Stein Gertrude - Mama Dada: Gertrude Steins avant-garde theater

Mama Dada

Kimball King, Series Editor

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Mama Dada
Gertrude Stein's Avant-Garde Theater
by Sarah Bay-Cheng

Gertrude Steins Avant-Garde
Theater

Sarah Bay-Cheng

Routledge
New York and London

Published in 2004 by
Routledge
711 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park
Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Copyright 2004 by Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Permission to quote from the following is gratefully acknowledged: Plays and Portraits and Repetition from Lectures in America by Gertrude Stein, copyright 1935 and renewed 1963 by Alice B. Toklas. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. From Wars I Have Seen by Gertrude Stein, copyright 1945 by Random House, Inc. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. Four Saints in Three Acts, They Must. Be Wedded. To Their Wife., A Movie, Film. Deux Soeurs Qui Ne Sont Pas from Operas and Plays by Gertrude Stein. Used by permission of Station Hill Press, Inc. A Portrait of Constance Fletcher and The Psychology of Nations from Geography and Plays by Gertrude Stein. Used by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. Composition as Explanation and What Are Master-pieces and why are there so few of them, by Gertrude Stein. Used by permission of Peter Owen Ltd., London. Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Listen to Me, The Mother of Us All, A Photograph, and Yes Is for a Very Young Man from Last Operas and Plays by Gertrude Stein, ed. by Carl Van Vechten. Used by permission of the Estate of Gertrude Stein. Previously unpublished notes by Gertrude Stein on Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights and Yes Is for a Very Young Man, Wars I Have Seen are used by permission of the Estate of Gertrude Stein. How Writing is Written and Reflection on the Atomic Bomb by Gertrude Stein are used by permission of the Estate of Gertrude Stein. Robert Wilsons program notes for Gertrude Steins Four Saints in Three Acts are used by permission of the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation.

Studies in Modern Drama, Volume 20

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bay-Cheng, Sarah.
Mama Dada: Gertrude Steins avant-garde theater / by Sarah Bay-Cheng.
p. cm.(Studies in modern drama)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 0-415-96893-3 (acid-free paper)

1. Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946Dramatic works. 2. Experimental drama,

AmericanHistory and criticism. 3. Avant-garde (Aesthetics)United States-History
20th century. I. Title. II. Series.

PS3537.T323Z548 2003
812'. 52dc21

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

For Bert Cardullo

Routledge is delighted to publish Mama Dada , the first book to examine Gertrude Stein's drama within the history of the theatrical and cinematic avant-gardes. This book addresses the growing interest in Stein's theater by offering the first detailed analyses of her major plays, and by considering them within a larger history of avant-garde performance. Unique to this study is a three-part model of avant-garde drama, which argues that a significant and heretofore unrecognized relationship exists among the histories of avant-garde drama, cinema, and homosexuality. Using the posited connection among the avant-garde, cinema, and queerness as the foundation for this study, Mama Dada examines in detail Stein's major plays, distinguishing for the first time between her major and minor dramatic works. Finally, it considers the impact of Stein as a major influence on the American avant-garde, in particular her influence on The Living Theater, Richard Foreman, and Robert Wilson. Thus it is a fitting addition to Routledge's STUDIES IN MODERN DRAMA series.

Sarah Bay-Cheng received her B.A. from Wellesley College and Ph.D. in theater from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She currently teaches in English and theater at Colgate University, and her co-edited anthology, The False and Fallen Staff: A Collection of Falstaff Plays from Four Centuries is forthcoming from the University of Delaware Press. This current volume, at last, credits Stein with the recognition her theater work deserves.

Kimball King