Public-domain ebook
Contemporary One-Act Plays
Language: en1,023 downloads on Project Gutenberg
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #37970.
About this book
The volume is a curated anthology of contemporary one‑act plays, assembled with an explicit educational purpose. Its editor, B. Roland Lewis, opens by explaining that the selection favors “wholesome and uplifting” works, deliberately steering clear of overly sentimental, melodramatic, or morally ambiguous pieces. The collection spans a range of genres, comedy, tragedy, farce, and melodrama, yet each entry is chosen for its artistic merit as a concise dramatic form. An introductory essay on “The Dramatic Analysis and Construction of the One‑Act Play” accompanies the texts, offering students and teachers a systematic framework for studying structure, theme, and technique. The contents list reveals contributions from notable dramatists such as Sir James M. Barrie, Anton Chekhov, and August Strindberg, providing a representative cross‑section of the form’s development in both Europe and America.
Written in a scholarly yet accessible tone, the anthology reflects the early‑20th‑century emphasis on formal analysis and moral clarity in drama education. Its language is precise, often likening the one‑act play to a “cameo”, a compact artwork demanding careful construction. Readers who appreciate close reading, theatrical history, or the craft of playwriting will find this collection rewarding, as will instructors seeking a reliable source for teaching the mechanics and aesthetic goals of short‑form drama.
The opening · free to read
The plays included have been selected with this need in mind. Accordingly, emphasis has been placed upon the wholesome and uplifting rather than upon the sordid and the ultra-realistic. The unduly sentimental, the strikingly melodramatic, and the play of questionable moral problems, has been consciously avoided. Comedies, tragedies, farces, and melodramas have been included; but the chief concern has been that each play should be good, dramatic art.
The Dramatic Analysis and Construction of the One-Act Play, which appears in the Introduction, also has been prepared for the student or teacher. This outline-analysis and the plays in this volume are sufficient material, if carefully studied, for an understanding and appreciation of the one-act play.
B. ROLAND LEWIS.
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