The Universe Within Four Walls: Performing Pullman Car Hiawatha in the Classroom Available to Purchase

Thornton Wilder’s Pullman Car Hiawatha is a highly useful text for teaching ideas of theatricality and theatrical space, especially to Introduction to Theatre students. This article first explores intellectual, physical, and spiritual space, detailing how Wilder peels back the layers of lived existence to show how much of the world we do not perceive or simply misunderstand. The article then describes how performing a concert reading with students during class time, although sometimes chaotic, helps them understand the complexity of the text and the importance of performance space in creating meaning within a theatrical work.