Failure, Fascism, and Teachers in American Theatre

James F. Wilson is the Executive Officer of the Theatre and Performance Program at the Graduate Center, CUNY, USA. His work has appeared in several chapter anthologies and academic journals, and he is the author of Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Race, Performance, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance (2010).

“Rarely do publications engage the roles of theatre scholar, historian, educator, and practitioner with so balanced an approach as does James F. Wilson’s Failure, Fascism, and Teachers in the American Theatre: Pedagogy of the Oppressors … . Educators and practitioners alike have much to learn from studying these plays … . This book smartly and effectively challenges theatremakers to think critically … and to create more honest, nuanced depictions of teachers that better represent their essential place in society.” (Collin Vorbeck, Theatre Topics, Vol. 34 (3), November, 2024)

• Chapter 1 - All the Single Ladies: A Century of School Marms and Spinsters.- Chapter 2 - Unfit to Teach: Morality, Panic, and Hazardous Teachers, 1920s-1940s.- Chapter 3 - Commies on Campus: Radical Liberalism and Academic Freedom, 1940s-1950s.- Chapter 4 - Crème de la Crème of Fascism: Miss Jean Brody, Miss Margarida, and Sister Mary Ignatius Explain It All for You, 1960s-1980s.- Chapter 5 - Failure to Achieve: A Report Card on Male Teachers in the Theatre.