Eugenics and American theatre, 1912--1921

This dissertation Eugenics and American Theatre 1912–1921 explores the response of theatre artists and writers to the growing eugenics movement in the early twentieth century United States. By utilizing methodologies from New Historicism and identifying common themes and conflicts in both the plays and the society of the time, new readings of contested plays, such as Susan Glaspell's The Verge, can be considered. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the background of the eugenics movement and explains why 1912 is an important year in understanding the dissemination of eugenics principles to the American public. The conflicts between eugenics and established religion and concerning eugenics and the education of women are also defined. Chapter 2 analyzes how two defenders of eugenics, Percy MacKaye and G. Frank Lydston, utilized theatre and the religious and social conflicts fostered in the movement's growth to inform their audiences about eugenics and garner public support for the movement. In Chapter 3, the work of three playwrights (Owen Hatteras, Edward Goodman and Mary MacMillan) in the Little Theatre Movement demonstrates the general public's familiarity with the contemporary scientists who have supported eugenics. Eugenics as a topic for comedy is also discussed here. In Chapter 4, I offer an alternate reading of Susan Glaspell's The Verge based on the anti-eugenics propaganda. The conclusion looks to Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude and the Federal Theatre Project's Spirochete to analyze the diminishing concern with eugenics and the legacy of the movement in the early 1940s.