Alice Erya Gerstenberg (2 August 1885 â€" 28 July 1972) was an
American playwright, actress, and activist best known for her
experimental, feminist drama and her involvement with the Little
Theatre Movement in Chicago.Gerstenberg was born in Chicago, Illinois,
the only child of Julia and Erich Gerstenberg. Gerstenberg’s
grandfather was a founder and member of the Chicago Board of Trade in
1848, a position Gerstenberg’s father inherited later on, which
meant that the Gerstenbergs enjoyed a higher standard of living than
most middle-class families in Chicago at the time. Growing up,
Gerstenberg had ample travel experiences and social indulgences
including commercial theater. She attended a private school in Chicago
and later graduated from Bryn Mawr, a women’s college in
Pennsylvania, in 1907. After college, she spent some time in New York
watching the rehearsals of David Belasco before returning home to
Chicago.After living in New York for a period, Gerstenberg returned to
Chicago, where she continued to write plays; became involved with the
Little Theatre movement, supported her parents, and exercised a strong
feminist dedication to bringing non-commercial theater to new
playwrights, children, and Chicagoans. Her previous involvement with
the theater during her childhood, the plays she wrote at college, as
well as the time spent in New York led her to continue writing plays
for the rest of her life, working occasionally as an actress, and
maintaining an activist role in the theater. Although the majority of
her plays have largely been forgotten, her magnum opus Overtones has
continued to be produced since its publication in 1913.In 1913,
Gerstenberg wrote Overtones, a one-act play, her second stage play,
and her most frequently performed and printed, which was first
produced in November 1915 by the Washington Square Players at the
Bandbox Theater in New York. It has been anthologized alongside Susan
Glaspell’s Trifles as a textbook case of modern one-act plays by
women involved in the little theater movement. The play crystallizes
her use of experimental form with a familiar dramatic conflict. The
play enjoyed many productions due to its innovative use of the split
subject, a technique Eugene O'Neill would later use in his play
Strange Interlude. Gerstenberg continued to write many one-act plays
early on in her career, many of which were performed by regional or
little theaters in and around Chicago. The majority of these plays
demonstrate her feminist tendencies â€" critiquing the social roles
and decision which constrained women of the time. Gerstenberg
continued to write plays throughout her life, later on publishing
several radio plays as well as several commissioned dramatizations of
children’s stories.
American playwright, actress, and activist best known for her
experimental, feminist drama and her involvement with the Little
Theatre Movement in Chicago.Gerstenberg was born in Chicago, Illinois,
the only child of Julia and Erich Gerstenberg. Gerstenberg’s
grandfather was a founder and member of the Chicago Board of Trade in
1848, a position Gerstenberg’s father inherited later on, which
meant that the Gerstenbergs enjoyed a higher standard of living than
most middle-class families in Chicago at the time. Growing up,
Gerstenberg had ample travel experiences and social indulgences
including commercial theater. She attended a private school in Chicago
and later graduated from Bryn Mawr, a women’s college in
Pennsylvania, in 1907. After college, she spent some time in New York
watching the rehearsals of David Belasco before returning home to
Chicago.After living in New York for a period, Gerstenberg returned to
Chicago, where she continued to write plays; became involved with the
Little Theatre movement, supported her parents, and exercised a strong
feminist dedication to bringing non-commercial theater to new
playwrights, children, and Chicagoans. Her previous involvement with
the theater during her childhood, the plays she wrote at college, as
well as the time spent in New York led her to continue writing plays
for the rest of her life, working occasionally as an actress, and
maintaining an activist role in the theater. Although the majority of
her plays have largely been forgotten, her magnum opus Overtones has
continued to be produced since its publication in 1913.In 1913,
Gerstenberg wrote Overtones, a one-act play, her second stage play,
and her most frequently performed and printed, which was first
produced in November 1915 by the Washington Square Players at the
Bandbox Theater in New York. It has been anthologized alongside Susan
Glaspell’s Trifles as a textbook case of modern one-act plays by
women involved in the little theater movement. The play crystallizes
her use of experimental form with a familiar dramatic conflict. The
play enjoyed many productions due to its innovative use of the split
subject, a technique Eugene O'Neill would later use in his play
Strange Interlude. Gerstenberg continued to write many one-act plays
early on in her career, many of which were performed by regional or
little theaters in and around Chicago. The majority of these plays
demonstrate her feminist tendencies â€" critiquing the social roles
and decision which constrained women of the time. Gerstenberg
continued to write plays throughout her life, later on publishing
several radio plays as well as several commissioned dramatizations of
children’s stories.
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