Provincial Drama in America, 1870-1916—A Casebook of Primary Materials ed. by Paul T. Nolan (review)

452 MODERN DRAMA February important work, especially as it affected the American theater between 1939 and 1951. In sixteen chapters, beginning with the genesis of his idea to stage an epic production of War and Peace in the Twenties (not staged until 1941), Piscator's lifetime experiment in Europe and America for "Total Theatre," a political and artistic cohabitation, unfolds with compassion and dedicated zea1. Fourteen chapters deal directly with Piscator's association with the New School for Social Research in New York, his experiments with new production concepts, his battles against totalitarianism, as well as his unfulfilled dreams. It would have been very easy for Mrs. Piscator to have simply given us an encyclopedia of facts or a series of anecdotes and reminiscences. Facts and personal reflection are certainly present, but the rather loose style, almost stream of consciousness, makes the book more than a biography or a history. It touches many aspects of life, social, political, and artistic, that undoubtedly shaped the genius of Piscator. I suspect the reader might sense an attempt on the part of the author to theorize and philosophize excessively, to accept much that is still controversial, and unproven . This is especially true of her attempt to trace theater as a "social and moral institution." Piscator's career was indeed a long and significant one. He never ceased in his efforts to bring to the stage productions of far-reaching significance. In 1951 he returned to Germany after a number of set-backs at the School for Social Research and continued to startle many with such ventures as a production, combined in one play, of Hauptmann's last four poetic plays on the House of Atreus, his staging in 1963 of Hochhuth's The Deputy and then in 1965, Peter Weiss' The Investigation . With the inclusion of an excellent bibliography of general works on epic theater and specific sources by or on Piscator and Brecht, plus a reprint of the biographical sketch of Piscator from The Biographical Encyclopaedia and Who's Who of the American Theatre, The Piscator Experiment will certainly become an important reference book on the modern theater. One would wish that illustrations of Piscator's more important productions and, for the scholar, more complete documentation accompanied the text. Nevertheless, in order to fully appreciate the charm and fascination of Piscator's story, his courage and universal concern for the theatre, this book deserves a careful and thoughtful reading. DON B. WILMETH Brown University PROVINCIAL DRAMA IN AMERICA, I870-I9I6-A CASEBOOK OF PRIMARY MATERIALS, ed. Paul T. Nolan, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, N.j., 1967, 234 pp. Price $6.00. For advisors of graduate students in drama, and for such students themselves, this book provides suggestions as to how to proceed in gathering material for theses and articles on the unpublished plays which were copyrighted in the United States roughly between the Civil War and World War I. Besides suggestions for procedure, Mr. Nolan proves that he speaks from experience by including a large number of articles which he has written on these dramas for such publications as Alabama Quarterly, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Journal of MississiPPi History , New Mexico Quarterly, Southern SPeech Journal, South Dakota Review, and many others. Although, according to Mr. Nolan, no dramatic masterpieces will likely be 1969 BOOK REVIEWS 453 uncovered, the researcher will profit by working with primary material, and he will benefit the cause of American history and culture by revealing what provincial Americans were thinking and writing about in plays between 1870 and 1916. Also the claim that there was no American drama before 1920 will be verified or modified by evidence. The first step is to consult the two-volume work-Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States from I870-I9I6, published by the U.S. Printing Office in 1918, which lists 40,000 plays registered for copyright during this period, nine out of ten of which have never, according to Mr. Nolan, even been examined. The plays are listed alphabetically by title, and if published, are followed by the name of the publisher and the date of copyright. Also included are the playwright's name and address, and in some cases...