The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights

ThisvolumeaddressestheworkofwomenplaywrightsthroughoutthehistoryoftheAmericantheatre,fromtheearlypioneerstocontemporaryfeminists.Eachchapterintroducesthereadertotheworkofoneormoreplaywrightsandtoawayofthinkingaboutplays.TogethertheycoversignificantwriterssuchasRachelCrothers,SusanGlaspell,LillianHellman,SophieTreadwell,LorraineHansberry,AliceChildress,MeganTerry,NtozakeShange,AdrienneKennedy,WendyWasserstein,MarshaNorman,BethHenleyandMariaIreneFornes.Playwrightsarediscussedinthecontextoftopicssuchasearlycomedyandmelodrama,feminismandrealism,theHarlemRenaissance,thefeministresurgenceofthe1970sandfeministdramatictheory.Adetailedchronologyandillustrationsenhancethevolume,whichalsoincludesbibliographicalessaysonrecentcriticismandonAfrican-Americanwomenplaywrightsbefore1930.