Theatre Culture in America, 1825–1860

A study of pre-Civil War American theatre.

Rosemarie K. Bank (Author)

9780521033039, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2007

308 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.47 kg

"...Bank says things that are interesting and new....her treatment...is subtle and satisfyingly dense and...truly valuable." American Studies

Theatre Culture in America, 1825–1860 examines how Americans staged their cultures in the decades before the Civil War, and advances the idea that cultures are performances which take place both inside and outside of playhouses. Americans imaginatively expanded conventional ideas of performance as an activity restricted to theatres in order to take up the staging of culture in other venues - in issues of class, race and gender, in parades and the visits of dignitaries, in rioting and the denomination of prostitutes, and in views of the town, the city and the frontier. Joining historical research with a firm and clear-headed grasp of contemporary critical theory, Theatre Culture in America offers an interesting approach to the complex intersections of American theatre and culture.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue: universal spaces
1. The return of Lafayette
2. The opening of the Erie canal
Part I. Spaces of Representation: 3. The town
4. The city
5. The frontier
Part II. Liminal Spaces: 6. Work
7. Class
Part III. Spaces of Legitimation: 8. Bodying forth
9. Sensation scenes
10. Displaced play
Epilogue: simultaneous spaces
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]