The Provincetown Players and the Playwrights' Theatre, 1915-1922

Book DescriptionThe feminist writer and editor Edna Kenton (1876–1954) was elected to the Executive Committee of the Provincetown Players by 1916. This theatrical company, first to present the plays of Eugene O’Neill, rebelled against the commercialism of Broadway and gave unrecognized dramatists the opportunity to experiment. Kenton was a great admirer of company leader George Cram Cook, and when Cook died in Greece in the early 1920s, Kenton dedicated herself to upholding his vision of a Dionysian ideal in American theater.

This is Kenton’s original history of the influential theatre, from the first seasons at Provincetown in 1915 and 1916, to the final New York season in 1922. This invaluable eyewitness account has been edited from the most complete and latest version of Kenton’s text, with consultation of earlier incomplete versions. Kenton transcribed many playbills into the text, and included others whole between the pages; the latter are included as illustrations. An appendix reprints Kenton’s two periodical articles about the Provincetown Players and articles from the New York Herald, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Evening Transcript, as well as other memories of the Provincetown Players, including those of Marsden Hartley, Nina Moise, M. Eleanor Fitzgerald, and Djuna Barnes.