The emergence of the modern American theater, 1914-1929 /

Stemming from his earlier important work Staging O'Neill: The Experimental Years, 1920-1934 (CH, Feb'89), this book adds a wealth of information about a period in American theater Wainscott (Indiana Univ.) describes as "Broadway's most prolific and influential." Through an examination of plays and productions, the reader witnesses the impact of American theater during critical periods including WW I and the postwar era, which witnessed the emerging role of women in popular sex farces, censorship battles, and the impact of expressionism. The author assesses both commercial and experimental productions within a political and social context. Eugene O'Neill serves as a springboard for comparison and evaluation of the work of other notable figures, including Maxwell Anderson, Susan Glaspell, Sophie Treadwell, Arthur Hopkins, Robert Edmund Jones, Lee Simonson, and Philip Barry. Included are 16 production photographs and an appendix of the sex farces (1915-21), a genre reflecting social assumptions, values, and artistic views of playwrights, producers, and audiences and clearly indicating the almost unequaled fascination with this Broadway entertainment. The bibliography provides an extensive compilation of unpublished materials, published plays, reviews, and articles. Recommended for general readers, undergraduates, and researchers in American theater history and cultural studies. E. C. Ramirez; University of Oregon

Associate professor of theater and drama at Indiana University, Wainscott has written a thorough text about post-World War I American theater that will no doubt be useful to students but is unlikely to hold the interest of the casual reader. In separate essays, Wainscott discusses the war's impact on theatrical productions, Congress's brazen attempt to raise funds by taxing theatergoers (which was turned back because of a brilliant public-relations campaign by theater owners), the naughty-but-safe sex farces that flooded the boards in the '20s, the influence of expressionism on set design and production and the red scare's impact on playwrights. Each point Wainscott makes is meticulously supported by numerous allusions to long-forgotten plays, but the minds of most readers will be wandering long before the curtain drops. Curiously, any discussion of the modernity of the era's theater is relegated to a brief afterword. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This examination of a formative 15-year period in American drama represents the latest developments in theater criticism. By including popular entertainment as well as the highest art produced during these years, Wainscott (theater, Indiana Univ.) shows a theater reflecting cultural and social issues instead of examining it as an aesthetic statement. He follows several issues separately through this period, discussing World War I and its impact on American culture, a little-known war between the U.S. Congress and the theater over taxation, the fad for erotic plays and censorship battles, and other themes. His central chapter, and the gem of the book, is the extended discussion of expressionism in its peculiarly American version. This text calls for a reevaluation of familiar materials and republication of important popular plays that are long gone. Highly recommended.‘Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.