissertation, "Critical Study: the Dramatic Contribution of Aurand Harris to Children's Theatre in the Untied States." This thesis does not repeat their work. Zeder's plays and philosophies have been utilized in some academic studies. However, there has not been a dissertation written on Zeder's life and/or contributions to TY A. This thesis has been written to acknowledge the struggles those working in TY A have experienced and to highlight the three playwrights, Chorpenning, Harris, and Zeder, whose work throughout the twentieth century guided the genre from fairy tales to reality