1970s: Beginning in the 1960s, regional theaters and theaters associated with colleges and universities become an important testing ground for innovative playwrights such as Mamet. The increasing popularity of off-Broadway and off-off- Broadway theater venues offers a forum for avant-garde playwrights. Some of these serious and innovative plays are eventually performed on Broadway, once they have been proven on the smaller stage.

Today: Because of the perceived need for greater and greater profits, Broadway productions focus almost exclusively on flashy, highly entertaining, big-budget musicals, such as stage adaptations of the animated Disney .lm The Lion King. Some serious dramatic works still see Broadway production, but these are exceptions. Thus, regional theater, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway are important as the primary venues for serious and innovative dramatic productions.

1970s: The Women's Liberation Movement, also known as Second Wave Feminism, begun in the late 1960s, advocates greater...