The sun., 1919-11-02
American One-Act
Plays Selected

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ments in art. This has been particularly
noticeable In the field of dramatic en-
deayor; ten years ago you would find very
few people willing to declare that the
native drama of the United States was In
any way comparable with that Of England,
Germany or France. OF course, no one
to-day would dare maintain that any
American is likely to cause concern In the
breast of Barrie, or Hauptmann, or
Curel, over the loss of the latter's interna-
tional prestige; certainly we have no dra-
n,atist whose career entities him to q posi-
tlon beside the men I have mentioned But
we are advancing
1t is still the thing to point TO Eurepe's
theatre in admiration and follow Ger
many's lead in the. matter Of theatre con-
struction and management. However, We
may now pause for moment and survey
with pleasure our own achievements, and
even indulge our vanity when we hear of
Mr.. Norman Macdermott founding his
EverymdH's fhedter in London on the
principles worked out in our own little
theatres, and editing his magazine, by his
cwn confession, upon the policy of Mr..
Sheldon Cheney's Thedter Arts. English
men come to these shores to inspect our
little theatres and>see our plays
The tide is turning We have reason to
be proud. We must now take good care
not TO overestimate our achievements.
What these achievements are may be in
ferred from a casual examination of the
first collection of native one act plays:
Representative One-Act Plays By Ameri-
can Authors, edited by Margaret G. Ma
yorga These twenty-four plays afford US
Little more than a glimpse, however, of
what has been done, but that glimpse is
encouraging.
1t Will be realized in turning over the
pages Of this. book how far we have ad-
vanced in less than ten years The little
theatre has offered opportunities to the
native dramatist which he has not been
slow 30 seize;' the movement" has given
birth to young men and women who are al
ready well known from coast to coast. It
Is interesting to think that within the lin
fled realm Of the little theatre world there
b already a group of classics; such
authors as Eugene O'NeiT, Stuart Walker,
George Cram Cook, Susan Glaspel, Per-
eval Wilde, are now regarded as old
standbys.
Representative One-Act PLAYS by Amer
loan Authors will prove ssrviceable to lit
Gle theatre groups; it will also be Of inter
est to the reading public that cares about
American drama. As a record, it leaves
something TO be desired in the way Of his
torical data, though | am well aware that
the time has not yet come when a record
Of our contemporary achievements can be
made We might have done without the
little essay on the one act form: the sub
ject has been more exhaustively handled
by others.
The principal trouble with the book is
that the compiler ought to have included
either more plays or fewer. As it is, she
hoo AhSiuhCh ootlic ~ tuc DtSL lOO
many of the next best. 1t seems to me that
o volume of twenty-four American one
aeters ought TO have been devoted exclu-
sively to dramatists of the stamp Of
0'Neill, Cook, Glaspell, Middleton, Wilde,
Moeller, Atkins, Dresser, MacKaye Lang
ner, Walker. Or else a larger collection
might have been made, including nearly
all the truly representative efforts, good
and bad.
But no collection can meet the approval
Of everybody, and am aware that Miss
Mayorga was of necessity limited in her
choice. She has given us a book well cal
culated to arouse our pride; she deserves
our gratitude. B. Il. C.
REPRESENTATIVE ONE-AUT PLAYS
BY AMERICAN AUTHORS. Selected
L ~.