Modern Dramatists Research and Production Sourcebooks – serie

Best known as a revolutionary playwright of the 1930s, Clifford Odets may have reached his zenith when four of his plays were produced on Broadway in 1935: Waiting for Lefty, Till the Day I Die, Awake and Sing!, and Paradise Lost. His plays, however, also show a romantic strain and are at least as much inimate and personal as they are political, often reflecting the isolation and loneliness of individuals in family settings. Never achieving the acclaim of Eugene O'Neill, who came before, or Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, who followed, Odets bridged the gap between earlier melodramatic theatre and the mature post-World War II drama on the American stage, creating rich and varied drama well into the 1950s. That his plays continue to be appraised and performed is clearly evident in this detailed and carefully articulated sourcebook.A near-exhaustive resource for both literary and theatrical research materials on Odets's dramatic career, the volume is organized and indexed for quick reference. Included are a biographical essay; critical overview, production history, and plot summary of each dramatic product; annotated primary and secondary bibliographies and information on archival sources; and production credits. Essential for research libraries and theatre collections, the volume will be useful to theatre scholars and practitioners and to anyone interested in the work of this significant modern American playwright.

Co-founder of the Provincetown Players and one of its leading writers, Susan Glaspell won the Pulitzer Prize for Alison's House (1930) and was also successful as an actress, producer, and novelist. Her plays were compared, often favorably, with O'Neill's. After a period of eclipse, Glaspell's concern with woman's desire for selfhood brought her plays to the attention of feminist scholarship beginning in the 1970s. Mary Papke argues in this work for a reassessment of Glaspell as a major American playwright. This sourcebook begins with a bio-critical survey and includes plot summaries for each staged work, complete with production history and critical reception. An annotated bibliography of primary works includes plays, novels, short fiction, nonfiction, nonprint, and archival sources. The secondary bibliography documents reviews and provides extensive annotations for a broad range of materials. Chronologically organized, it constitutes a detailed examiniation of Glaspell criticism.

Though better known for his poetry, T. S. Eliot wrote seven important plays between 1926 and 1958, of which Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949) may be most produced. Posthumously, he won Tony Awards in 1983 for the musical adaptation of his poetry in the Broadway production of Cats. He was at the forefront of a mid-twentieth-century revival of the genre of verse drama and also wrote a considerable body of dramatic criticism. Notwithstanding the hundreds of critical sources annotated in this bibliography, the Eliot industry has neglected the plays in recent years, producing few important studies on par with those on the poetry.This new sourcebook surveys the entire dramaturgical and critical discourse surrounding Eliot's plays. A separate chapter for each play provides characters, synopsis, detailed production history, critical overview of both performance reviews and scholarly response, textual notes and influences, and publishing history. The comprehensive bibliography is divided into sections for primary works, including Eliot's plays and essays on drama plus interviews and archival materials, and secondary sources, including scholarly and review criticism in general and of single plays. Also featured are a chronology of major career events, an introductory analysis, and an appendix of additional performance adaptations. Two other appendixes offer chronological access to all secondary sources and succinct data on major productions and their credits. Fully cross-referenced and indexed, this exhaustive compendium makes information and resources immediately accessible to anyone doing research on Eliot or modern British and American drama.

Rachel Crothers had a fascinating and influential career as a woman playwright and director. She was a major part of Broadway history during the first half of the 20th century, when she wrote for leading actresses such as Tallulah Bankhead, Katharine Cornell, and Gertrude Lawrence. While she is primarily known for her plays, she also worked for a time in Hollywood, and many of her plays were filmed—some more than once.This volume presents a biographical and critical overview of Crothers's life and career, along with synopses of her plays, descriptions of the critics' responses to each play, and substantial primary and secondary bibliographies. This book makes suggestions about the criticism that Crothers's work has elicited in the past, as well as about the directions that criticism might and should take in the future. Because of Crothers's work on Broadway, the book is a valuable guide to theater history throughout the 1900s, particularly because of the detailed cast and production information provided in the entries.

Sean O'Casey is recognized as one of the most important Irish playwrights of the 20th century. When he was in his early 20s, he committed himself to the nationalist struggle to free Ireland from English domination. During the Dublin General Strike and Lock-Out of 1913, he came to appreciate the importance of social class, and he rejected Irish nationalism in favor of international socialism. Though The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock helped save the Abbey Theatre from near bankruptcy, The Plough and the Stars drew open criticism in 1926, when nationalists rioted over O'Casey's treatment of the Easter Rebellion.This reference work is a comprehensive guide to O'Casey's plays. The volume begins with an introductory essay that discusses the political themes of his plays, the controversy surrounding his works in Ireland, the response to his plays in England and other countries, and the growth of academic interest in O'Casey in the 1960s. Plot summaries and critical overviews are provided for all of his dramatic works, and production credits are given for major performances of his plays. The volume includes extensive annotated bibliographical information for secondary sources, including reviews.

