The Provincetown Players

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, at the beginning of the 20th century, new forms of art, literature and theater became popular in the United States that were not as constrained as earlier forms. The paper looks at the group of avant-garde actors and producers called "The Provincetown Players" who developed a theater form that would have an impact for many decades to come. The paper shows how, although they may have been a strange group, the Provincetown Players provided an excellent outlet for their separate needs: political fervor, artistic zeal, trial of new works, Greek theater production, friendship and feminism.

From the Paper:

"George Cram Cook (Jig), one of the originators of Provincetown Players stated in a book about the theater in 1920, "Groups like ours are about to inherit the whole duty of dramatic man." This was an entirely new concept, because America had not been considered the center for literary leadership. When Cook's theatrical experiment began, cultivated Europeans were still sneering at the concept of American theatre and drama. It was not that theatre buildings, dramatic publications, and theatrical productions were nonexistent in the U.S., but rather that American playwrights and actors, designers and directors were still virtually unheard of in Europe (Sarlaos 1)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ben-Zvi, Linda. Susan Glaspell Her Life and Times Oxford: Oxford Press, 2005.
• Dugan, Lawrence. O'Neill and the Wobblies: The IWW as a Model for Failure in the Iceman Cometh. Comparative Drama. 36.2 (2002):109
• Jones, Susan. Uncommon Woman: In a Necessary New Biography, the Prolific Susan Glaspell Emerges from the Shadow of O'Neill. American Theatre. 22.9(2005): 64
• London, Todd The Shape of Plays to Come: Our Theatre Is Polarized into Two Cultures. What Will Make It Whole Again American Theatre, 19(2000): 18
• Pfister, Joel Staging Depth: Eugene O'Neill and the Politics of Psychological Discourse Salem: University of North Carolina Press, 1995

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