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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ATLANTIC BOOK OF MODERN PLAYS ***

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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