The American Stage

This book focuses on the economic and social forces which shaped American theatre throughout its 250-year history. The collection of essays, written by leading theatre historians and critics of the American theatre, represent a variety of methodologies and approaches, and reflect the disparity and diversity of the social and economic issues which have moulded the cultural heritage of America. Arranged chronologically, the volume explores such topics as anti-theatrical legislation in Colonial America; the theatre’s response to slavery, prostitution, alcoholism and women’s rights; the significance of black American musical comedy; women managers in nineteenth-century American theatre; economic welfare in the Federal Theatre Project; theatre nostalgia during the Reagan era; and issues of multiculturalism in theatre. Alone or as a collection, the essays will stimulate discussions concerning the traditionally held views of America’s theatrical heritage.

List of illustrations; Notes on the contributors; Preface Ron Engle and Tice L. Miller; Acknowledgements; Introduction: American theatre history scholarship Oscar G. Brockett; 1. The theatre and its audience: changing modes of social organisation in the American theatre Douglas McDermott; 2. Puritan mercantilism and the politics of anti-theatrical legislation in colonial America Peter A. Davis; 3. ‘Lady-managers’ in nineteenth-century American theatre Vera Mowry Roberts; 4. Hustlers in the house: the Bowery Theatre as a mode of historical information Rosemarie K. Bank; 5. Museum theatre and the problem of respectability for mid-century urban Americans Bruce A. McConachie; 6. Social awareness on stage: tensions mounting, 1850–1859 Walter J. Meserve; 7. The development of the American theatre program Marvin Carlson; 8. The Hyers Sisters: pioneers in black musical comedy Errol Hill; 9. Money without glory: turn-of-the-century America’s women playwrights Felicia Hardison Londré; 10. ‘For laughing purposes only’: the literature of American popular entertainment Brooks McNamara; 11. E pluribus unum: Bernhardt’s 1905–1906 farewell tour Stephen M. Archer; 12. Commercialism glorified and vilified: 1920s theatre and the business world Ronald H. Wainscott; 13. Quicksilver revisited: a portrait of the American stage in the 1930s Charles H. Shattuck; 14. The economic structure of the Federal Theatre Project Barry B. Witham; 15. The American Repertory Theatre (1946–1947) and the repertory ideal, a case study Daniel J. Watermeier; 16. Sojourning in Never Never Land: the idea of Hollywood in recent theatre autobiographies Thomas Postlewait; 17. Consuming the past: commercial American theatre in the Reagan era Alan Woods; 18. Narrative strategies in selected studies of American theatre economies Margaret M. Knapp; 19. Multiculturalism versus technoculturalism: its challenge to American theatre and the functions of arts management Stephen Langley; 20. Checklist of selected books on American theatre, 1960–1990 Don B. Wilmeth; Index.