Overview

In this book, Elisabeth H. Kinsley weaves the stories of racially and ethnically distinct Shakespeare theatre scenes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Manhattan into a single cultural history, revealing how these communities interacted with one another and how their work influenced ideas about race and belonging in the United States during a time of unprecedented immigration. As Progressive Era reformers touted the works of Shakespeare as an “antidote” to the linguistic and cultural mixing of American society, and some reformers attempted to use the Bard’s plays to “Americanize” immigrant groups on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, immigrants from across Europe appropriated Shakespeare for their own ends. Kinsley uses archival material such as reform-era handbooks, theatre posters, playbills, programs, sheet music, and reviews to demonstrate how, in addition to being a source of cultural capital, authority, and resistance for these communities, Shakespeare’s plays were also a site of cultural exchange. Performances of Shakespeare occasioned nuanced social encounters between New York’s empowered and marginalized groups and influenced sociocultural ideas about what Shakespeare, race, and national belonging should and could mean for Americans. Timely and immensely readable, this book explains how ideas about cultural belonging formed and transformed within a particular human community at a time of heightened demographic change. Kinsley’s work will be welcomed by anyone interested in the formation of national identity, immigrant communities, and the history of the theatre scene in New York and the rest of the United States.

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9780271083223

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Reviews

Kinsley's work is rich in detailed examples, and calls into question claims that Shakespearean performance in America had become, by the early twentieth century, the domain of 'highbrow' culture. Rather, by carefully drawing upon the multitude of Shakespearean performances in New York's immigrant communities, this book shows that 'Shakespeare's meaning-and the terms of American belonging-was always in flux.' Students of theatre, American studies, urban studies, and history will all be interested in this text. -Lisa Merrill, author of When Romeo Was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and Her Circle of Female Spectators

“Kinsley’s work is rich in detailed examples, and calls into question claims that Shakespearean performance in America had become, by the early twentieth century, the domain of ‘highbrow’ culture. Rather, by carefully drawing upon the multitude of Shakespearean performances in New York’s immigrant communities, this book shows that ‘Shakespeare’s meaning—and the terms of American belonging—was always in flux.’ Students of theatre, American studies, urban studies, and history will all be interested in this text.”” —Lisa Merrill,author of When Romeo Was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and Her Circle of Female Spectators “While intrigued by this historical mystery, the author embraces rather than kicks against the unknown. Drawing on Diana Taylor’s contrast between repertoire and archive, Kinsley challenges us to concern ourselves less with the fixed data points that archival sources help us to establish and more with the larger canvas of connections we can make between this set of Shakespearean performances and the social forces that shaped them and were in turn shaped by them.” —Joel Berkowitz Theatre Journal

Kinsley's work is rich in detailed examples, and calls into question claims that Shakespearean performance in America had become, by the early 20th century, the domain of `highbrow' culture. Rather, by carefully drawing upon the multitudes of Shakespearean performances New York's immigrant communities, this book shows that 'Shakespeare's meaning-and the terms of American belonging-was always in flux.' Students of theatre, American studies, urban studies and history will all be interested in this text. -Lisa Merrill, author of When Romeo was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and her Circle of Female Spectators

Author Information

Elisabeth H. Kinsley is an instructor and administrator at Northwestern University.

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