As early as 1760 and as late as 1920, Romantic drama dominated Peninsular Spanish theater. This love affair with Romanticism influenced the formation of Spain's modern national identity, which depended heavily on defining women's place in 19th century society. Women who defied traditional gender roles became a source of anxiety in society and on stage. The adulteress embodied the fear of rebellious women, the growing pains of modernity and the political instability of war and invasion. This book examines the conflicted portrayal of women and the Spanish national identity. Studying the adulteress on stage, the author provides insight into the uneasy tension between progress and tradition in 19th century Spain.

The essays that Martha Halsey and Phyllis Zarlin have written and collected in this volume deal with plays and playwrights primarily and only incidentally with actors, producers, theater buildings, mime, and other such manifestations of the performing arts. The period the authors cover is from the 1940s to the present. The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) shattered theatrical life. After the conflict ended on April 1, 1939, the theater was barely nourished by recourse to its past. Then "the contemporary Spanish theater" began on a particular date: October 14, 1949. On that night a new playwright, Antonio Buero Vallejo, saw the first performance of his Historia de una escalera (Story of a Staircase) produced at the Teatro Español. It spoke deeply to Spanish audiences then, and instilled a new vitality into the Spanish theater and attracted to drama a new generation of playwrights. It is those writers and younger ones that have followed in their footsteps that are studied in this fine collection of essays. The distinguished editors introductory essay, "Is There Life after Lorca?" is a readable survey of the period, and it sets the tone for the following specialized essays by other authors and by themselves.

The exhibition explores how the discovery of gold in Australia from 1851 had a profound impact on Australias̉ social and political development by creating enormous wealth and triggering an unprecedented wave of immigration and social change. Personal narratives, photographs and memorabilia will present the stories of those who came to live and work in the goldfields, including artists, goldsmiths, prospectors, ex-convict diggers, entertainers, participants in the Eureka Stockade uprising, Chinese miners, bankers, Aboriginal people, women, children and explorers. Revealing the powerful place of gold in the human imagination, Gold and Civilisation draws on gold artefacts from 35 countries including Austria, China, Denmark, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and The Vatican which represent the highest artistic standards of their culture.

Elizabeth C. Ramírez's study reveals the traditions of Chicanas/Latinas in theatre and performance, showing how Latina/Latino theatre has evolved from its pre-Columbian, Spanish, and Mexican origins to its present prominence within American theatre history. This project on women in performance serves the need for scholarship on the contributions of underrepresented groups in American theatre and education, in cultural studies and the humanities, and in American and world history.

Contains entries on thirty-three dramatists who wrote from 1700 to 1999.