Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1940s
by Felicia Hardison Londré
The Decades of Modern American Drama series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equips readers with a detailed understanding of the context from which work emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with a focus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture, media, technology, industry and political events; while a chapter on the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thorough survey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements and developments in response to the economic and political conditions of the day. The work of the four most prominent playwrights from the decade receives in-depth analysis and re-evaluation by a team of experts, together with commentary on their subsequent work and legacy. A final section brings together original documents such as interviews with the playwrights and with directors, drafts of play scenes, and other previously unpublished material.The major playwrights and their works to receive in-depth coverage in this volume include:* Eugene O'Neill: The Iceman Cometh (1946), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1947), Long Day's Journey Into Night (written 1941, produced 1956), and A Touch of the Poet (written 1942, produced 1958);* Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie (1944), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Summer and Smoke (1948);* Arthur Miller: All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), and The Crucible (1953);* Thornton Wilder: Our Town (1938), The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and The Alcestiad (written 1940s).
Paperback
English
Brand New
Author Biography
Felicia Hardison Londré, Curators' Professor of Theatre at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA, is Dean of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre (2012-2014). Her many books include The Enchanted Years of the Stage: Kansas City at the Crossroads of American Theatre, 1870-1930 (2007), awarded the George Freedley Memorial Award by the Theatre Library Association. For 23 years she was dramaturg for Missouri Repertory Theatre.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsBiographical Note and Notes on ContributorsGeneral Preface: Brenda Murphy and Julia Listengarten1. Introduction to the 1940s2. American Theatre in the 1940s3. Introducing the Playwrights4. Eugene O'Neill: Love and Loss of the Soul by Zander Brietzske5. Thornton Wilder: Seeing Beyond Dark Times by Felicia Hardison Londré, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA.6. Tennessee Williams: Experimentation and 'The Great American Play'by Thomas Keith, Pace University, USA.7. Arthur Miller: The Individual and Social Responsibility by Valleri J.Robinson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.AfterwordDocumentsA High-School Perspective on Theatre in 1947 by Ann Crisp, Collecting O'Neill by Lamar LentzActing in The Skin of Our Teeth with Helen Hayes by Hank WhittemoreTennessee Williams in Provincetown by David KaplanMapping Arthur Miller's Brooklyn by Steven MarinoRetrospective by Thomas D. Pawley IIINotesBibliographyIndex
Review
A pleasure to read throughout. * British Theatre Guide *
Promotional
This volume offers a detailed account of the cultural, social, political and economic context for the theatre produced in 1940s America, and offers an indepth study of the work of four of the decade's major playwrights.
Review Quote
A pleasure to read throughout.
Promotional "Headline"
This volume offers a detailed account of the cultural, social, political and economic context for the theatre produced in 1940s America, and offers an indepth study of the work of four of the decade's major playwrights.
Feature
Offers detailed study of the best work of four of the top six American playwrights of all time whose work is commonly studied on literature and theatre courses from high school upwards
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