Zoe Akins: Broadway Playwright

(Hardback)

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Description

Zoe Akins was an artist who became successful as a Broadway playwright. For Akins, this was a hard earned title, which she achieved after years of false starts and near misses. She wrote over 40 plays, 18 of which appeared on the Broadway stage between 1919 and 1944. Also in her oeuvre are two novels, numerous short stories and essays, several film and television scripts, and two volumes of poetry. Akins constantly tried to balance her writing style so that it would suit her own moral code and simultaneously appeal to a paying audience. She was a woman in a field dominated by men, but she persevered and accomplished much including winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1935 for The Old Maid. This volume follows the progression of Akin's writing career. It primarily focuses on her Broadway plays, but also highlights other plays and writings (such as poems, film scripts, and short stories) which reflect various aspects of Akin's artistry. It will appeal to theatre, history, and women's studies scholars, as well as anyone interested in the literary career of a unique individual.

Reviews

[A]lan Kreizenbeck's biography of Zoe Akins is well researched and written. The author does not claim greatness for Akins but instead recognizes that she was a woman who competed in a man's world and gained a measure of success. She learned how to craft a play for the Broadway audiences of the 1920s, and continued to supply plays for this audiences into the early 1940s. While she was not an innovator, she was a successful Broadway playwright and her best work is worth our attention today.-Theater History Studies
It is difficult to believe that Akins (1886-1958), one of the most important female voices in the history of the American theater, has received as little attention as she has. Akins was a poet and the author of more than 40 plays, including 18 that appeared on Broadway between 1919 and 1944. This wonderful biography may restore Akins's reputation. Kreizenbeck approaches Akins's work decade by decade, from her initial success with Declassee (Declassee) (1919) to her final important work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Old Maid (1935)....This well-written study suggests that a reevaluation of Akins's place in the history of American dramatic literature is long overdue. The book contains an excellent appendix of her plays and adaptations and of films made from her plays. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.-Choice
"Alan Kreizenbeck's biography of Zoe Akins is well researched and written. The author does not claim greatness for Akins but instead recognizes that she was a woman who competed in a man's world and gained a measure of success. She learned how to craft a play for the Broadway audiences of the 1920s, and continued to supply plays for this audiences into the early 1940s. While she was not an innovator, she was a successful Broadway playwright and her best work is worth our attention today."-Theater History Studies
"[A]lan Kreizenbeck's biography of Zoe Akins is well researched and written. The author does not claim greatness for Akins but instead recognizes that she was a woman who competed in a man's world and gained a measure of success. She learned how to craft a play for the Broadway audiences of the 1920s, and continued to supply plays for this audiences into the early 1940s. While she was not an innovator, she was a successful Broadway playwright and her best work is worth our attention today."-Theater History Studies
"It is difficult to believe that Akins (1886-1958), one of the most important female voices in the history of the American theater, has received as little attention as she has. Akins was a poet and the author of more than 40 plays, including 18 that appeared on Broadway between 1919 and 1944. This wonderful biography may restore Akins's reputation. Kreizenbeck approaches Akins's work decade by decade, from her initial success with Declassee (Declassee) (1919) to her final important work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Old Maid (1935)....This well-written study suggests that a reevaluation of Akins's place in the history of American dramatic literature is long overdue. The book contains an excellent appendix of her plays and adaptations and of films made from her plays. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers."-Choice

Author Bio

ALAN KREIZENBECK is Associate Professor, Department of Theatre, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.