Overview

This volume assesses the contributions of David Belasco, Arthur Hopkins, and Margaret Webster, whose careers shaped the artistic and specialist identity of the Broadway director. Their work spans almost a century and captures the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape of 20th-century America. While their aesthetic styles differed greatly, they were united in their mastery of theatre craft and their impact on theatrical collaboration. The essays in this volume explore how these directors established and exploited Broadway as the epicentre of theatre in the United States, blended the role of producer and director, and managed the tensions between commercial success and artistic ambition. The Great North American Stage Directors series provides an authoritative account of the art of directing in North America by examining the work of twenty-four major practitioners from the late 19th century to the present. Each of the eight volumes examines three directors and offers an overview of their practices, theoretical ideas, and contributions to modern theatre. The studies chart the life and work of each director, placing his or her achievement in the context of other important theatre practitioners and broader social history. Written by a team of leading experts, the series presents the genealogy of directing in North America while simultaneously chronicling crucial trends and championing contemporary interpretation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Professor James Peck ,  Professor James Peck
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Methuen Drama
Weight:   1.000kg
ISBN:  

9781350045132

ISBN 10:   1350045136
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   25 January 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Series Introductions, James Peck (Muhlenberg College, USA) Acknowledgments Introduction. Forerunners and Groundbreakers in the Art of Theatrical Directing, Cheryl Black (University of Missouri, USA) David Belasco 1. The Belasco Brand: Directing the Modern Theatrical Experience, Christin Essin (Vanderbilt University, USA) 2. The Cultural Imaginings of a Theatrical Impresario: David Belasco in Context, Cheryl Black (University of Missouri, USA) Arthur Hopkins 3. Arthur Hopkins’s First Act: Before the Crash (1913–29), Arthur Feinsod (Indiana State University, USA) 4. Arthur Hopkins’s Second Act: After the Crash (1928–48), Ronald Wainscott (Indiana University, USA) Margaret Webster 5. “She Must Be Fierce”: Margaret Webster’s Groundbreaking Broadway Career, Wendy Vierow (New York University, USA) 6. Not the Moor, but the Figure of the Moor: A Case Study of the Racial, Political, and Personal Stakes of Margaret Webster’s Othello (1943) and The Tempest (1945), Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (Skidmore College, USA) Notes Notes on Contributors Index

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Cheryl Black is Curators Distinguished Professor Emerita of theatre at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA.

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