J. Ellen Gainor wins book award from Theatre Library Association

J. Ellen Gainor, professor of performing and media arts in the College of Arts & