Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights / Edition 1

by Brenda Murphy

Overview

Building primarily on the critical, historical, and bibliographical scholarship of the last 20 years, this volume addresses the cultural and historical, critical and theoretical, and aesthetic and ideological aspects of women playwrights and their work throughout the history of the American theatre. Murphy (English, U. of Connecticut) presents 15 contributions, each of which introduces the reader to one or more playwrights who are discussed in the context of topics such as early comedy and melodrama, feminism and realism, the Harlem Renaissance, the feminist resurgence of the 1970s, and feminist dramatic theory. Contains a detailed chronology and bibliographical essays on recent criticism and African American women playwrights before 1930. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900521576801
Publication date:	06/28/1999
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of contributors; Preface; Chronology Stephanie Roach; Part I. Pioneers: 1. Comedies by early American women Amelia Howe Kritzer; 2. Women writing melodrama Sarah J. Blackstone; 3. Realism and feminism in the Progressive era Patricia R. Schroeder; Part II. Inheritors: 4. Susan Glaspell and Modernism Veronica Makowsky; 5. The Expressionist movement: Sophie Treadwell Jerry Dickey; 6. Feminism and the marketplace: the career of Rachel Crothers Brenda Murphy; 7. The Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement Judith L. Stephens; 8. Lillian Hellman: feminism, formalism, and politics Thomas P. Adler; 9. From Harlem to Broadway: African-American women playwrights at mid-century Margaret Wilkerson; Part III. New Feminists: 10. Feminist theory and contemporary drama Janet Brown; 11. Feminist theater of the 'Seventies' in the United States Helene Keyssar; 12. Contemporary Playwrights/traditional forms Laurin Porter; 13. Wendy Wasserstein: a feminist voice from the Seventies to the present Jan Balakian; Part IV. Further Reading: 14. Contemporary American women playwrights: a brief survey of key scholarship Christy Gavin; 15. African-American women playwrights before 1930 Christine R. Gray; Works cited; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'… an excellent collection of fifteen essays presenting complex analyses of the position of women and women's drama throughout American history, frequently offering opportunities for future research.' Theatre Research International

From the Publisher