The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights

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.

• Addresses the full range of drama by American women, from the eighteenth century to present day • Uses a variety of approaches in its critical essays • Includes bibliograhical essays on recent criticism and on archival research

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.

‘… 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