Irish women dramatists have long faced an uphill challenge in getting the recognition and audience of their male counterparts. There are more female playwrights now than ever before, but they are often ignored by mainstream theatres. Kearney and Headrick strive to shift the spotlight with Irish Women Dramatists. The plays collected in this volume represent a cross-section of the excellent dramatic output of Irish women writing in the twentieth century. In addition to the scripts and biographical introductions, the anthology includes a detailed, critical, annotated essay addressing the development of the Irish theatre throughout this time period, and the place women have artistically carved out for themselves in a traditionally male-dominated theatre industry and dramatic canon.
One of the few collections of plays by Irish women, this volume contextualizes the political and sociological climate in which these playwrights developed. As theatre practitioners - actors and directors - as well as scholars, Kearney and Headrick have devoted years of research to discovering and rediscovering the contributions these women have made - and continue to make - in the Irish and world theatre scenes.
Acknowledgments |
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ix | |
Credits and Performance Rights |
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xi | |
Introduction |
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1 | (28) |
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The Workhouse Ward (1908) |
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29 | (12) |
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The King of Spain's Daughter (1935) |
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41 | (18) |
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I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (1984) |
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59 | (46) |
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Anne Le Marquand Hartigan |
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The Stranded Hours Between (1989) |
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105 | (66) |
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171 | (60) |
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231 | (20) |
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251 | |
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Eileen Kearney has been a leading Irish theatre scholar and director since the 1980s, when her re-discovering playwright Teresa Deevy prompted years of publishing and lecturing about bringing Irish women playwrights into the limelight. Currently teaching at University of Colorado Denver, she has also taught and directed at Pomona College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A & M University.
Charlotte Headrick is professor of theatre at Oregon State University. She has directed numerous Irish plays and has published widely on Irish drama. Headrick has been a guest director at several colleges and universities directing Irish drama; her work has been seen in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Kentucky, and Indiana.