Susan Glaspell’s Poetics and Politics of Rebellion. Emeline Jouve. Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 2017; Pp. 258. Although she was honored with a Pulitzer Prize for drama and produced a diverse body of work critically esteemed in her time, Susan Glaspell’s dramaturgical innovations and contributions to US theatre have […]
Book Review
103 posts
The Risk Theatre Model of Tragedy: Gambling, Drama, and the Unexpected. Edwin Wong. Victoria, Canada: Friesen Press, 2019; Pp. 363. In 2019, the Langham Court Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada inaugurated the Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition, awarding top prize ($8,000 Canadian) to In Bloom by Brooklyn-based playwright Gabriel […]
Maya Roth, Editor Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry By Soyica Diggs Colbert Reviewed by Kristyl D. Tift Susan Glaspell’s Poetics and Politics of Rebellion By Emeline Jouve Reviewed by Jennifer-Scott Mobley The Risk Theatre Model of Tragedy: Gambling, Drama, and the Unexpected By Edwin Wong Reviewed by […]
Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future. James Shapiro. New York: Penguin Press, 2020. Pp. 221. James Shapiro is a prolific Shakespeare scholar and award-winning author of The Year of Lear: Shakespeare 1606 (2015), A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: […]
Maya Roth, Editor Casting a Movement: The Welcome Table Initiative Edited by Claire Syler and Daniel Banks Reviewed by Erith Jaffe-Berg Tarell Alvin McCraney: Theater, Performance, and Collaboration Edited by Sharrell D. Luckett, David Román, and Isaiah Matthew Wooden. Reviewed by DeRon Williams The Theatre of August Wilson By […]
The Theatre of Eugene O’Neill: American Modernism on the World Stage. Kurt Eisen. Methuen Drama Critical Companions Series. London: Methuen Drama, 2017; Pp 242 + xiv. Kurt Eisen’s excellent The Theatre of Eugene O’Neill: American Modernism on the World Stage appears as part of the Methuen Drama Critical Companions series, […]
The Theatre of August Wilson. Alan Nadel. Metuen Drama Critical Companions Series. London; New York: Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Collections, 2018; Pp. 224. In The Theatre of August Wilson, Alan Nadel critically analyzes the dramatic texts of August Wilson’s cycle of ten plays about African American life in the 20th century […]
Tarell Alvin McCraney: Theater, Performance, and Collaboration. Sharrell D. Luckett, David Román, and Isaiah Matthew Wooden, eds. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2020; Pp. 252. Tarell Alvin McCraney: Theater, Performance, and Collaboration, edited by Sharrell D. Luckett, David Román, and Isaiah Matthew Wooden, is a collection of adroitly composed essays […]
Casting A Movement: The Welcome Table Initiative. Claire Syler and Daniel Banks, eds. New York: Routledge, 2019; Pp. 266. Casting A Movement: The Welcome Table Initiative, edited by Claire Syler and Daniel Banks, presents a powerful, multifaceted record of historical and contemporary casting practices from leading American artists and scholars. […]
If you would like to write a review for JADT, please contact our current book review editor Maya Roth at [email protected]. If you know of a book that would be suitable for review in JADT, please arrange for a copy to be mailed to the Editors, JADT/Martin E. Segal Theatre […]
Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Québec. Julie Burelle. Performance Works, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2019; 232 pp. Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States. Laura L. Mielke. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019; 296 pp. Issues […]
Contemporary Women Stage Directors: Conversations on Craft. Paulette Marty. London; New York: Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Collections, 2019; Pp. 292 + viii. Contemporary Women Stage Directors: Conversations on Craft presents an ambitious compilation of interviews with twenty-seven contemporary women stage directors, while archiving and reflecting on relatively underrepresented women stage directors in the US […]
Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide To Devised Theater. Chloe Johnson and Coya Paz Brownrigg. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2019. Pp. 202. Chloe Johnson and Coya Paz Brownrigg’s Ensemble-Made: A Guide to Devised Theater (2019) is a valuable resource for theater educators and practitioners, particularly those who wish to deepen their knowledge of […]
Twenty-First Century American Playwrights. Christopher Bigsby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018; Pp. 228. In 1982, Christopher Bigsby penned A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama. What was originally planned as a single volume expanded to three, with volume 2 being released in 1984 and Volume 3 in 1985. Although Bigsby, […]
Maya Roth, Editor Contemporary Women Stage Directors: Conversation on Craft By Paulette Marty Reviewed by Dohyun Gracia Shin Double review Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Québec By Julia Burelle and Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States By […]
Maya Roth, Editor The Drama and Theatre of Sarah Ruhl By Amy Muse Reviewed by John Bray A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, Nineteenth-Century US American Actor Edited by Amy E. Hughes and Naomi J. Stubbs Reviewed by Amy B. Huang Theatre, Performance and Cognition: […]
If you would like to write a review for JADT, please contact our current book review editor Maya Roth at [email protected]. If you know of a book that would be suitable for review in JADT, please arrange for a copy to be mailed to the Editors, JADT/Martin E. Segal Theatre […]
The History and Theory of Environmental Scenography. Arnold Aronson. London: Methuen Drama Publishing, 2018; Pp. 254. Arnold Aronson originally published The History and Theory of Environmental Scenography in 1981 when the term “environmental,” then recently popularized by Richard Schechner, had not yet lost ground to terms with more current purchase […]
The Drama and Theatre of Sarah Ruhl. Amy Muse. London: Methuen Drama Critical Companion Series, 2018; Pp. 215 + xv. Amy Muse’s The Drama and Theatre of Sarah Ruhl offers an insightful reading of the works of one of the U.S.’s most prolific contemporary playwrights. Since the premiere of Passion […]
A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, Nineteenth-Century US American Actor. Edited by Amy E. Hughes and Naomi J. Stubbs. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018; Pp. 353. What did it mean to strive after a life in the theatre in the United States in the […]
