The Gay & Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures in American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era

Front Cover
Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra, Robert A. Schanke
University of Michigan Press, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 428 pages

“A superb tribute to theatrical pioneers—The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy is required reading for both theatre scholars and gay/lesbian/bisexual history aficionados. A fascinating journey awaits them all in this highly recommended volume.”

Broadside: Newsletter of the Theatre Library Association

The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy collects in a single volume biographies of more than one hundred notable figures whose careers flourished in the years before the 1969 Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States. The leading lights in American theater have included innumerable individuals whose sexualities have deviated from prevailing norms, but this history has until recently been largely unwritten and unknown. This book contributes significantly to the recovery of this history, fashioning a much fuller, more nuanced portrait of American theater as it evolved and shedding light on the influence that sexual desire may have had on professional choices, relationships, and artistic achievements.

The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy collects biographies and portraits of influential actors, playwrights, composers, directors, designers, dancers, producers, managers, critics, choreographers, and technicians who made their mark on the American theater. Its broad coverage provides an extended glimpse into lives and careers that intersected and into networks of affiliation that made theatrical history and, by extension, social and cultural history.

The late Billy J. Harbin was Professor of Theater, Louisiana State University. Kim Marra is Associate Professor of Theater, University of Iowa. Robert A. Schanke is Professor of Theater Emeritus, Central College, Pella, Iowa.

 

Contents

Illustrations xi
1860
Helen Arthur 31
1881
Gladys Bentley 57
1907
Maurice Browne 74
1925
Al Carmines 83
1934
Mart Crowley 115
1966
Owen Dodson 140
1991
Lehman Engel 153
2004
Harry Koutoukas 238
2089
Sanford Meisner 277
2128
Kathleen Mulqueen 293
2144
John Patrick 305
2156
Livingston Platt 315
1
Hassard Short 335
22
Virgil Thomson 352
39
JeanClaude van Itallie 358
45

Stephen Foster 168
2019
Paul Guilfoyle 178
2029
Annie Hindle 194
2045
Josephine Hutchinson 206
2057
Robert Joffrey 219
2070
Ella Wesner 375
61
Listing by Occupation 397
84
Index 411
98
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About the author (2005)

Robert A. Schanke is Professor of Theatre, Central College, Iowa.