Drama Worlds examines the complex improvised event called process drama and identifies it as an essential part of today's theatre. Cecily O'Neill considers process drama's sources and its connections with more familiar kinds of improvisation: the texts it generates, the kinds of roles available, its relation to its audience and dramatic time, and the leader's function in the event. She provides examples of several process dramas and identifies dramatic strategies and characteristics. The explicit associations between theatre form and process drama make O'Neill's approach accessible and its purposes and possibilities easy to understand, particularly to those working in actor training and theatre. Teachers and directors alike will discover effective ways of initiating and maintaining the drama world, achieving a significant dramatic experience for all participants.

A semiotic analysis is made of the six major plays by Eugene O'Neill and an attempt is made to yield a systematic analysis towards humanistic interpretations of texts. Theoretical interpretations are enriched with discussions of the plays. Technical matters such as the segmentation of the text are specified in appendices. Six semiotic dimensions have been studied: motifs, theatrical semiotic systems, their use in communicational functions, role function of the dramatis personae, their levels of awareness, and aristotelian divisions.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.