American Theatre Companies, 1931-1986

(Hardback)

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The American theatre has undergone a process of decentralization and the focus has shifted from Broadway, once the proving ground for all nationally known theatre talent, to regional theatres across the nation. This volume surveys the 50 year period in which this transformation occurred. The work consists of 78 entries that profile a wide range of theatre companies including art theatres, units of the Federal Theatre project, workers' theatres, experimental theatre groups, ethnic theatre groups, children's theatre companies and regional repertory companies, large and small. The profiles section contains narratives from both published and unpublished sources that describe, analyze and evaluate management policies, facilities, personnel and repertories of these organizations. Each entry contains an extensive list of key personnel, including managers, designers, actors and actresses, as well as plays which that company produced. A bibliography of sources and a guide to archival resources for further study follows each entry. Two additional appendices are devoted to chronological and state-by-state listings of theatre companies. The volume concludes with an index of personal names and play titles.

Reviews

Completes a three-volume series that begins coverage with 1749. The 78 entries profile a wide range of types of theatre companies including art theatre, units of the Federal Theatre project, workers' theatre, experimental theatre groups, ethnic theatre companies, and regional repertory companies, large and small. Draws from both published and unpublished sources to describe, analyze, and evaluate management policies, facilities, personnel, and repetories of these organizations. Each entry contains an extensive list of key personnel, including managers, designers, actors, and actresses, as well as the plays produced. A bibliography and a guide to archival resources follows each entry. Also includes geographical and chronological listings of companies.-Reference & Research Book News
With this volume, Durham, a theater professor at the University of Missouri, completes a monumental survey of American theater companies. The first two volumes covered the periods 1749-1887 and 1888-1930; this volume includes companies through 1986. The decentralization of American culture is occurring at an increasing rate, and the growth in regional theater companies is a good example of this phenomenon. In theater, decentralization began in 1935 with the Federal Theatre Project. This project ended in 1939, and there was a hiatus until after World War II. The number of companies increased in the 1950s, was fueled with foundation money in the 1960s, and companies sprang up in small cities in the 1970s patterned after successful ventures in larger cities. Durham traces this history in general in the preface and then provides biographies of 78 theater companies, 48 of which were still in existence in 1986. These biographies were written by Durham and a number of other theater scholars, whose credentials are given at the back of the book. . . . There is no other source as comprehensive as American Theatre Companies, 1931-1986. Volume 7 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography contains biographies of nine regional theaters, and Nonprofit Repertory Theatres in North America, 1958-1975 is an index to the playbills of the Theatre Communications Group Program Collection, which does include some of the companies in ATC. All three volumes of American Theatre Companies are a necessary purchase for academic theater collections. Public libraries in cities with an active repertory theater will want to buy at least volume 3.-Reference Books Bulletin
"Completes a three-volume series that begins coverage with 1749. The 78 entries profile a wide range of types of theatre companies including art theatre, units of the Federal Theatre project, workers' theatre, experimental theatre groups, ethnic theatre companies, and regional repertory companies, large and small. Draws from both published and unpublished sources to describe, analyze, and evaluate management policies, facilities, personnel, and repetories of these organizations. Each entry contains an extensive list of key personnel, including managers, designers, actors, and actresses, as well as the plays produced. A bibliography and a guide to archival resources follows each entry. Also includes geographical and chronological listings of companies."-Reference & Research Book News
"With this volume, Durham, a theater professor at the University of Missouri, completes a monumental survey of American theater companies. The first two volumes covered the periods 1749-1887 and 1888-1930; this volume includes companies through 1986. The decentralization of American culture is occurring at an increasing rate, and the growth in regional theater companies is a good example of this phenomenon. In theater, decentralization began in 1935 with the Federal Theatre Project. This project ended in 1939, and there was a hiatus until after World War II. The number of companies increased in the 1950s, was fueled with foundation money in the 1960s, and companies sprang up in small cities in the 1970s patterned after successful ventures in larger cities. Durham traces this history in general in the preface and then provides biographies of 78 theater companies, 48 of which were still in existence in 1986. These biographies were written by Durham and a number of other theater scholars, whose credentials are given at the back of the book. . . . There is no other source as comprehensive as American Theatre Companies, 1931-1986. Volume 7 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography contains biographies of nine regional theaters, and Nonprofit Repertory Theatres in North America, 1958-1975 is an index to the playbills of the Theatre Communications Group Program Collection, which does include some of the companies in ATC. All three volumes of American Theatre Companies are a necessary purchase for academic theater collections. Public libraries in cities with an active repertory theater will want to buy at least volume 3."-Reference Books Bulletin

Author Bio

WELDON B. DURHAM is Professor of Theatre and Associate Dean in the Graduate School of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Durham is general editor of American Theatre Companies, 1749-1887 (Greenwood Press, 1986) and American Theatre Companies 1888-1930 (Greenwood Press, 1987). His articles have appeared in and Theatre History Studies (of which he is also associate editor), Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Theatre Journal.