The History of North American Theater
The History of North American Theater

Author: Felicia Hardison Londré

Publisher: Burns & Oates

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13:

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Reveals the multicultural dimension of the history of North American theater, covering Mexican, Native US, Caribbean, and Canadian theater as well as US theater history. Coverage encompasses major theatrical developments, events, and influential figures, with sections on pre- Columbian performance, New Spain, the American colonies, New France, national stages, and the periods 1825-1870, 1870-1900, 1900-1945, and 1945 to the present. Includes some 300 bandw photos and illustrations. For students and general readers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

History of the North American Theater
History of the North American Theater

Author: Felicia Hardison Londré

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1998-01-01

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 9780826412331

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The third and final volume of Continuum's set on the History of World Theater. All the world's a stage! Yet the multicultural dimension of the American continent's stage remained an untold story until Felicia LondrT and Daniel Watermeier raised the curtain on the entire North American theatrical scene. This volume will fascinate scholar, student, and casual reader alike. With some 300 illustrations-many rare and previously unpublished-an extensive index, and separate bibliographies for each historical period, this volume is the perfect companion for anyone interested in the theater.>

Indigenous North American Drama
Indigenous North American Drama

Author: Birgit Däwes

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1438446616

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Traces the historical dimensions of Native North American drama using a critical perspective.

Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater
Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater

Author: James Fisher

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 1003

ISBN-13: 0810879506

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From legends like Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller to successful present-day playwrights like Neil LaBute, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet, some of the most important names in the history of theater are from the past 80 years. Contemporary American theater has produced some of the most memorable, beloved, and important plays in history, including Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Barefoot in the Park, Our Town, The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Odd Couple. Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater presents the plays and personages, movements and institutions, and cultural developments of the American stage from 1930 to 2010, a period of vast and almost continuous change. It covers the ever-changing history of the American theater with emphasis on major movements, persons, plays, and events. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 1,500 cross-referenced dictionary entries. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of American theater.

The Theater in Colonial America
The Theater in Colonial America

Author: Hugh F. Rankin

Publisher: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press

Published: 1965

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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The impact of the theater on colonial culture is approached in this study from the viewpoint of the historian rather than the dramatist. From the faded prints of playbills, newspaper advertisements, and court records, the men, women, and children who brought theater to America come to life with their great and petty problems. Originally published in 1965. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

America's Longest Run
America's Longest Run

Author: Andrew Davis

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 0271030534

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America&’s Longest Run: A History of the Walnut Street Theatre traces the history of America&’s oldest theater. The Philadelphia landmark has been at or near the center of theatrical activity since it opened, as a circus, on February 2, 1809. This book documents the players and productions that appeared at this venerable house and the challenges the Walnut has faced from economic crises, changing tastes, technological advances, and competition from new media. The Walnut&’s history is a classic American success story. Built in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Walnut responded to the ever-changing tastes and desires of the theatergoing public. Originally operated as a stock company, the Walnut has offered up every conceivable form of entertainment&—pageantry and spectacle, opera, melodrama, musical theater, and Shakespeare. It escaped the wrecking ball during the Depression by operating as a burlesque house, a combination film and vaudeville house, and a Yiddish theater, before becoming the Philadelphia headquarters for the Federal Theatre Project. Because Philadelphia is located so close to New York City, the Walnut has served as a tryout house for many Broadway-bound shows, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Diary of Anne Frank, and A Raisin in the Sun. Today, the Walnut operates as a nonprofit performing arts center. It is one of the most successful producing theaters in the country, with more than 350,000 attending performances each year.

Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal
Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal

Author: Kate Dossett

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2020-01-29

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1469654431

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Between 1935 and 1939, the United States government paid out-of-work artists to write, act, and stage theatre as part of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a New Deal job relief program. In segregated "Negro Units" set up under the FTP, African American artists took on theatre work usually reserved for whites, staged black versions of "white" classics, and developed radical new dramas. In this fresh history of the FTP Negro Units, Kate Dossett examines what she calls the black performance community—a broad network of actors, dramatists, audiences, critics, and community activists—who made and remade black theatre manuscripts for the Negro Units and other theatre companies from New York to Seattle. Tracing how African American playwrights and troupes developed these manuscripts and how they were then contested, revised, and reinterpreted, Dossett argues that these texts constitute an archive of black agency, and understanding their history allows us to consider black dramas on their own terms. The cultural and intellectual labor of black theatre artists was at the heart of radical politics in 1930s America, and their work became an important battleground in a turbulent decade.

Forgeries of Memory and Meaning
Forgeries of Memory and Meaning

Author: Cedric J. Robinson

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2012-09-01

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1469606755

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Cedric J. Robinson offers a new understanding of race in America through his analysis of theater and film of the early twentieth century. He argues that economic, political, and cultural forces present in the eras of silent film and the early "talkies" firmly entrenched limited representations of African Americans. Robinson grounds his study in contexts that illuminate the parallel growth of racial beliefs and capitalism, beginning with Shakespearean England and the development of international trade. He demonstrates how the needs of American commerce determined the construction of successive racial regimes that were publicized in the theater and in motion pictures, particularly through plantation and jungle films. In addition to providing new depth and complexity to the history of black representation, Robinson examines black resistance to these practices. Whereas D. W. Griffith appropriated black minstrelsy and romanticized a national myth of origins, Robinson argues that Oscar Micheaux transcended uplift films to create explicitly political critiques of the American national myth. Robinson's analysis marks a new way of approaching the intellectual, political, and media racism present in the beginnings of American narrative cinema.

Starring Women
Starring Women

Author: Sara E. Lampert

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 0252052234

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Women performers played a vital role in the development of American and transatlantic entertainment, celebrity culture, and gender ideology. Sara E. Lampert examines the lives, careers, and fame of overlooked figures from Europe and the United States whose work in melodrama, ballet, and other stage shows shocked and excited early U.S. audiences. These women lived and performed the tensions and contradictions of nineteenth-century gender roles, sparking debates about women's place in public life. Yet even their unprecedented wealth and prominence failed to break the patriarchal family structures that governed their lives and conditioned their careers. Inevitable contradictions arose. The burgeoning celebrity culture of the time forced women stage stars to don the costumes of domestic femininity even as the unsettled nature of life in the theater defied these ideals. A revealing foray into a lost time, Starring Women returns a generation of performers to their central place in the early history of American theater.