Imagine a playhouse, perfectly equipped, plastic and infinitely adaptable. Invite Arthur Hopkins, John Williams, Winthrop Ames, Sam Hume and George Cram Cook to manage it; let them run riot on the stage. Clear the wings and the front of the house of all routineers. Fill the seats at each performance with the usual gallery-haunters of the New York theaters. Do not overlook the hosts of experimental playhouse directors--unleash them in the backyard area with a _kammerspielhaus_ to toy with at pleasure. Let the personnel of the play-reading committee consist of such men as Ludwig Lewisohn, Barrett H. Clark, George Jean Nathan and Francis Hackett. The result will take care of itself. This, in brief, is the theatrical ménage for which, in the main, the plays included in this volume were written.
Is this a hair-brained or a frivolous notion? It may be. But, please note, it expresses, no matter how limpingly, some approach to a viewpoint. At all events it is the only touchstone applied by the editors in their choice of fifty contemporary one-act plays.
AUSTRIA: PAGE VON HOFMANNSTHAL (HUGO) _Madonna Dianora_ 1 SCHNITZLER (ARTHUR) _Literature_ 13
BELGIUM: MAETERLINCK (MAURICE) _The Intruder_ 27
FRANCE: ANCEY (GEORGE) _Monsieur Lamblin_ 45 DE PORTO-RICHE (GEORGES) _Françoise' Luck_ 53
GERMANY: ETTLINGER (KARL) _Altruism_ 67 WEDEKIND (FRANK) _The Tenor_ 77
GREAT BRITAIN: BENNETT (ARNOLD) _A Good Woman_ 89 CALDERON (GEORGE) _The Little Stone House_ 99 CANNAN (GILBERT) _Mary's Wedding_ 111 CROCKER (BOSWORTH) _The Baby Carriage_ 119 DOWSON (ERNEST) _The Pierrot of the Minute_ 133 ELLIS (MRS. HAVELOCK) _The Subjection of Kezia_ 145 HANKIN (ST. JOHN) _The Constant Lover_ 155
INDIA: MUKERJI (DHAN GOPAL) _The Judgment of Indra_ 165
IRELAND: GREGORY (LADY) _The Workhouse Ward_ 173
HUNGARY: BIRO (LAJOS) _The Grandmother_ 191
ITALY: GIACOSA (GIUSEPPE) _The Rights of the Soul_ 201
RUSSIA: ANDREYEV (LEONID) _Love of One's Neighbor_ 213 TCHEKOFF (ANTON) _The Boor_ 227
SPAIN: BENEVENTE (JACINTO) _His Widow's Husband_ 237 QUINTEROS (THE) _A Sunny Morning_ 253
SWEDEN: STRINDBERG (AUGUST) _The Creditor_ 261 WIED (GUSTAV) _Autumn Fires_ 289
UNITED STATES: BEACH (LEWIS) _Brothers_ 303 COWAN (SADA) _In the Morgue_ 313 CRONYN (GEORGE W.) _A Death in Fever Flat_ 319 DAVIES (MARY CAROLYN) _The Slave with Two Faces_ 329 DAY (FREDERIC L.) _The Slump_ 337 FLANNER (HILDEGARDE) _Mansions_ 349 GLASPELL (SUSAN) _Trifles_ 361 GERSTENBERG (ALICE) _The Pot Boiler_ 371 HELBURN (THERESA) _Enter the Hero_ 383 HUDSON (HOLLAND) _The Shepherd in the Distance_ 395 KEMP (HARRY) _Boccaccio's Untold Tale_ 407 LANGNER (LAWRENCE) _Another Way Out_ 419 MILLAY (EDNA ST. VINCENT) _Aria Da Capo_ 431 MOELLER (PHILIP) _Helena's Husband_ 443 MACMILLAN (MARY) _The Shadowed Star_ 455 O'NEILL (EUGENE G.) _Ile_ 465 STEVENS (THOMAS WOOD) _The Nursery Maid of Heaven_ 477 STEVENS (WALLACE) _Three Travelers Watch a Sunrise_ 493 TOMPKINS (FRANK G.) _Sham_ 501 WALKER (STUART) _The Medicine Show_ 511 WELLMAN (RITA) _For All Time_ 517 WILDE (PERCIVAL) _The Finger of God_ 529