Building a Movement: Mary Reynolds Aldis and Little Theatre in Chicago

Megan E. Geigner*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter makes the case that the Little Theatre movement in the United States was a unique outgrowth of the Chicago Renaissance’s diversity, values, and networks. The chapter provides a list of Little Theatre characteristics - including artistic exchange, philanthropy, ensemble theater practice, trends in dramatic literature, and development in theater design - evident in Mary Reynolds Aldis’s work with her Lake Forest Players between 1911 and 1916. By putting the Lake Forest Players in context with Laura Dainty Pelham’s Hull-House Players and Maurice Browne and Ellen Van Volkenburg’s Chicago Little Theatre, the chapter makes clear both how the city’s artistic boom helped create the Little Theatre movement and how the practices that these early Little Theatres in Chicago developed became standard for contemporary non-profit theatre in Chicago and in the United States.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationChicago
Subtitle of host publicationA Literary History
PublisherCambridge University Press,
Pages208-221
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9781108763738
ISBN (Print)9781108477512
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2021

Keywords

  • Chicago Little Theatre
  • Chicago Renaissance
  • Ensemble
  • Hull-House Players
  • Irish Players of the Abbey Theatre
  • Lake Forest Players
  • Little Theatre movement
  • Mary Reynolds Aldis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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