Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1930s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations

The Decades of Modern American Drama series provides acomprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in eachdecade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equipsreaders with a detailed understanding of the context from whichwork emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with afocus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture,media, technology, industry and political events; while a chapteron the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thoroughsurvey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements anddevelopments in response to the economic and political conditionsof the day.The work of the four most prominent playwrights from the decadereceives in-depth analysis and re-evaluation by a team of experts,together with commentary on their subsequent work and legacy.A final section brings together original documents such asinterviews with the playwrights and with directors, drafts of playscenes, and other previously unpublished material.The major playwrights and their works to receive in-depthcoverage in this volume include:Clifford Odets: Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awakeand Sing! (1935) and Golden Boy (1937);Lillian Hellman: The Children's Hour (1934), TheLittle Foxes (1939), and Days to Come (1936);Langston Hughes: Mulatto (1935), Mule Bone(1930, with Zora Neale Hurston) and Little Ham(1936);Gertrude Stein: Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights(1938), Four Saints in Three Acts (written in 1927,published in 1932) and Listen to Me (1936).Many thanks to rjbogz for helping procure the full series.