Dudley, Jane (1912–2001)
Jane Dudley, a key figure in the radical dance movement of the 1930s, was a choreographer who developed her own distinctive voice within the modern…
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Berg, Alban
Composer Alban Berg (1885–1935) is best-known for his two operas, Wozzeck (premiered 1925) and Lulu (left unfinished but performed in incomplete form until the full…
Brahm, Otto (1856–1912)
Otto Brahm (Otto Abrahamson) (1856–1912) was a German literary historian, critic, dramaturge, theatre manager and editor. After studying German literature in Berlin, Brahm became an…
Directors/Directing
Although some official has organized the acting and scenery in theatrical performances since ancient Greece, the director only emerged as a significant creative figure in…
El Guindi, Yussef (1960–)
Yussef El Guindi is an Egyptian/Arab-American playwright. He was born in Egypt, educated in London, and is currently a resident of Seattle, USA. He received…
Federal Theatre Project (1935–9)
The Federal Theatre Project was a government-subsidized program established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs for theater artists during the Great…
Grotesco Criollo
The grotesco criollo was a genre belonging to the commercialized theater of Buenos Aires in the 1920s and 1930s. The influence of the Italian grottesco…
Group Theatre (1931–41)
Founded in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg, the Group Theatre was conceived as a company dedicated to staging socially relevant plays,…
Hansberry, Lorraine (1930–65)
Born in Chicago in 1930, Lorraine Hansberry made history when her play A Raisin in the Sun premièred on Broadway in 1959 as the first…
Hellman, Lillian (1905–84)
Lillian Hellman, whose plays developed the conventions of modern theatrical realism, is among the most renowned twentieth-century American dramatists. Her oeuvre includes eight original plays,…
Independent Theatre Movement
The Independent Theatre Movement in Europe was a primary shaping influence on modern dramatic literature and theatrical modernism. These small independent theaters were committed to…
Lawson, John Howard (1894–1977)
John Howard Lawson was born in New York City on September 25, 1894. His first major play, Roger Bloomer (1923), advanced expressionism in the United…
Lejárraga, María de la O (1874–1974)
María de la O Lejárraga was a Spanish playwright, novelist, essayist, and feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century. She published under her married name,…
Martínez Sierra, Gregorio (1881–1947)
Gregorio Martínez Sierra was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theater director who played a key role in the Spanish theatrical avant-garde and the development of…
Modernist Theater in Catalonia
Modernist theater in Catalonia emerged out of the interplay between thematic and artistic innovation and the representation of sociopolitical issues such as class and cultural…
Mori, ōgai (1862–1922)
Mori ōgai served as a surgeon in the Japanese Imperial Army, and was a translator, novelist, dramatist, and literary theorist during the Meiji and Taisho…
The Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre is a term that has come to encapsulate the many iterations of the National Theatre of Ireland. Located in Dublin, the Abbey…
Archer, William (1856–1924)
Born in Edinburgh, William Archer served as a London theater critic from 1881 to 1920. He retired from weekly reviewing when his melodrama The Green…
Asakusa Opera
Asakusa Opera is a form of modern Japanese popular entertainment which combines elements of musical theater, namely opera, operetta, US musicals, and sketch comedy such…
Berezil’ Theater (БЕРЕЗІЛЬ)
The Berezil’ Theater was an innovative theater company founded by director and actor Oleksandr “Les” Kurbas in 1922. Active for just over a decade, the…
Bungei Kyōkai
Launched in February 1906 out of a drama club of Waseda University students, Bungei Kyōkai was one of the two pioneering organizations of the modernist…
Circus
The modern circus emerged and developed during the period when Western industrializing societies were undergoing transformation as a result of socioeconomic modernization. Philip Astley’s popular…
Craig, Edith (1869–1947)
Edith (“Edy”) Craig, lesbian theater director and women’s suffrage activist, directed numerous plays and historical pageants, making significant contributions to the Little Theatre Movement in…
Engeki Kairyō Kai
Engeki Kairyō Kai [Theater Reform Society] was a quasi-government agency and a forerunner of the modernist movement in Japanese theater. From its early days, the…
Enomoto, Kenichi 榎本 健一 (1904–1970)
A Japanese comedian, also known as Enoken, Enomoto initially created popular musical comedies in Tokyo’s downtown entertainment district Asakusa. His comedy style, containing elements from…