| Description |
1 online resource (vii, 306 pages) : illustrations. |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Series |
Theater in the Americas
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Theater in the Americas.
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| Summary |
In the first half of the twentieth century, a number of American theatres and theatre artists fostered interracial collaboration and socialization on stage, behind the scenes, and among audiences. In an era marked by entrenched racial segregation and inequality, these artists used performance to bridge America's persistent racial divide and to bring African American, Latino/Latina, Asian American, Native American, and Jewish American communities and traditions into the nation's broader cultural conversation. In Experiments in Democracy, edited by Cheryl Black and Jonathan Shandell, theatre historians examine a wide range of performances--from Broadway, folk plays and dance productions to scripted political rallies and radio dramas. Contributors look at such diverse groups as the Theatre Union, La Uni#65533;n Mart#65533;-Maceo, and the American Negro Theatre, as well as individual playwrights and their works, including Theodore Browne's folk opera Natural Man, Josefina Niggli's Soldadera, and playwright Lynn Riggs's Cherokee Night and Green Grow the Lilacs (the basis for the musical Oklahoma!). Exploring the ways progressive artists sought to connect isolated racial and cultural groups in pursuit of a more just and democratic society, contributors take into account the blind spots, compromised methods, and unacknowledged biases at play in their practices and strategies. Essays demonstrate how the gap between the ideal of American democracy and its practice--mired in entrenched systems of white privilege, economic inequality, and social prejudice--complicated the work of these artists. Focusing on questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality on the stage in the decades preceding the Civil Rights era, Experiments in Democracy fills an important gap in our understanding of the history of the American stage--and sheds light on these still-relevant questions in contemporary American society. |
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"Essays in "Experiments in Democracy" look at theatre groups, as well as individual playwrights and their works, to examine how theatre artists used performance to try to bridge America's persistent racial divide and sought strategies for bringing different communities and cultural traditions into the nation's broader cultural conversation"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Trying on The Yellow Jacket: performing Chinese exclusion and assimilation (1912-28) / Ju Yon Kim -- Jazz, jews, and modernism on Broadway: from Lady, Be Good! to Show Boat (1924-27) / Stuart J. Hecht -- Reconfiguring race and citizenship: the Teatro Vernáculo of La Unión Martí-Maceo (1930-40) / Eric Mayer-García -- A cosmogony for the martinalized: Lynn Riggs, mythmaking, and multiracial-homosexual apologetics (1931-32) / W. Douglas Powers -- Moving the world toward brotherhood: representations of cultural "otherness" in the theatre union's Black Pit (1935) / Cheryl Black and Anne Fletcher -- (Re)visioning Mexican intellectual and peasant life: Josefina Niggli's plays with the Carolina playmakers (1936-38) / Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez -- The politics of black masculinity in Theodore Browne's Natural Man (1937) / Harry J. Elam Jr. -- Choreographing diversity and American experience: Myra Kinch and group, federal theatre project (1937-39) / Margaret F. Savilonis -- Imagined democracy: the federal theatre project performs (native) America (1938-39) / Elizabeth A. Osborne -- "Ethnic Americanism" versus isolationism: pluralistic antifascism in "fun to be free" (1941) / Garrett Eisler -- "Spain...brought me back to America": ghostings of other races in Paul Robeson's Othello and José Ferrer's Iago (1943) / Lisa Jackson-Schebetta -- Turning "negroes" into "people" onstage: Anna Lucasta in Harlem and on Broadway (1944) / Jonathan Shandell -- The stage door canteen: the American theatre wing's experiment in integration (1942-45) / Andrea Nouryeh. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Minorities in literature.
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Minorities in literature. |
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Race relations in literature.
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Race relations in literature. |
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American drama -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
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American drama. |
| Chronological Term |
20th century |
| Subject |
Ethnicity in the theater.
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Ethnicity in the theater. |
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Race in the theater.
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Race in the theater. |
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Theater and society -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Theater and society. |
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United States. |
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History. |
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Theater -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Theater. |
| Chronological Term |
1900-1999 |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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History.
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Electronic books.
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| Added Author |
Shandell, Jonathan, editor.
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Black, Cheryl, 1954- editor.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Experiments in democracy. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2016] 9780809334681 (DLC) 2015041537 (OCoLC)908376299 |
| ISBN |
0809334690 (electronic book) |
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0809334682 (paperback) |
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9780809334698 (electronic book) |
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9780809334681 (paperback) |
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