LINES OF BUSINESS: CASTING PRACTICE AND POLICY IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE, 1752-1899 (ACTING, STUDIES, MANAGEMENT).
Item
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Title
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LINES OF BUSINESS: CASTING PRACTICE AND POLICY IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE, 1752-1899 (ACTING, STUDIES, MANAGEMENT).
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Identifier
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AAI8515610
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identifier
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8515610
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Creator
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BURGE, JAMES C.
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Contributor
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Vera Mowry Roberts
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater
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Abstract
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The author's interest in the subject was initiated by his research into managerial and artistic policies of the major New York City theatres during the renaissance of stock companies in the years 1839-1869. As investigations in the "walks" or "lines of business" progressed, it became apparent that they represented a much more powerful and directive production policy than the actors' benefit nights, although the latter are far better known.;Lines of business had their genesis on the English-speaking stage in Elizabethan times and were well-established by the middle of the eighteenth century. Although managers (particularly non-acting managers) tended to insist on their right of casting as they saw fit, references in many letters, diaries and memoirs of actors during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries demonstrate that the actor retained control of his/her career by insistence upon "possession of parts.".;By the time the Hallams arrived in America in 1752, the lines of business was a firmly entrenched tradition, wielding considerable influence as a determinant of the repertory and a restriction on membership in individual companies as well as in the entire profession. An analysis of the various "lines," an investigation into their use in eight major American theatre companies, and their applicability to the major dramatic form of the nineteenth century--the melodrama--demonstrate the power of this incipient trade unionism in casting and in choice of repertory.;The change in the nature of the drama itself, and the growing systems of combination companies and the long-run, led finally to the rise of the director and a shift in the balance of power in his direction. By the time Augustin Daly was at the peak of his managerial career in the 1890s, the lines of business had ceased to be a controlling factor in casting practice and policy in the American theatre.;The careers of three actors in the "low comedian" line (Joseph Jefferson I, George Holland and James Lewis) illustrate the apogee, the decline and the eventual demise of the lines of business.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Theatre
