Towards a counter-historical dramaturgy

This thesis examines emerging counter-historical dramaturgies which, by theatrically investigating history, its structures, and its influence, explore the relationship between mis-historical frameworks and historically rooted systems of oppression. By compiling and studying a group of ten plays that work to address the mis-history of the Lost Cause, I identify three broad counter-historical strategies that theatrically illuminate, investigate, and deconstruct the Lost Cause and its legacy in the American historical memory: Filling the Historical ‘Gap,’ Staging History, and Adapting History.