Class Divisions on the Broadway Stage: The Staging and Taming of the I.W.W. [Paperback]

Examining twenty-five years of theatre history, this book covers the major plays that feature representations of the Industrial Workers of the World. American class movement and class divisions have long been reflected on the Broadway stage and here Michael Schwartz presents a fresh look at the conflict between labor and capital.1. To Stop the World: The Most Stupendous Impossibles 2. Where Do I Get Off At? The Wobblies Spurns the Hairy Ape 3. No Kick Coming: The Romantic Wobbly of Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted 4. Jazzing the Wobblies: John Howard Lawson's Processionals 5. Dead Hand of the Dead: Anderson and Hickerson's Gods of the Lightning 6. We Even Sing 'em in Jap and Chink: Upton Sinclair's Workers' Theater Contribution 7. You I-Won't Work Harp: I.W.W. Elegy in The Iceman Cometh 8. Postscript: Not Time Yet

In this illuminating study, Michael Schwartz provides vivid insights into the ways in which the Wobblies, a fabled crew of labor campaigners, were depicted on the Broadway stage. Schwartz colorfully demonstrates how Wobblies were evoked through individual characters, plot devices, and music. Through its fine storytelling and cogent analyses, Class Divisions on the Broadway Stage reveals a largely hidden part of American theatrical and labor history. - William A. Everett, University of Missouri, Kansas City, USA

Schwartz has constructed an enticingly-written and enlightening history that expertly blends nuanced contextualization of the culture and politics of the 1920s with provocative readings of established and forgotten texts. For readers responsive to how theatre intersects with politics, unions, and economics, Class Divisions on the Broadway Stage offers a distinctive perspective on how commercial theatre audiences consume radicalism and the dynamics of labor history. - Theatre Journal