When audiences attend a theater event, they bring more than their mere presence; they bring a background of personal knowledge and a set of expectations that shape the experience. This background includes personal memories; an awareness of social, political, and philosophical matters; specific information about the play and playwright; and expectations about what will happen during the performance. Art is a mirror of its age, revealing the prevailing attitudes, underlying assumptions, and deep-seated beliefs of a particular group. While it is possible for a play to be universal-meaning that the art of one age has so defined the characteristics of human beings that it can successfully speak to another age-it must be remembered that, in order to truly understand a work of art, the given time and place from which it emerged must also be understood. In addition, it is sometimes helpful to have additional knowledge about the play itself, as well as the playwright. This may give us insight into aspects of the play that may initially seem difficult or incomprehensible. Finally, the place the performance occurs can have an important effect on the nature of the theatrical experience. Productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway, as well as in resident professional theaters, at colleges or universities, or in multiethnic and multicultural theaters have different atmospheres and raise different expectations in the minds of its audience. In the past, theater experiences were relatively uniform within any one society, but in contemporary society their time, place, content, and purpose are far more varied. Theater groups today produce works expressing the viewpoints of people of all political, ethnic, gender, and racial perspectives: African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, feminists, gays, lesbians, and others.