New Women Dramatists in America, 1890-1920 by Sherry D. Engle, and: American Women Theatre Critics: Biographies and Selected Writings of Twelve Reviewers, 1753-1919 by Alma J. Bennett (review)

Both of these books illustrate the point that women's history in the theatre is still fertile ground for excavation. Roughly ending at the same historical point, 1919-20, both texts examine early American women writers who specialized in theatre. While American female playwrights are increasingly a presence in drama anthologies, many remain unknown. New Women Dramatists in America, 1890-1920 provides a window into the lives and works of five Progressive Era female playwrights: Martha Morton, Madeleine Lucette Ryley, Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland, Beulah Marie Dix, and Rida Johnson Young. Engle's primary contribution in this work is to demonstrate that these five women had ongoing, long-term, successful careers as playwrights.

The first playwright examined, Martha Morton (1865-1925), was quite well known in her time. Her work today, however, is largely forgotten. Morton was born in New York City into an affluent, theatrically literate family. Engel provides the plots of several Morton plays, including His Wife's Father, A Fool for Fortune, A Bachelor's Romance (her biggest hit), and Her Lord and Master. Engle closes each chapter with a bibliography of the author's work. In the chapters on Morton and Ryley she adds another primary document to each account.

Madeleine Lucette Ryley (1858-1934) enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in England, she later moved to the United States. In 1897, Ryley had three plays running simultaneously on Broadway, an impressive feat for any playwright. Engle's analysis of the differing receptions offered by English and American critics helps the reader place the work in a historical context. Ryley's most successful work was Mice and Men, a work that Engle claims foreshadows Shaw's Pygmalion.

One of the most interesting parts of this book is the chapter on the collaboration between Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland (1855-1908) and Beulah Marie Dix (1876-1970). Sutherland worked as a drama critic for several Boston newspapers before she began writing plays, while Dix wrote plays and novels during her years at Radcliffe. They began their collaboration in 1901, eventually creating nearly twenty plays, most of which were historical romances or "costume" plays. The Road to Yesterday, featuring Minnie Dupree, was Dix and Sutherland's most successful collaboration and ran on Broadway for more than a year. This section on collaboration is a strength of the book, since little research has been done on women collaborators.

Rida Johnson Young (1875-1926) is probably the best-known playwright included in the book, most likely due to her prodigious output. Born into a respectable, middle-class family in Baltimore, Young persuaded her parents to allow her to go to New York when she turned eighteen to pursue a career in the theatre. Her most enduring comedy, The Lottery Man, opened at the Bijou Theatre in 1909, but it is her work with operetta composer Victor Herbert that remains her greatest legacy. Young and Herbert wrote Naughty Marietta, which was a critical success if not a financial one, and is still frequently revived by light opera companies throughout the country.

Engle's scholarship is thorough and appropriate. Her primary sources are the works themselves, and Engle is diligent in providing source locations. Collections of the plays, both in America and England, are conscientiously noted. She provides an appendix, "New York Plays and Musicals by Women, April 1885-June 1925," that adds to the historical context. The chapters include a comprehensive list of each playwright's works, organized chronologically. The lists at the end of each chapter include the date and length of most significant American and English productions, source material, collaborators, leading performer(s), publisher, and, if not published, where the...