Behrman's prolific career as a Broadway playwright and Hollywood screenwriter spans a period from the 1920s to the mid-1960s. As a writer for popular performance, he had to contend with commercial influences and with producers and directors involved in the dynamics of the collaborative process. Though eminently successful, his works have not received adequate critical scrutiny. His ouevre probably will never be fully determined because of collaboration, numerous rewrites, and the many unpublished and unproduced plays and scripts.Author Robert F. Gross here provides an immensely detailed record of the primary materials, published and unpublished, including plays, filmscripts, fiction, and essays, and of the critical response, both reviews and analytical studies. Focusing on Behrman as a dramatist, Gross has written extensive plot summaries and critical overviews for each of fifty-one plays. Where applicable, full production credits are given for premieres and revivals, and references are made to reviews and commentary about specific productions as well as to the plays in general. The annotated secondary bibliography is divided into chronologically organized sections for reviews and for books, parts of books, and articles. Fully cross-referenced, the material is also accessible through an author index to the secondary bibliography and a general subject index. In an opening appraisal, Gross expresses his appreciation for Behrman, whose high comedies he finds to be informed by a probing ethical conscience and whose goal of scrupulosity he emulates in his own work. This scrupulous playwright is here given his due in a comprehensive sourcebook of value for theatre historians and theatre professionals.

One of the most important American playwrights of the 20th century, Maxwell Anderson won a Pulitzer Prize for Both Your Houses (1933), and New York Drama Critics Circle awards for Winterset (1935) and High Tor (1936). Though he believed that poetry was the glory of drama, he also devoted himself to realism. His crowning achievement was Winterset, in which he popularized the use of blank verse in contemporary drama. During a career that spanned more than a quarter century, he wrote 33 plays, many of which were produced in European capitals and were translated into more than a dozen languages.As a comprehensive guide to Anderson's career, this reference book is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in American drama. An introductory essay discusses Anderson's life and work. The bulk of the text provides synopses and critical overviews of his plays, a feature useful to readers unacquainted with his works. Also included is cast information for major productions. Annotated bibliographies cover primary sources, as well as books, chapters, and articles about Anderson. A separate bibliography cites and annotates reviews of performances.

Among the most commercially successful female playwrights of all times, Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) is best remembered as the author of The Women (1936), a biting social comedy. Beginning in 1942, she spent less of her time writing plays and turned instead to the wider stage of politics and world affairs. She was the editor of Vanity Fair magazine, a congresswoman, and an ambassador to Italy during the Eisenhower administration.This book traces her transition from playwright to politician to Catholic apologist. It uncovers for the first time plays, both early and late, that dramatize her spiritual and artistic journey. A comprehensive survey of her plays and the world's reception to them, the book provides a thorough treatment of Luce's published and unpublished work. For each play, the volume includes a plot summary, critical commentary, and production information. The book also includes an exhaustive and generously-annotated bibliography of both popular reviews and scholarly criticism.

William Saroyan, one of the most prolific writers in America, was the first playwright to win simultaneously both the New York Drama Critics' Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize in playwriting for The Time of Your Life in 1940. In spite of his success, he quickly disappeared from the public eye. During the 1960s and 1970s, he wrote plays but did not allow them to be produced or published. Shortly before his death in 1981, his Play Things was produced at Vienna's English Theatre.This volume concentrates in one source the tremendous amount of information available about Saroyan's life and work in the theatre. A chronology provides a capsule summary of the chief events in his career, and a critical overview assesses his place in American theatre. Entries for his plays include plot synopses, production information, and critical commentary. Annotated primary and secondary bibliographies list his published works, production reviews, and other writings about his theatrical career. The volume also includes archival sources to foster additional research about Saroyan.

When Ma Rainey's Black Bottom opened in 1984, August Wilson was unknown in theatre. By 1988 he was described as the foremost dramatist of the American black experience and was the most acclaimed playwright of his time by 1990. He is one of only seven American playwrights to win two Pulitzer prizes and one of only three black playwrights to receive that award. Remarkably, Wilson has been able to explore and communicate the American black experience, while also achieving a universality that attracts the white audiences needed for commercial success. Based on extensive research that includes two interviews with Wilson, this reference book is a comprehensive guide to Wilson's life and career.The volume begins with a chronology outlining the principle events in Wilson's rise from the racism he experienced as a youth in Pittsburgh to his triumphs on the New York stage. A brief biography illuminates his approach to writing plays, his outlook on life and the theatre, and the way his experiences have shaped his art. The volume then provides plot synopses for each of Wilson's plays, an overview of their critical reception, production histories, and extensive annotated bibliographic information. Thus the book provides a detailed record of the development of interest in Wilson's work from the critical acclaim of his early plays to his recent controversial debate with Robert Brustein.

