Staging America: The Artistic Legacy of the Provincetown Players
by Jeffery Kennedy
is available now at Amazon.com!
(now with a new Audible version!)
macdougalstreet.com is dedicated to the artistic and cultural legacies of the Provincetown Players, including their 47 playwrights and the history of Bohemian Greenwich Village at the beginning of the 20th century.
Also, visit the research site provincetownplayhouse.com
News
Glaspell and O'Neill Societies Contribute to ALA Conference in Chicago
Both the International Susan Glaspell Society and the Eugene O'Neill International Society were contributors to the 2024 American Literature Association Conference held in Chicago at the Palmer House Hotel May 22-25. The Glaspell Society had a panel of research papers given by members of the Society and scholars of Glaspell, which included Emiline Jouve, J. Ellen Gainor, and Martha Carpentier, and Jeff Kennedy served as moderator. Jouve's paper was titled "Susan Glaspell's Politics of Reception," Gainor's was "Susan Glaspell's Cherished and Shared of Old as a Wartime Narrative," and Carpentier's was "Glaspell's Mothers." On Saturday afternoon, May 25, members of the Society presented a staged dramatic reading of a new adaptation for the stage of Glaspell's novel, Ambrose Holt and Family, brilliantly adapted by Cheryl Black. A discussion with the audience followed both events.
The Eugene O'Neill Society presented a panel of papers that featured Lori Cassels with a paper titled "January 22, 1918: Pivotal Night of Eugene O'Neill and Dorothy Day" on the suicide of Louis Holladay, one of O'Neill's closest friends, which Cassels is writing a play about. Eric Fraisher Hayes, artistic director of the Eugene O'Neill Foundation, presented a talk on adapting, reimagining, and reclaiming O'Neill's play. Jeffery Kennedy gave a paper titled "Eugene O'Neill and the Experimental Theatre, Inc: A New Direction in the Provincetown Playhouse," discussing the differences between the Provincetown Players and the new theatre company begun by O'Neill, Kenneth Macgowan, and Robert Edmond Jones in 1924. The panel was moderated by Deane Brannen-Jurgenson.
New Audible version of "Staging America" Released
May 7, 2024 - Though we had talked about doing this, the publisher of "Staging America: The Artistic Legacy of the Provincetown Players" surprised me today by releasing an Audible version and an Audio CD. Though the book, at 640 pages, can appear daunting, having it in these forms may encourage you to try it! I'm grateful they felt it was worth producing, and the actor they used to read the book is outstanding and easy to understand. If you have Audible already, just search the title of the book, and it "costs" one credit. Otherwise, you can purchase it at the book's Amazon page at https://shorturl.at/W8VkB
"Poetry in America" episode on Robert Lowell
April 11, 2024 - After appearing last season as a scholar on an episode of PBS's "Poetry in America" about Edna St. Vincent Millay, I have had the incredible pleasure of writing the musical score for an episode this year. "July in Washington" is a poem by the talented but tortured poet laureate of the US for many years, Robert Lowell. The episode airs on AZ PBS on Thurs, April 25 @ 9:30 pm (look for around the same date outside of AZ for this episode) and features a unique blend of scholars. You will recognize Washington DC journalists and staffers, including Sir Jonathan Bate from Oxford and now ASU, Andrea Mitchell from NBC, and David Axelrod, a CNN contributor who worked in the Obama White House.
The show is written and hosted by the brilliant Lisa New. Phoenix's own Dave Coolidge, Christina Steffan, and Joshua Gardner play flawlessly on the score, to whom I am grateful for sharing their musical talents. I am so happy to be able to share this with you, and I hope you can watch it!
For more information about "Poetry in America" and this episode, go to their website at this https://www.poetryinamerica.org/.
Presentation to Greenwich Village Preservation Society
March 7, 2024 - I was privileged to give a talk about my book Staging America: The Artistic Legacy of the Provincetown Players for the Greenwich Village Preservation Society on Tuesday, March 5 @ 6:00 pm. This event was held at the Parish Hall of St. Marks in the Bowery, 131 E. 10th Street. They videotaped my talk and it's available to be seen on YouTube at the following link: https://youtu.be/at3XkASsjYA?si=qozB9y01Dx242ImG (also in the next section of this website).