The Oxford Companion to American Theatre - Hardcover

Bordman, Gerald; Hischak, Thomas S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195169867 ISBN 13: 9780195169867

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

First published in 1984, Gerald Bordman's Oxford Companion to American Theatre is the standard one-volume source on our national theatre. Critics have hailed its "wealth of authoritative information" (Back Stage), its "fascinating picture of the volatile American stage" (The Guardian), and its "well-chosen, illuminating facts" (Newsday).
Now thoroughly revised, this distinguished volume once again provides an up-to-date guide to the American stage from its beginnings to the present. Completely updated by theater professor Thomas Hischak, the volume includes playwrights, plays, actors, directors, producers, songwriters, famous playhouses, dramatic movements, and much more. The book covers not only classic works (such as Death of a Salesman) but also many commercially successful plays (such as Getting Gertie's Garter), plus entries on foreign figures that have influenced our dramatic development (from Shakespeare to Beckett and Pinter). New entries include recent plays such as Angels in America and Six Degrees of Separation, performers such as Eric Bogosian and Bill Irwin, playwrights like David Henry Hwang and Wendy Wasserstein, and relevant developments and issues including AIDS in American theatre, theatrical producing by Disney, and the rise in solo performance.
Accessible and authoritative, this valuable A-Z reference is ideal not only for students and scholars of theater, but everyone with a passion for the stage.

About this title

About the Author:

Gerald Bordman is the author of many books, including American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Jerome Kern: His Life and Music, and Days to be Happy, Years to be Sad: The Life and Music of Vincent Youmans.
Thomas S. Hischak is a playwright, professor of theatre at SUNY Cortland, and author of award-winning books on theater including The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia, Stage It With Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Musical Theatre, and Word Crazy: Broadway Lyricists from Cohan to Sondheim.

From Booklist:

Like a well-crafted revival of a beloved play, this new edition of a favorite reference book retains the flavor of the original production while significantly updating its content. The cast here is large and includes actors, choreographers, composers, dancers, designers, directors, lyricists, plays, playwrights, producers, theaters, and theater companies.

The text covers the American stage from its inception to the present, and the alphabetically arranged entries range in length from a few lines to a quarter of a double-columned page. Among the articles new to this edition are AIDS and the American theatre, Asian-American theatre and drama, Feminist theatre, 42nd Street redevelopment, Performance art, and Road tours. The authors note that to retain all the historical information of previous editions, individual articles have been condensed rather than eliminated. There is more variety here than on a vaudeville bill: hair and hairspray; urinetown and Uncle Tom's Cabin; and Tony 'n Tina's Wedding and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife are among the plays represented. Articles on individual theater artists often mention a biography or autobiography, a welcome enhancement to a ready-reference source such as this. To present as complete a picture of American theater as possible, entries on theaters beyond the Great White Way, such as the Arena Stage, the Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, are included. Capsule histories of every Broadway theater as well as several Off-Broadway houses are another new and notable feature. The volume is recommended for all public and academic libraries and would be useful in high-school libraries with theater and drama collections. Carolyn Mulac
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0195169867
• ISBN 13: 9780195169867
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 696