Class Divisions on the Broadway Stage : The Staging and Taming of the I.W.W.

w was instrumental in providing collegial and insightful feedback. At Palgrave, deepest appreciation goes to Don Wilmeth for his great support and guidance, to the remarkably patient Robyn Curtis, and to Erica Buchman, whose emails never fail to instill in me the fear of a wrathful Creator. My greatest thanks goes to my greatest asset, my wife, Kathleen Kerns. Examining twenty-five years of theatre history, this book covers the major plays that feature representations of the Industrial Workers of the World. American class movement and class divisions have long been reflected on the Broadway stage and here Michael Schwartz presents a fresh look at the conflict between labor and capital. Examining twenty-five years of theatre history, this book covers the major plays that feature representations of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.), or "Wobblies." American class movement and class divisions have long been reflected on the Broadway stage and, through the lens of the I.W.W., Michael Schwartz presents a fresh look at the conflict between labor and capital. From O'Neill's The Hairy Ape; Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted; John Howard Lawson's Processional; Harold Hickerson and Maxwell Anderson's Gods of the Lightning; and Upton Sinclair's Singing Jailbirds in the 1920s to O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh in 1946, Schwartz traces the plays' impact of I.W.W. as an actual agent for workers' rights and social change as well as the popular image of the Wobbly - how audiences "saw" Wobblies and what role they played in audience imagination Front Matter....Pages i-xi To Stop the World: The Most Stupendous Impossibles....Pages 1-22 Where Do I Get Off? The Wobblies I.W.W. Spurn The Hairy Ape....Pages 23-41 No Kick Coming: The Romantic Wobbly of Sidney Howard’s They Knew What They Wanted....Pages 43-58 Jazzing the Wobblies: John Howard Lawson’s Processional....Pages 59-74 Dead Hand of the Dead: Anderson and Hickerson’s Gods of the Lightning....Pages 75-92 “We Even Sing ‘em in Jap and Chink”: Upton Sinclair’s Workers’ Theatre Contribution....Pages 93-107 You I-Won’t-Work Harp: I.W.W. Elegy in The Iceman Cometh....Pages 109-126 Postscript: Not Time Yet....Pages 127-141 Back Matter....Pages 143-192