This is an award under the Grants for Improving Doctoral Dissertation Research Program, and it is a study of the publics and politics of theater in the early Soviet Union. In the 1920s, the Soviet government sought to use theater as an instrument of ideological indoctrination, at the same time that Russian dramatists were experimenting relatively freely with a range of new approaches to drama that were influential around the world. Therefore, this research project will contribute both to an understanding of the role of the arts under dictatorship and to the sociology of cultural innovation. Primary data collection at archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg will greatly strengthen the information available from American sources about this crucially important phase in twentieth-century culture and political transformation. %%% This research will provide insights for the rapidly growing area of sociology that examines the production of culture, and a deep understanding of the radical transformations that produced the Soviet Union will be valuable for comprehending the equally massive changes in the wake of its disintegration. In addition to the scientific gains to be achieved by the research, this award will materially assist a highly promising student in completing research for the Ph.D. dissertation. Thus it contributes to the future scientific manpower of the nation and the thorough training of the next generation of social scientists.
