“Mama Dada” is the first book to examine Gertrude Stein’s drama within the history of the theatric and cinematic avant-gardes. It explores her development of a unique playwriting aesthetic based in avant-garde drama, cinema, and queer identity. This is the first study to distinguish between her major and minor dramatic works, and examine in detail Stein’s major plays: “Four Saints in Three Acts ” (1927); “They Must. Be Wedded. To Their Wife.” (1931); “Listen to Me” (1936); “Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights” (1938); “Yes Is for a Very Young Man” (1944-46); and “The Mother of Us All” (1945-46). It is also the first book to consider Stein’s impact as a major influence on the American avant-garde, in particular her influence on The Living Theater, Richard Foreman, and Robert Wilson. Through close examination of her career and work (as text and in performance), Sarah Bay-Cheng aims to demystify Stein’s drama and to connect her achievements to a larger historical and theoretical tradition in European and American theatre.
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