Born in the Southside of Chicago in 1930, Lorraine Hansberry and her family moved to a large house in a white neighborhood in 1938. In order to live there, her father had to fight a civil rights case in the Supreme Court against segregationists. Her experiences with racial discrimination fueled her strong commitment to social justice and inspired her works. In 1959, her first-produced play, A Raisin in the Sun, met the enthusiastic praise of Broadway critics and audiences alike. It was the first and longest running play by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. When it won the New York Drama Circle Award for the best new drama that year, Hansberry became the first black woman and the youngest recipient to earn that honor. She died just a few years later, in 1965, without ever fully realizing her potential. This reference book is a guide to her career.The volume begins with a chronology that recounts the major events in Hansberry's brief but influential life. Entries are then listed for her plays, including A Raisin in the Sun(1959), The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964), To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969), Les Blancs (1970), The Drinking Gourd (1972), What Use Are Flowers (1972), and the unfinished Toussaint (1986). Each entry includes a plot summary, critical commentary, and production information, when available. An annotated bibliography of works by and about Hansberry, along with a list of unpublished material and archival sources, complete the volume.

Best remembered today for her acclaimed 1928 expressionist drama Machinal, based in part on the infamous murder trial of Ruth Snyder, Sophie Treadwell was an innovative American dramatist whose career spanned almost 60 years and nearly 40 plays. A relentless experimenter in dramatic subjects, styles, and forms, Treadwell was one of a select number of American women playwrights who also actively produced and directed their own works. She was also a professional journalist, and she constantly used her writings to explore women's personal and social struggles for independence and equality. This is the first book to chronicle her many achievements. The volume includes a career and biographical overview, detailed plot summaries and critical introductions to her plays, an annotated bibliography of works by and about her, and an exhaustive production history.Studies of American theatre have too long omitted the accomplishments of Sophie Treadwell. Although best remembered today for only a single work, the explosive 1928 drama Machinal, Treadwell maintained a career in the theatre that spanned close to 60 years and included the authorship of approximately 40 plays. At a time when women playwrights were growing steadily among the ranks of Broadway dramatists, Treadwell was one of a select few of these women who also actively produced and directed their own plays. She became a relentless and articulate advocate for the commercial and artistic rights afforded playwrights on Broadway and around the world. She experimented with a range of dramatic structures and styles, and often tackled timely or controversial subjects which she knew would prove unpopular with commercial producers. Most significantly, she continually placed female characters in subject positions in her plays and dramatized women's personal and social struggles for independence and equality.In spite of her achievements, Treadwell has been largely overlooked. But after highly prominent revivals of ^IMachinal^R by the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1990 and London's Royal National Theatre in 1993, she has begun to be recognized for her enormous contributions to the American stage. This volume is a comprehensive reference guide to her life and work. A biography and chronology summarize the most important events in her career. The book then presents summaries and critical overviews of her many plays. The work includes an extensive annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and it concludes with production histories for her works.

George Kelly was a pioneer realist in the American theater who not only enjoyed popular and critical success, but also remained true to his own moral vision of theater as an art form despite what he considered vulgar influences that catered to the popular taste. Drawing upon the canon of Kelly's published plays as well as on manuscripts for four plays never before published or widely discussed by critics, this volume chronicles the evolution of this important craftsman and director from his earliest and most critically lauded examinations of America's upper middle-class family life to his often spartan commentary on changing American morals and tastes.Calling into question the short-sighted assessments of scholars and critics who discount Kelly's achievements as formulaic and misogynistic, this reference reveals the broad spectrum of critical opinion which generally admired his theatrical skill and moral commitment. An opening biography surveys Kelly's career, while the chapters that follow give detailed information about his works. Included are plot synopses and production histories of his plays, along with an extensive annotated bibliography of reviews and scholarly studies.

Widely acclaimed as one of America's most distinguished female playwrights, Lillian Hellman made an entrance into a largely male-dominated field in 1934 with The Children's Hour, a drama that rocked the literary establishment with its frank treatment of lesbianism while calling attention to her writing talents. Written between 1934 and 1963, Hellman's dramatic canon includes eight original plays and four adaptations. Two of these, Watch on the Rhine (1941) and Toys in the Attic (1960), received Drama Critics' Circle Awards. In addition to her dramatic activities, she wrote three memoirs and a novella, contributed articles to national magazines, edited Chekov's letters and Dashiell Hammett's mysteries, and penned several screenplays. She is probably best known for The Little Foxes (1939), her drama about a family of predatory entrepreneurs who seek to build an industrial fortune on the ruins of the old South.Both a quick reference guide and an exhaustive resource, this volume provides broad and thorough coverage of Hellman's dramatic career. It begins with a critical overview of her life, along with a chronology of her accomplishments. The bulk of the book, which treats her eight original plays and four adaptations, all written for the Broadway stage, provides detailed plot summaries, stage histories, and critical overviews. The next section offers an annotated bibliography of primary sources. This is followed by an annotated secondary bibliography, which is divided into sections on reviews, books, and articles. Entries in the bibliographies are first arranged chronologically and then alphabetically, so that the reader can gain a fuller sense of the development of Hellman's career and the response to her works over time. Detailed indexes conclude the volume and offer full alphabetical access to its contents.