Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1930s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations (Decades of Modern American Drama: Playwriting from the 1930s to 2009, 2)

The Decades of Modern American Drama series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equips readers with a detailed understanding of the context from which work emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with a focus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture, media, technology, industry and political events; while a chapter on the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thorough survey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements and developments in response to the economic and political conditions of the day. The work of the four most prominent playwrights from the decade receives in-depth analysis and re-evaluation by a team of experts, together with commentary on their subsequent work and legacy. A final section brings together original documents such as interviews with the playwrights and with directors, drafts of play scenes, and other previously unpublished material. The major playwrights and their works to receive in-depth coverage in this volume include: - Clifford Odets: Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awake and Sing! (1935) and Golden Boy (1937); - Lillian Hellman: The Children s Hour (1934), The Little Foxes (1939), and Days to Come (1936); - Langston Hughes: Mulatto (1935), Mule Bone (1930, with Zora Neale Hurston) and Little Ham (1936); - Gertrude Stein: Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938), Four Saints in Three Acts (written in 1927, published in 1932) and Listen to Me (1936). Acknowledgements Biographical Note and Notes on Contributors General Preface: Brenda Murphy and Julia Listengarden 1. Introduction to the 1930s by Anne Fletcher, Illinois University Carbondale, USA. 2. American Theatre in the 1930s by Anne Fletcher, Illinois University Carbondale, USA. 3. Gertrude Stein, Four Saints in Three Acts (written in 1927, published in 1932), Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938); Listen to Me (1936) by Laura Luise Schultz, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 4. Langston Hughes, Mulatto (1935), Mule Bone (1930) (with Zora Neale Hurston), Little Ham (1936) by Adrienne Macki, University of Connecticut, USA. 5. Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awake and Sing! (1935), Paradise Lost (1935), Golden Boy (1937), Rocket to the Moon (1938), Night Music (1940) by Christopher J. Herr, Missouri State University, USA. 6. Lillian Hellman, The Children s Hour (1934), Days to Come (1936), The Little Foxes (1939) by Anne Fletcher, Illinois University Carbondale, USA. Afterword Documents Notes Bibliography Index FC Half title Decades of Modern American Drama: Playwriting from the 1930s to 2009 Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Biographical Note and Notes on Contributors General Preface Julia Listengarten and Brenda Murphy 1 Introduction to the 1930s Anne Fletcher Life in the 1930s The Great Depression and the New Deal Domestic life Education Sports and recreation Science and technology Labour and the working class Arts and culture Literature Poetry Painting Photography Architecture and design Music Dance Media Radio Film 2 American Theatre inthe 1930s Anne Fletcher Before the Crash After the economic collapse: The 1930s Labour(ing) drama: The production companies, the playwrights and the plays Not a success story for John Howard Lawson Poetry and politics: Maxwell Anderson No time for comedy? Hokum: High and low The mythic, the surreal and the sublime: William Saroyan’s My Heart’s in the Highlands and The Time 3 Gertrude Stein: Four Saints in Three Acts (written in 1927, published in 1932), Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938), Listen To Me (1936) Laura Schultz Early life Early writing Approaching the play Conversation pieces and landscape plays Identity and fame The war and after the war How many saints are there in it?: Four Saints in Three Acts Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder And the dog says thank you: Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights Important productions of Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights Nobody has met anyone: Listen To Me The impact and legacy of Gertrude Stein on theatre and performance Gertrude Stein onstage 4 Langston Hughes: Mulatto (1935), The Mule Bone (1930) (with Zora Neale Hurston), Little Ham (1936) Adrienne Macki Mulatto The Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life Little Ham Conclusion 5 Clifford Odets: Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awake and Sing! (1935), Paradise Lost (1935), Golden Boy (1937), Rocket to the Moon (1938), Night Music (1940) Christopher J. Herr Waiting for Lefty Awake and Sing! Paradise Lost Golden Boy Rocket to the Moon and Night Music 6 Lillian Hellman: The Children’s Hour (1934), Days to Come (1936), The Little Foxes (1939) Anne Fletcher The Children’s Hour Maybe too well-made Days to Come The Little Foxes The plays today Afterword Anne Fletcher Gertrude Stein – ‘What is the answer?’ Langston Hughes – ‘I, too, am America’ Clifford Odets – ‘The last sixteen wasted years’ Lillian Hellman – ‘No secrets about her feelings’ Documents Excerpts from the Gertrude Stein Symposium at New York University (2001) Langston Hughes, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’ (1926) ‘Langston Hughes Proposes an Oath to End All Oaths for Americans’ (1951) Excerpts from Clifford Odets’s HUAC testimony (1952) Draft of Lillian Hellman’s letter to HUAC, written in the form of a public statement, to be issued in the event Hellman refused to testify (1952) Workers’ theatre: Excerpts from Mordecai Gorelik, ‘Theatre is a Weapon’ (1934) Notes Bibliography Index Decades of Modern American Drama' provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equips readers with a detailed understanding of the context from which the work emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with a focus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture, media, technology, industry and political events ; while a chapter on the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thorough survey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements and developments in response to the economic and political conditions of the day