A Sustainable Theatre Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow [Hardcover]

Begun as an audacious experiment, for thirty years the Hedgerow Theatre prospered as America's most successful repertory company. While known for its famous alumnae (Ann Harding and Richard Basehart), Hedgerow's legacy is a living library of over 200 productions created by Jasper Deeter's idealistic and determined pursuit of 'truth and beauty.'Preface by Penelope Reed Introduction 1. Inheritors : Growing a Theater 2. The Emperor Jones : A Passion for Equality 3. Winesburg, Ohio : Democracy Between The Hedgerows 4. An American Tragedy : Whose Social Conscience? 5. The Cherokee Night : Riggs and the Power of Place 6. Too True To Be Good : Consequences of Integrity 7. Uncle Vanya : A Way of Acting 8. The Hedgerow Story : Celebrity and Disappointment 9. Aftermath 10. Epilogue Notes Appendix A - Hedgerow Repertory 1923-1956 Appendix B - Repertory for Shaw Festival , July 19August 14, 1937 Appendix C - Repertory Calendars

Barry B. Witham is Professor Emeritus of Theatre at the University of Washington, USA.

A Sustainable Theatre is comprehensive, revelatory and entirely engaging. Jasper Deeter's contributions as Hedgerow Theatre founder, stage director and acting teacher are wide-spread and profound. His determination to wed quality theatre to the land itself is inspirational and strikingly contemporary, suggesting how excellence and innovation in theatre corresponded fundamentally to twentieth-century grassroots America. Thanks to Barry B. Witham's sparkling study we now know how and why that was so. Bravo! - Stuart J. Hecht, Department of Theatre, Boston College, USA

Witham's rescue of a vital but neglected experiment in American theatre not only traces Jasper Deeter's concept for a 'sustainable theatre' through that director's three decades with the legendary Hedgerow, but it also sheds new light on theatre artists like Susan Glaspell and Hallie Flanagan whose careers were surprisingly impacted by the work therelƒf