The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights

Newly commissioned essays explore the work of women playwrights throughout the history of the American theatre.

Brenda Murphy (Edited by)

9780521576802, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 June 1999

324 pages, 9 b/w illus. 1 table
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.525 kg

'… 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

This volume addresses the work of women playwrights throughout the history of the American theatre, from the early pioneers to contemporary feminists. Each chapter introduces the reader to the work of one or more playwrights and to a way of thinking about plays. Together they cover significant writers such as Rachel Crothers, Susan Glaspell, Lillian Hellman, Sophie Treadwell, Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Childress, Megan Terry, Ntozake Shange, Adrienne Kennedy, Wendy Wasserstein, Marsha Norman, Beth Henley and Maria Irene Fornes. Playwrights 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. A detailed chronology and illustrations enhance the volume, which also includes bibliographical essays on recent criticism and on African-American women playwrights before 1930.

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.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG]