(Below is a chronology of avant-garde plays and playwrights, dating back to the mid 1800s. This admittedly subjective view of history focuses on writers who were very much part of an "anti-tradition", including those linked with movements such as Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Later approaches, such as Performance Art and Butoh, are also included. The last years of this chronology - from the 1990s to the present - are still under construction.)