Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2017
Keywords
Communication and the arts, Intersectionality, Theatre historiography, Women's and gender studies
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Theatre
First Advisor
David Bisaha
Subject Heading(s)
Communication and the arts; Intersectionality; Theatre historiography; Women's and gender studies; Theatre and Performance Studies; Theatre History
Abstract
This thesis anachronistically applies Kimberlé Crenshaw’s term intersectionality to three dramatic texts using Thomas Postlewait’s model of theatre historiography. These plays were authored by twentieth century female playwrights who had similar intersectional lives as the leads discussed. Yuki, from the 1901 novel turned 1903 Broadway play A Japanese Nightingale, was crafted by Winnifred Eaton. Yuki’s identity will be the subject of the first chapter. The second chapter examines the identity of Rachel from Angelina Weld Grimke’s anti-lynching play Rachel. For the third chapter, the identities of both female leads fromHope for a Harvest by Sophie Treadwell are analyzed. Each chapter will also investigate the strong autobiographical ties the playwrights have to their material in terms of intersectional identity and historical context.
Recommended Citation
Goodell, Emily, "Before Crenshaw: a historiographical look at intersectional identity in three twentieth-century American plays by Eaton, Grimké, and Treadwell" (2017). Graduate Dissertations and Theses. 27.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/dissertation_and_theses/27