Hello Blogger World!

If someone were to ask you the top 5 rap artists of today's times, whom would you choose?? First off, I imagine trying to limit yourself to only 5 rap artists would be nearly impossible! Secondly, people have such strong feelings over their favorites, that trying to determine who is number one or even number two or three may not even be a possibility.  Who cares!?

The moral: If someone today was presented with this question, they would muster up an answer.  But if someone were to ask you who the top  drama writers of today's times are, would you be able to name even one?

The answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

I sure couldn't...

We are in a golden age for music.  Even if you are not necessarily a rap fan, the genre is so highly publicized, that it is impossible to be completely oblivious to it.  But why is it that as a golden age comes and goes, so does our knowledge of that era?

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Broadway  and drama were themes that could be found in the lives of all of the American people.  Broadway and drama were driving forces for glamour, entertainment and status.  Everyone who was anyone was seen and heard at the Theater, but as the 50s came and went, so did the bright lights of those productions.

I am an English and Political Science major here at USC and to have to say that I know absolutely nothing about a particular genre in a field that I am supposedly understood to have mastered by the end of this year...well that's just embarrassing! That is why I have decided to take it into my own hands to become the Broadway and drama era guru.

The Golden Age of Broadway aficionado if you will.

I plan to explore the period in its entirety during its Golden Age.  I plan to uncover the hot spots for such events, major themes of works from the period, as well as the major players.  Who really is Thorton Wilder? or Clifford Odets?  There is a reason why this genre was such a hit in the 1930's and my job is to determine why and uncover the legacy that it left us with.

But not only am I curious about its legacy, however, but why also why is it that throughout my three, and now going onto four, years here at USC, Broadway and drama have never been genres that were even given a mention in any of my classes?  To be declared an English Major, you have to first take introductory courses in the genre of Fiction and Nonfiction.  You have to take courses where you discover the Romantic and Gothic Periods, yet has anyone even heard of the period of drama and Broadway?!

There seems to be some sort of anti-theatrical bias in the English world, whether that prejudice stems from a fear of the theater or simply a disregard for the genre as a whole, I'm not quite sure, but there seems to be a pretty clear and universal consensus that Broadway doesn't matter.

From here on out, Broadway and drama are my life and I plan to discover everything there is to know about the Golden Age of Broadway!