Locating American Masculinity with(out)in the Male

This thesis focuses on the representation of the crisis of masculinity and how that crisis, real or imagined, both calls for and automatically creates a renegotiation of the masculine identity. Specifically, it interrogates three different formulations of masculine subject creation as depicted in Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse, Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty, and Sarah Ruhl's Late: a cowboy song. This document will focus on a specific theoretical formulation of masculinity found within each play. Respectively, I will utilize the theories of the mythopoetic men's movement, Michael Kimmel's contemporary theory of Guyland, and feminist reconfigurations of gender such as Anne Fausto-Sterling's Sexing the Body and Judith Halberstam's Female Masculinity. The first chapter will explore traditional, patriarchal masculinity as represented by the character of Hobart Struther in Kicking a Dead Horse. The play presents an instantiated masculinity that falls short of providing a life outside of the work force and fails to allow for a renegotiation or reestablishment of traditional masculinity. The second chapter examines the journey of Greg in Reasons to Be Pretty as he attempts to renegotiate his misogynistic male identity. Greg's desire to change and his ability to retool his subjectivity leaves the dual possibility of real progress, or a softer manipulation and oppression of the feminine gender. Finally, Late: a cowboy song presents myriad different sexualities and genders as the play asks the audience to skew or alter the way they view traditional binary gender system. It allows the location of the masculine to be considered distinct from the male body, and encompasses differently sexed and gendered individuals. I am interested in the ways that these renegotiations create or negate the possibilities of the masculine identity with regards to the crisis of masculinity in our contemporary society. These three plays represent case studies in a much larger spectrum of masculinity, ranging from the traditional, patriarchal forms of masculine subjectivity found in Kicking a Dead Horse, to the progressive and fluid construction of gender subjectivity expressed by feminist scholars and located within Late: a cowboy song. The presentation of these differently constructed subjectivities within theatrical representations allows for an interrogation of the masculine subject and gestures toward the constitution of a new masculine identity