The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays

Atlantic Book of Modern Plays, The

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Title: The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays
Author: Various
Editor: Sterling Andrus Leonard
Release Date: August 4, 2005 [EBook #16435]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE ATLANTIC BOOK
OF MODERN PLAYS

Edited with Introduction, Comment and Annotated Bibliography
by Sterling Andrus Leonard
Department of English The University of Wisconsin and The Wisconsin High School
The Atlantic Monthly Press Boston
_The rights of production of these plays are in every case reserved by the authors or their representatives. No play can be given publicly without an individual arrangement. The law does not, of course, prevent their reading in classrooms or their production before an audience of a school or invited guests where no fee is charged; but it is, naturally, more courteous to ask permission._

1921
The Atlantic Monthly Press
First impression, December, 1921 Second impression, April, 1922 Third impression, October, 1922
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: ON THE READING OF PLAYS
THE PHILOSOPHER OF BUTTERBIGGENS Harold Chapin SPREADING THE NEWS Lady Gregory THE BEGGAR AND THE KING Winthrop Parkhurst TIDES George Middleton ILE _Eugene O'Neill_
CAMPBELL OF KILMHOR _J.A. Ferguson_
THE SUN John Galsworthy THE KNAVE OF HEARTS Louise Saunders FAME AND THE POET Lord Dunsany THE CAPTAIN OF THE GATE Beulah Marie Dix GETTYSBURG Percy Mackaye LONESOME-LIKE Harold Brighouse RIDERS TO THE SEA John Millington Synge THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE William Butler Yeats RIDING TO LITHEND Gordon Bottomley
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION IN READING THE PLAYS
NOTES ON THE DRAMAS AND THE DRAMATISTS
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PLAYS AND RELATED BOOKS

FOREWORD
We are at present in the midst of a bewildering quantity of play-publication and production. The one-act play in particular, chiefly represented in this volume, appears to be taking the place of that rather squeezed sponge, the short story, in the favor of the reading public. Of course, this tendency has its reaction in schoolrooms. One even hears of high-school classes which attempt to keep up with the entire output of such dramas in English readings. If this is not merely an apologue, it is certainly a horrible example. The bulk of current drama, as of published matter generally, is not worthy the time of the English class. Only what is measurably of rank, in truth and fineness, with the literature which has endured from past times can be defended for use there. And we have too much that is both well fitted to young people's keen interest and enjoyment, and beautifully worthy as well, for time to be wasted upon the third- and fourth-rate.
Obviously, much of the best in modern play-writing has not been included in this volume. Because of copyright complications the works of Mr. Masefield, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Drinkwater, and Sir James Barrie are not here represented. The plays by these writers that seem best fitted to use by teachers and pupils in high schools, together with a large number of other dramas for this purpose, are listed and annotated at the back of the book. Suggestions as to desirable inclusions and omissions will be welcomed by the editor and the publishers.
Following in their own way the lead of the Theatre Libre in Paris and the Freie Buehne in Germany, and of the Independent and the Repertory theatres in Great Britain, numerous "little theatres" and drama associations in this country are giving impulsion and direction to the movement for finer drama and more excellent presentation. The Harvard dramatic societies, the Morningside Players at Columbia, Mr. Alex Drummond's Community Theatre at the State Fair in Ithaca, the Little Country Theatre at Fargo, South Dakota, and similar groups at the University of California and elsewhere, illustrate the leadership of the colleges. In many high schools, as at South Bend, Indiana, more or less complete Little Theatres are active. The Chicago Little Theatre, the Wisconsin Dramatic Society, the Provincetown Players, the Neighborhood Playhouse, in New York, and others of that ilk, are well known and influential. They are extending the tradition of the best European theatres in their attempts to cultivate excellent and individual expression in drama. They realize that plays must be tested by actual performance,--though not necessarily by the unnatural demands of success in competition with Broadway revues and farce-melodramas,--and thus developed toward a genuine artistic embodiment of the vast and varied life, the manifold and deep idealism of this country.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their courteous and generous cooperation the editor is greatly indebted to the authors and publishers of all the plays