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Contrast and compare the role and purpose of secular drama and theatre as an expression of the communities from which it arose and for which it has served with that of religious and ritual drama and theatre. Use examples from __Joe Turner__ and the way the play makes use of both secular and religious/ritual aspects to shape it's content an manner of expression.

Go through the different time periods of theatre/drama and identify as more secular or religiously based. Include examples. In the end talk about both aspects in __Joe Turner__.

Theatre is one of mankind’s tools of expression. “It is through theatre that we step back from ourselves to observe and interpret our own behavior” (Arnold, 1). Arnold goes on to describe how humans use theatre as a way of understanding and even coping with the world around us and how we, as individuals, fit in it. Throughout history, theatre has developed in all kinds of societies across the world, resulting in many unique outcomes that reflect the individual societies. Theatre is a powerful tool. Its energy can fire up an audience with a call to action or it can calm them down and keep them from making changes. Theatre fulfills the needs of the societies that it exists in. Throughout history, each society has gone through periods of different and separate needs. Because of this, theatre has developed into two identifiable groups: religious and secular. The Native Americans developed multiple variations of theatre that were religion-based. The indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of the United States and the Southwest Coast of Canada invented the potlatch ceremonies. These were religious ceremonies that told stories and usually included large, elaborate masks and costumes worn by dancers. The Hopi Indians of the Southwest United States represent //kachinas// in their dramatic ceremonies. Kachinas are viewed as their spiritual guardians and as “the messengers and intermediaries between men and gods” (Arnold, 9). The actors decorate themselves with great, colorful costumes and masks and serve to “make the kachina spirits visible to the Hopi community” (Arnold, 9). European theatre can be divided into two distinct types: Greek Theatre of Athens and Medieval Theatre of England. The Greek Theatre “developed into a forum for highly sophisticated philosophical debate about the place of human beings in the universe” (Arnold, 12). The greatest tragedies that came about during this time involved religion as well as the political life of the society. Because of this, there has been much debate on “whether the plays actually evolved out of ritual worship of Dionysus or whether they grew out of the more secular impulses of individual playwrights” (Arnold, 12). The Medieval Theatre was at its height between 1350 and 1550. Quite unlike the Greek Theatre, it “Produced a pageant that functioned as a form of devotion, an affirmation of accepted religious beliefs” (Arnold, 12). Medieval Theatre was religiously centered because theatre reflects the society. “Medieval society was organized largely around the Catholic Church, and it was as part of religious observation that the theatre developed in medieval Europe” (Arnold, 19). The Catholic Church needed a way to share biblical stories with illiterate people. Through theatre, they found a way to do just that. In his play __Joe Turner’s Come and Gone__, August Wilson includes occurrences and aspects of the 1911 Pittsburgh society that show how both secular and religious influences were present in every-day life. Bynum proves to be a unique and interesting character from the get-go. He has strange behaviors that the others term “heebie jeebie” stuff (Wilson, 60). He buys pigeons from the neighbor boy and bleeds them out into the yard. None of the others ever quite understand what he is doing and what the purpose is. Wilson never explicitly explains Bynum. Another secular aspect that Wilson includes is about Loomis. When Loomis arrives at the boarding house, he explains that he is on a mission to find his wife. He says, “I’m looking for a woman named Martha Loomis. That’s my wife. Got married legal with the papers and all” (Wilson,66). Loomis includes this information about being “married with legal paper and all” to emphasize the importance of the secular ritual of marriage. Loomis believes that this fact about the validity of his marriage will help him gain the assistance, or just acceptance, of the others. Bynum brings up another secular ritual when he is speaking to Mattie about the man that she lost. He states that “He ain’t bound to you if the babies died” (Wilson, 69). He is trying to explain to Mattie that at that time, if a couple had no living children together, then he was not “bound” to her. This secular aspect seems rather harsh, however it helps in recreating the society and establishing what it was like at that time for the audience. Bynum talks about this “shiny man” throughout the play. The others in the boardinghouse blow him off and think that he is talking more nonsense. The more that Bynum’s words are examined, there seems to be some connection between the “shiny man” and the Christ-figure. Bynum describes him: “He’s just a man I seen out on the road. He ain’t had no special look. Just a man walking toward me on the road… He say he had a voice inside him telling him which way to go and if I come and go along with him he was going to show me the Secret of Life. Quite naturally I followed him” (Wilson, 62-63). The character, Loomis, also has a fantastic moment of religious “awakening”. He “speaks in tongues and dances around the kitchen. Saying: “The ground’s starting to shake. There’s a great shaking. The world’s busting in half two. The sky’s splitting open. I got to stand up”” (Wilson, 80). The others do not understand what is happening with Loomis and his spell ends with a strange type of baptism ritual. “Loomis slashes himself across his chest. He rubs the blood over his face and comes to a realization” (Wilson, 95). It is clear that both secular and religious aspects are included in August Wilson’s __Joe Turner’s Come and Gone__. Wilson uses these to realistically depict what life was like in the simple 1911 Pittsburgh boardinghouse.