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Abstract This war (Vietnam) was a magnifying glass that enlarged aspects of some of the ways we, as Americans, think and act. Such a glass not only makes things easier to see, it also focuses light so it will burn. A child can learn from touching something hot. Can a nati.on.? J As time passed, the war diminished in the collective memory of the people just as all plagues and violent upheavals of the earth fade from the minds of the succeeding generations. However, the Vietnam War ended officially in ] 975, it remained largely in the news throughout the last three decades. Every time the United States is about to wage a war, there has been this ongoing c1amour and fear that another ”Vietnam Syndrome,,2 could be repeated in the next invasi :)1}. Unlike the child who was burnt once by the fire, America burnt and it is still burning its soldiers after Vietnam. In the post-Vietnam era, America invented pretexts to suit every military adventure in her agenda, so it was ”\Var on Drugs” to invade Grenada 1J) 1983 and Panama in 1990, ”War as a Deterrent” to invade Lebanon 111 1982, and ”War of Liberation” to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. And recently, ”The War on• Ten’or” to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, In Vietnam, it was ”War on Communism” that lasted more than ten years. When the Vietnam War was going on, the country was more willing to avoid reference to it, and it did not want reminders of this topic especially in the entertainment. The American traditional theater of the ] 960s put the Vietnam War out of its consciousness and its playwrights and producers remained distanced from the subject. This was due to the . . support and funding from established institutions such as corporate bodies, civic bodies, private endowments foundations, and other grant awarding organizations.,,3 However, voices of dissent in theater, in particular, would not allow the country to forget. Eventually, political activists, dissidents, experimental Theater artists began to speak up and produce many avant-garde plays in order; to abort the imperialistic attempts and to expose the true intentions of the corrupt politicians. |