An Ideal Theater is a wide-ranging, inspiring documentary history of
the American theatre movement as told by the visionaries who goaded it
into being. This anthology collects over forty essays, manifestos,
letters and speeches that are each introduced and placed in historical
context by the noted writer and arts commentator, Todd London, who spent
nearly a decade assembling this collection. This celebration of the
artists who came before is an exhilarating look backward, as well as
toward the future, and includes contributions from:
Jane Addams - William Ball - Julian Beck - Herbert Blau - Angus Bowmer -
Bernard Bragg - Maurice Browne - Robert Brustein - Alison Carey - Joseph
Chaikin - Harold Clurman - Dudley Cocke - Alice Lewisohn Crowley -
Gordon Davidson - R. G. Davis - Doris Derby - W. E. B. Du Bois - Zelda
Fichandler - Hallie Flanagan - Eva Le Gallienne - Robert E. Gard - Susan
Glaspell - André Gregory - Tyrone Guthrie - John Houseman - Jules
Irving - Margo Jones - Frederick H. Koch - Lawrence Langner - W. McNeil
Lowry - Charles Ludlam - Judith Malina - Theodore Mann - Gilbert Moses -
Michaela O'Harra - John O'Neal - Joseph Papp - Robert Porterfield - José
Quintero - Bill Rauch - Bernard Sahlins - Richard Schechner - Peter
Schumann - Maurice Schwartz - Gary Sinise - Ellen Stewart - Lee
Strasberg - Luis Miguel Valdez - Nina Vance - Douglas Turner Ward
As well as the founding visions of theatres from across the country:
The Actors Studio - The Actor's Workshop - Alley Theatre - American
Conservatory Theater - American Repetory Theater - Arena Stage - Barter
Theatre - Bread and Puppet Theater - The Carolina Playmakers - The
Chicago Little Theater - Circle in the Square Theatre - The Civic
Repertory Theatre - Cornerstone Theater Company - The Federal Theatre
Project - Ford Foundation Program in Humanities and the Arts - The Free
Southern Theater - The Group Theatre - The Hull-House Dramatic
Association - KRIGWA Players - The Living Theatre - La MaMa Experimental
Theatre Club - The Mark Taper Forum - The Mercury Theatre - Minnesota
Theater Company (Guthrie Theater) - The National Theatre of the Deaf -
The Negro Ensemble Company - The Negro Theatre Project, Federal Theatre
Project - The Neighborhood Playhouse - New Dramatists - The New York
Shakespeare Festival - The Open Theater - Oregon Shakespeare Festival -
The Performance Group - The Provincetown Players - The Repertory Theater
of Lincoln Center - The Ridiculous Theatrical Company - Roadside
Theater - The San Francisco Mime Troupe - The Second City - Steppenwolf
Theatre Company - El Teatro Campesino - Theater '47 - The Theatre
Guild - The Theatre of the Living Arts - The Washington Square Players -
The Wisconsin Idea Theater - Yale Repertory Theatre - The Yiddish Art
Theatre
