Three Midwestern Playwrights: How Floyd Dell, George Cram Cook, and Susan Glaspell Transformed American Theatre

In the early 1900s, three small-town midwestern playwrights, Floyd Dell, George Cram Cook, and Susan Glaspell, founded the Provincetown Players collective, which influenced US social, cultural, and political beliefs with experimentalism, collaboration, and leftist cultural critique. Marcia Noe's book highlights how they merged radical politics with East Coast avant-garde drama, contributing to American theatre.

Format: Hardback
Length: 246 pages
Publication date: 02 August 2022
Publisher: Indiana University Press

In the early 1900s, a trio of small-town midwestern playwrights played a pivotal role in ushering American theatre into the modern era. Together, they formed the renowned Provincetown Players collective, which not only launched numerous careers but also wielded significant influence over US social, cultural, and political beliefs.

The philosophical and political orientations of Floyd Dell, George Cram Cook, and Susan Glaspell shaped a theatrical practice characterized by experimentalism, collaboration, leftist cultural critique, rebellion, liberation, and community engagement. Marcia Noe traces the origins of the Provincetown aesthetic to Davenport, Iowa, a Mississippi River town. These playwrights recognized that radical politics could sometimes give rise to radical chic, and several of their plays humorously satirized the fashionable aspects of the progressive political, social, and cultural movements they actively participated in.

Three Midwestern Playwrights vividly brings the players to life, showcasing how Dell, Cook, and Glaspell seamlessly merged early 20th-century midwestern radicalism with East Coast avant-garde drama, resulting in a fresh and invigorating contribution to American theatre.

Weight: 703g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780253061829