Women staging war: female dramatists and the discourses of war and peace in the United States of America, 1913-1947

During the World Wars, few women held political offices or fought in combat, so they were largely excluded from the decision-making and fighting associated with waging war. Some women, however, chose staging war as a way to present their opinions in a public forum, engage critics and audiences in debates about political issues, and inspire spectators to action. This dissertation examines women’s war plays in the United States from 1913- 1947 and how they may be considered part of a national discourse on war and peace and/or illustrative of women’s concerns. These plays were performances of patriotism, dissent, grief, and the desire for social change. To study these plays, their production histories, their engagement with contemporary causes, and their critical receptions is to understand how some women used playwriting as a public practice and a political platform during tumultuous times. The first half of the dissertation examines World War I plays and the second is concerned with World War II. Each chapter is anchored by in-depth case studies of plays, consisting of discussions of selected scripts, their production histories, and their critical receptions. One principal argument is that these plays are important as public expressions of women’s political opinions about a topic usually regarded as a male concern, not that these plays necessarily should be included in a mainstream literary canon or revived onstage today. Particular attention is paid to the ways women’s war plays generated discourse—about political and social issues, about gender, about national identity, and about theatre’s relationship to society.