Word: one-act
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...anthologist is not a happy one", as Mr. Frank Shay assures us that it is not in his "Foreword" to the "Twenty Contemporary One Act Plays--American" he has recently edited, the lot of the reviewer of such a work is not the least bit happier. Not only does he strike the difficulty that persons seem to disagree more over the merits of a play than over those of any other from the writing, but also that of writing an adequate criticism of twenty one-act plays in less time and space than the reviewer can allow or be allowed...
Aside from the actually collected material in an anthology, however, especi ally in an anthology of one-act plays, there are certain things one looks for, from both the aesthetic and the practical points of view, to really complete the volume. From the practical viewpoint, Mr. Shay's anthology is adequately handled. There are the expected notices of addresses for applications for permission to produce, and the bibliographies of books about, and plays of the "Little Theatre". For the reader, on the other hand, who would take up the book as a matter of enjoyable reading only, there...
...power of creating an atmosphere that transcends the actual lines and action of the play. With these two plays as leaders, and with a number of others that may be said to be truly good, Mr. Shay has made a creditable selection from the enormous field of the American one-act play...
...their own individual and racial characteristics rather than to train them into a smooth imitation of white-skinned actors. And here, it would seem, he has succeeded already?and should succeed to an even greater degree in the future. The first bill of their repertory season consists of a one-act curtain-raiser, The Chip Woman's Fortune, followed by Oscar Wilde's Salome. The Chip Woman's Fortune, a mild little comedy, is played with extraordinary verisimilitude?with delightful warmth and grace. Salome, of course, is a more pretentious production and not quite such a successful one. Sydney Kirkpatrick...
...first among the well-greaved theatrical Achaians? Who hotly pressed forward first to commence the ardent one-act struggle for the bays? Who, but the Little Theatre of Bridgeport in The Rut, a drama by Sara Sherman Pryor? From the rising of the curtain upon that production on Monday to the falling of it upon the last scene of The Monkey's Paw, by W. W. Jacobs, produced by the Montclair Players of Montclair on Friday, how the gallant conflict raged...