In reading The Colored Museum, I am forced to reconsider a preconception that I've held regarding what I consider strong theatre. I've always been a bit prejudiced (maybe the wrong term to use in discussion of this play) against episodic theatre - I don't like Spoon River, or Galileo because these plays are basically chopped up into little vignettes. I prefer one story, even if it's complicated, to a series of chopped up events.
I am, however, beginning to see the value of this type of theatre. It certainly has a long history; one might even argue that The Trojan Woman is episodic theatre. I think that this style is especially useful to the playwright trying to make an activist point. Often, when we as playwrights get into a storyline, we lose our way in regard to overall theme. In those cases, and often powerfully, the story resonates more than the point we are trying to make. If, however, we desire to use theatre as a tool for social or cultural change, it might be important to simply craft smaller scenes that offer less complication and confusion to the viewer regarding our driving point.
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I get what you're saying. I used to hate what I called "monologue theatre." I got tired of someone wanting to get a play together quickly and just stringing some monologues and poems together. It could make a point, but I missed good old simple conversation. While Colored Museum has conversations and not just monologues, I'm seeing how quick "bites" of various facets of a complicated issue can get to the heart of the matter or a viewpoint more quickly and powerfully.
I look at episodic theater like a buffet. I get a little bit of everything at once. I think it's a big challenge to playwrights and actors to get their message across in such a short amount of time. In the case of The Colored Museum, this is done nicely I think. Each piece has something individually but contributes overall to the theme of the play.
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