Exploding the Kitchen Sink

The Kitchen Sink Drama is, for the purposes of this rant, the epitome of American naturalism. The Kitchen Sink Drama ("KSD") entails a myriad of domestic dramas. Generally the KSD is a one-set two-act play, and generally is set in an apartment in NYC, although sometimes it is set in a family farmhouse. The dialogue strives to sound natural, the situations generally are "realistic", and the stories more incidental than epic. The play generally is "well-made" and follows a linear trajectory. There are many wonderful, moving and true KSDs. I am certain there will be many more.

I, however, want nothing to do with them. The KSD is antithetical, in my opinion, to evolutionary theatricality. I want to explode the kitchen sink and move the American theatre out of its 100-year long romance with naturalism.

And so I have to ask: Why is naturalism still so prevalent on American stages? Why are theatre companies, emerging and established, still producing kitchen sink dramas? Why are playwrights still writing them? What is the ongoing appeal of naturalism/realism in the American theatre?

Is it simply that naturalism/realism is sanctioned voyeurism? Voyeurism is more than just a sexual act. It is a desire to view other people's lives intimately, to learn secrets of their lives and somehow validate the normalcy of our own lives. When we watch things that pretend to be real, are we not satisfying some urge to validate our own existences, no matter how mundane? So naturalism seems to me: a satisfying kind of voyeurism that is not only sanctioned (presented with the intention to be consumed), but that it is also ordered (most "realistic" plays, movies, etc. add up to something - a moral, a resolution, whatever). Is not reality TV then a trump when it comes to sanctioned voyeurism - one, because it purports itself to be "real" (certainly, we can agree that while it may not be real, it is less contrived than a kitchen sink drama) and two, because it embraces "real" life and imposes meaningful order upon it? Sanctioned voyeurism then works best in a film or television medium.

How can the new theatre of the 21st century still provide the satisfaction of sanctioned voyeurism and yet still have epic, theatrical possibilities?

How can we, as evolutionaries, understand its appeal while exploding the kitchen sink on theatres everywhere?