Results by title

“A superb tribute to theatrical pioneers—The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy is required reading for both theatre scholars and gay/lesbian/bisexual history aficionados. A fascinating journey awaits them all in this highly recommended volume.”

—Broadside: Newsletter of the Theatre Library Association

The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy collects in a single volume biographies of more than one hundred notable figures whose careers flourished in the years before the 1969 Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States. The leading lights in American theater have included innumerable individuals whose sexualities have deviated from prevailing norms, but this history has until recently been largely unwritten and unknown. This book contributessignificantly to the recovery of this history, fashioning a much fuller, more nuanced portrait of American theater as it evolved and shedding light on the influence that sexual desire may have had on professional choices, relationships, and artistic achievements.

The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy collects biographies and portraits of influential actors, playwrights, composers, directors, designers, dancers, producers, managers, critics, choreographers, and technicians who made their mark on the American theater. Its broad coverage provides an extended glimpse into lives and careers that intersected and into networks of affiliation that made theatrical history and, by extension, social and cultural history.

The late Billy J. Harbin was Professor of Theater, Louisiana State University. Kim Marra is Associate Professor of Theater, University of Iowa. Robert A. Schanke is Professor of Theater Emeritus, Central College, Pella, Iowa.

This reader—which provides a representative sample of the poetry, prose, fiction, and experimental autobiographical writing that Anzaldúa produced during her thirty-year career—demonstrates the breadth and philosophical depth of her work. While the reader contains much of Anzaldúa’s published writing (including several pieces now out of print), more than half the material has never before been published. This newly available work offers fresh insights into crucial aspects of Anzaldúa’s life and career, including her upbringing, education, teaching experiences, writing practice and aesthetics, lifelong health struggles, and interest in visual art, as well as her theories of disability, multiculturalism, pedagogy, and spiritual activism. The pieces are arranged chronologically; each one is preceded by a brief introduction. The collection includes a glossary of Anzaldúa’s key terms and concepts, a timeline of her life, primary and secondary bibliographies, and a detailed index.

Contributors to the collection include some of the most prominent scholars in the field of early modern sexualities. They think expansively about Bray’s impact on their own work and, most importantly, test the applicability of his theories (that same-sex desire has a history that can be reconstructed and that the actual object of study is difficult to capture, as its expression varies radically across cultures and societies) in areas where they have not been previously employed. Two essays in this collection explore friendships or intimacies between women or between men and women—topics Bray did not pursue extensively. Others deal with locations outside Bray’s heavily English focus, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, or apply his theories to periods beyond the Renaissance. Additionally, the issue includes a review of Bray’s The Friend, published posthumously, and an assessment of his scholarly career from his earliest writings to this final work.

Contributors. George Chauncey, Carla Freccero, Jonathan Goldberg, Jody Greene, George E. Haggerty, Jeffrey Masten, Jeffrey Merrick, Stephen Orgel, Laurie Shannon, Valerie Traub