Title: American drama from the Colonial period through World War I : a critical history /
Authors: Richardson, Gary A., 1949-
Publisher: Twayne Publishers ; Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; Maxwell Macmillan International,
Year: 1993
Subjects: American drama History and criticism
Abstract: Though previously ignored as the nation's literary stepchild, the country's early drama emerges in American Drama from the Colonial Period through World War I as a dynamic cultural institution in which the social, political, economic, and artistic issues of the moment found representation for diverse, often contentious audiences. Suggesting the need to reexamine these neglected works, Gary A. Richardson argues that a more contemporary critical perspective results in a greater understanding of these plays' impact upon their original audiences, a clearer sense of the achievements of their authors, and the recovery of a long-lost segment of America's heritage. The volume moves chronologically through the nation's dramatic history, balancing observations about formal, aesthetic, and theatrical concerns with an examination of the influence of broad cultural forces upon the direction of the drama.^
Contents: 1. Colonial Drama. Colonial Attitudes and the Beginnings of Theater in America. The College Exercises and Dialogues. Colonial Comedy. Colonial Tragedy -- 2. Drama and the American Revolution. Whig and Tory Dialogues. Patriot Attacks. Tory Defense and Patriot Demur -- 3. Initial Experiments in the New Republic. Royal Tyler and Nationalistic Comedy. William Dunlap: The Professional Dramatist in the New Republic. James Nelson Barker: Republican Tragedy and Nationalistic Art -- 4. Tragedy and the Drama of High Culture. John Howard Payne and the Emergence of Romantic Drama. Robert Montgomery Bird: Romantic Drama in the Age of Jackson. George Henry Boker: Romantic Tragedy's Quintessence -- 5. The Popular Drama Before the Civil War. The Myth of the Frontier: The Noble Savages of Stone and Paulding. The Heirs of Jonathan: The Stage Yankee. High Society: Mowatt's "Fashion" The Slavery Plays of Aiken and Boucicault: Melodrama and Social Commentary -- 6. The World of Melodrama.