About the Book:

Thirteen short plays by women that were originally produced by the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theater company that also introduced the plays of Eugene O'Neill.

Women Writers of the Provincetown Players features thirteen short plays written by women and performed by America's most influential early twentieth-century noncommercial theatre, the Provincetown Players. From their beginnings on Cape Cod in 1915 to their disbanding in New York City in 1922, the Players staged nearly one hundred dramas, roughly a third of which were composed by women, and in the process changed American drama and theatre forever. Dedicated to fostering new work by Americans, the group attracted an impressive collection of talented writers, and among its offerings were some of the first modernist plays written in the United States.

Chosen for both their artistic merit and their cultural importance, the plays included here range from naturalistic tragedies to poetic allegories to witty satires, and together they provide a valuable look at women's concerns during a period of intense civil rights activity just prior to the granting of female suffrage. In addition to works by well-known writers like Susan Glaspell, Woman's Honor; Djuna Barnes, Kurzy of the Sea; and Edna St. Vincent Millay, Aria da Capo; the book also includes works by such significant but lesser-known figures as Neith Boyce, Winter's Night; Louise Bryant, The Game; Mary Carolyn Davies, The Slave with Two Faces; Rita Creighton Smith, The Rescue; Alice L. Rostetter, The Widow's Veil; Bosworth Crocker, The Baby Carriage; Mary Foster Barber, The Squealer; Rita McCann Wellman, The Horrors of War; as well as critical-biographical prefaces to each play and an introduction that explains the importance of these plays and the role of early twentieth-century women playwrights in American theatre history.

What people say:

"Barlow's collection introduces readers to fascinating plays from a rich and important historical era." — J. Ellen Gainor, author of Susan Glaspell in Context: American Theater, Culture, and Politics, 1915-48

"These are plays that we have been reading about for years; it is exciting to experience the actual texts and make one's own judgment." — Carol DeBoer-Langworthy, editor of The Modern World of Neith Boyce: Autobiography and Diaries

About the Editor:

Judith E. Barlow is Professor Emeritus of English and Women's Studies at the University at Albany-SUNY. She is the editor of Plays By American Women 1900-1930 and Women Writers of the Provincetown Players, as well as numerous essays on American Drama. The prestigious Judith Barlow Prize is a student award given annually for an original one-act play that has been inspired by the work of a historic woman playwright.