American Theatre

American Theatre PDF

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2001-02-22

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 9780195123470

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Volume Four of the distinguished American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama series offers a thorough, candid, and fascinating look at the theater in New York during the last decades of the twentieth century.

The Emergence of the Modern American Theater, 1914-1929

The Emergence of the Modern American Theater, 1914-1929 PDF

Author: Ronald Harold Wainscott

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9780300067767

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Exploring the emergence of the modern American theatre in New York during a period of immense creative output and experimentation and against a backdrop of conflicting cultural, economic and political events, this text draws upon material from plays and productions in between 1914-1929.

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1869-1914

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1869-1914 PDF

Author: Gerald Bordman

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 1994-03-10

Total Pages: 802

ISBN-13: 9780195037647

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This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American Musical Theatre did for our song-and-dance entertainments: it chronicles, in order by opening, every Broadway comedy and drama, show by show, season by season, offering a plot synopsis, principal players, and important statistics. Scenery and costumes are described where they might be of interest, and comments of the plays' contemporary critics are quoted. In many instances, extended excerpts from the play are included to give the reader a fuller understanding of its nuances and its period dialogue. Also included, and worked chronologically into the text, are details about cheap-priced, cliff-hanging melodramas, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl and His Sister's Shame, which were among America's most popular diversions in theatres catering to blue-collar playgoers until silent films drew away their audiences. Examples of shows produced and designed for other than New York are included. This volume deals with the great expansion of American theatre after the Civil War, the careers of such prominent actors and actresses as Edwin Booth, Mrs. Fiske, the Drew and Barrymore families, the first important American playwrights like Clyde Fitch, producers like David Belasco, and the influence of foreign plays and players. This stage history, besides giving a sense of each production, touches on the literary worth of the plays, provides brief biographies of major figures, and sets all of this against the economic and social backgrounds of the time. Readers will close the book feeling they, like their parents and grandparents, have sat through performances of these shows of another era.

America's Longest Run

America's Longest Run PDF

Author: Andrew Davis

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 0271035781

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"Traces the history of the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia from its founding in 1809. Documents the productions and players at the theater, and the difficulties it has faced from economic crises, changing tastes, and competition from new media"--Provided by publisher.

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1914-1930

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1914-1930 PDF

Author: Gerald Bordman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 9780195090789

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The American Theatre series discusses every Broadway production chronologically--show by show and season by season. It offers plot summaries, production details, names of leading actors and actresses--the roles they played, as well as any special or unusual aspects of individual shows. This second volume in the series, covers what is probably the richest period in American theater, the years 1914 through 1930. Bordman includes most of Eugene O'Neill's work, along with playwrights as diverse as Elmer Rice and George Kaufman. Among the era's stars one finds John and Ethel Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell, and Lynn Fontaine and Alfred Lunt. Considering the sheer number of productions, American theater climbed to its all-time high in the 1920s; by mid-decade, nearly 300 new plays appeared on Broadway each year. America saw more theatrical activity--in every sense of the word-- than any time before or since.

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1869-1914

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama 1869-1914 PDF

Author: Gerald Bordman

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 1994-03-10

Total Pages: 802

ISBN-13: 9780195037647

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American Musical Theatre did for our song-and-dance entertainments: it chronicles, in order by opening, every Broadway comedy and drama, show by show, season by season, offering a plot synopsis, principal players, and important statistics. Scenery and costumes are described where they might be of interest, and comments of the plays' contemporary critics are quoted. In many instances, extended excerpts from the play are included to give the reader a fuller understanding of its nuances and its period dialogue. Also included, and worked chronologically into the text, are details about cheap-priced, cliff-hanging melodramas, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl and His Sister's Shame, which were among America's most popular diversions in theatres catering to blue-collar playgoers until silent films drew away their audiences. Examples of shows produced and designed for other than New York are included. This volume deals with the great expansion of American theatre after the Civil War, the careers of such prominent actors and actresses as Edwin Booth, Mrs. Fiske, the Drew and Barrymore families, the first important American playwrights like Clyde Fitch, producers like David Belasco, and the influence of foreign plays and players. This stage history, besides giving a sense of each production, touches on the literary worth of the plays, provides brief biographies of major figures, and sets all of this against the economic and social backgrounds of the time. Readers will close the book feeling they, like their parents and grandparents, have sat through performances of these shows of another era.