Maude Adams

Maude Adams (1872-1953) was a beloved and talented American Broadway actress who greatly influenced succeeding acting methods and production techniques. She first appeared on stage as an infant in her actress mother's arms, and then moved to a succession of children's parts. Her New York debut came in 1888, supported by E. H. Southern and then Charles Frohman, a demanding mentor. In 1905, she played her most famous role: the star of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Beautiful, kind, and very private, this early American actress is chronicled in a biography covering both her life experiences and innovations on the stage.

Recovers the hidden history of theater professionals who transgressed the gendered expectations of their time

Over a century after its first stage performance, Peter Pan has become deeply embedded in Western popular culture, as an enduring part of childhood memories, in every part of popular media, and in commercial enterprises. Since 2003 the characters from this story have had a highly visible presence in nearly every genre of popular culture: two major films, a literary sequel to the original adventures, a graphic novel featuring a grown-up Wendy Darling, and an Argentinean novel about a children's book writer inspired by J. M. Barrie. Simultaneously, Barrie surfaced as the subject of two major biographies and a feature film. The engaging essays in Second Star to the Right approach Pan from literary, dramatic, film, television, and sociological perspectives and, in the process, analyze his emergence and preservation in the cultural imagination.

Aquest llibre d'assajos presenta una panoràmica del desenvolupament del teatre nord-americà des de principis del segle XIX fins a l'actualitat. Mostra els canvis que el teatre va reflectir a mesura que creixia el país i es modificava la societat. Amb cada dècada, una expressió més completa de la cultura nord-americana, amb la seva gran varietat, apareixia en obres de teatre, musicals i revistes. Els assajos analitzen els esforços de figures marginals -sobretot dramaturgs i productors no comercials, afro-americans i dones- per dur a terme una ampliació de l'espectre del teatre nord-americà quant a la dramatúrgia, disseny, representació i construcció dramàtica.