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Women in Turmoil Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta Edited and with an Introduction by Robert A. Schanke
June
2003 cloth, 0-8093-2509-8, $45.00 272 pages, 6 x 9, 3 illus. Theatre Studies / Women's Studies
Robert A. Schanke, series editor
“Robert A. Schanke has rustled up a treasure trove of wonderfully hotheaded plays by Mercedes de Acosta. I hope that the discovery of these neglected and forgotten dramas will lead to rambunctious new productions and a celebration of this fantastic woman who haunted our theatrical landscape during the first half of the last century.” —Ann Bogart, artistic director of the SITI Company and author of A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre
“It
is a pleasure to become better acquainted with Mercedes de Acosta. . . .
Six of de Acosta’s plays, now edited and made available by Robert A.
Schanke, rescue her from a vague, shadowy existence, and allow her to
assume a strong identity of her own. These plays, quite varied in their
subjects and contexts, reveal a writer with strong dramatic sensitivity
and emotional power.” —Oscar Brockett, coauthor of History of the Theatre and The Essential Theatre
In
this first publication of six plays by the flamboyantly uninhibited
author, poet, and playwright Mercedes de Acosta (1893–1968), theater
historian Robert A. Schanke rescues these lost theatrical writings from
the dusty margins of obscurity. Often autobiographical, always rife with
gender struggle, and still decidedly stageworthy, Women in Turmoil: Six
Plays by Mercedes de Acosta constitutes a significant find for the
canon of gay and lesbian drama.
In
her 1960 autobiography Here Lies the Heart, de Acosta notes that as
she was contemplating marriage to a man in 1920, she was "in a
strange turmoil about world affairs, my own writing, suffrage, sex, and my
inner spiritual development." The voice in these plays is that of a
lesbian in turmoil, marginalized and ignored. Her same-sex desires and
struggles for acceptance fueled her writings, and nowhere is that more
evident than in the plays contained herein. The women characters struggle
with unfulfilling marriages, divorce, unrequited sexual desire, suppressed
identity, and a longing for recognition.
Of
the six plays, only the first two were ever produced. Jehanne d’Arc
(1922) premiered in Paris with de Acosta’s lover at the time, Eva Le
Gallienne, starring and Norman Bel Geddes designing the set and lights. In
1934, de Acosta adapted it into a screenplay for Greta Garbo, then her
lover, but it was never filmed. Portraying rampant anti-Semitism in a
small New England town, Jacob Slovak (1923) was performed both on
Broadway and in London, with the London production starring John Gielgud
and Ralph Richardson.
The
Mother of Christ (1924) is a long one-act play written for the
internationally known actress Eleonora Duse. After Duse’s death, several
other actresses including Eva Bartok, Jeanne Eagels, and Lillian Gish
explored productions of the play. Igor Stravinsky wrote a score, Norman
Bel Geddes designed a set, and Gladys Calthrop designed costumes. However,
the play was never produced.
Her
most autobiographical play, World Without End (1925), and her most
sensational play, The Dark Light (1926), both unfold through plots
of sibling rivalry, incest, and suicide. With overtones of Ibsen, Illusion
(1928) continues the themes of de Acosta’s previous plays with her rough
and seedy cast of characters, but here the playwright’s drama grows to
incorporate a yearning for belonging as well as strong elements of class
conflict. What
notoriety remains associated with de Acosta has less to do with her
writing than with her infamous romances with the likes of Greta Garbo,
Marlene Dietrich, Isadora Duncan, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Tamara
Karsavina, Pola Negri, and Ona Munson. Through this collection of six
powerfully poignant dramas, editor Robert A. Schanke strives to correct
myths about Mercedes de Acosta and to restore both her name and her
literary achievements to their proper place in history.
Robert
A. Schanke
has authored the original biography, “That
Furious Lesbian:” The Story of Mercedes de Acosta, also
available from Southern Illinois University Press.
Robert
A. Schanke is a
professor of theater at Central College, Iowa. He is the editor of the
international journal Theatre History Studies and the Southern
Illinois University Press series Theater in the Americas. His five other
books include Eva Le Gallienne: A Bio-Bibliography and Shattered
Applause: The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne, a finalist for both the
Lambda Literary Award and the Barnard Hewitt Award for theater research.
Visit the author's website at www.mercedesdeacosta.com.
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