Spotlight on the Child: Studies in the History of American Children's Theatre

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Although children's theatre has been a part of American culture from early times, historians have not always included it in the documentation of our theatrical heritage. Sometimes more the product of the educator and the social worker than the producer or the theatre artist, theatre with and for young people has been neglected in traditional theatre history studies; yet as early as 1792 Charles Stearns began creating his plays and dialogues for school children. The traditions and success of eighteenth-century school drama inspired social workers to explore similar activities in their playground and settlement house work, and at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, professional producers began experimenting more vigorously with the commercial possibilities of children as audience. This book is a collection of essays by leading authorities in the field on various aspects of the historical development of children's theatre in the United States. The discussions focus on the marked differences that have occurred from group to group and examine the ways in which children's theatre began to find definition, as theorists and writers such as Winifred Ward and Charlotte Chorpenning strove to articulate the differences between the child as participant in creative drama and the child as audience member. The introduction provides a review of early concepts and the evolution of present-day thought, and the essays illuminate facets of the rich and varied history of American theatre with and for children. This trailblazing study will serve as the beginning of a fuller understanding of the field and a challenge to others to document the missing pieces.

Reviews

Editors Bedard and Tolch have assembled an important collection of new essays that is a must acquisition for academic libraries, since it provides splendid support for children's theater coursework on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Each of the 11 clearly written essays examines a different pivotal development in the history of American children's theater from 1798 to 1987. This combination provides a valuable analysis of distinguished pioneers (such as Charles Stearnes, Edith King and Dorothy Coit, Charlotte Chorpenning Winifred Ward, and Sara Spencer), and it also explores emerging trends reflected in the seminal work of leading contemporary practitioners (such as director John Clark Donahue and playwright Aurand Harris). The result is an easily readable, truly significant body of knowledge that is unavailable elsewhere, since most traditional histories of theater omit references to children's theater. Essay authors include leading American children's theater specialists such as playwright Johnathan Levy and scholars Laura Gardner Salazar, Roger Bedard, and Charles Combs. Extensive endnotes following each essay deliver helpful ancillary information and frequently provide a rich reservoir of additional sources. An important resource for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates.-Choice
"Editors Bedard and Tolch have assembled an important collection of new essays that is a must acquisition for academic libraries, since it provides splendid support for children's theater coursework on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Each of the 11 clearly written essays examines a different pivotal development in the history of American children's theater from 1798 to 1987. This combination provides a valuable analysis of distinguished pioneers (such as Charles Stearnes, Edith King and Dorothy Coit, Charlotte Chorpenning Winifred Ward, and Sara Spencer), and it also explores emerging trends reflected in the seminal work of leading contemporary practitioners (such as director John Clark Donahue and playwright Aurand Harris). The result is an easily readable, truly significant body of knowledge that is unavailable elsewhere, since most traditional histories of theater omit references to children's theater. Essay authors include leading American children's theater specialists such as playwright Johnathan Levy and scholars Laura Gardner Salazar, Roger Bedard, and Charles Combs. Extensive endnotes following each essay deliver helpful ancillary information and frequently provide a rich reservoir of additional sources. An important resource for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates."-Choice

Author Bio

ROGER L. BEDARD is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Coordinator of the M.F.A. Program in Child Drama at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He currently serves as Executive Secretary for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. C. JOHN TOLCH is Professor of Theatre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a former editor of Children's Theatre Review and former vice-president for research and publications for the Children's Theatre Association of America.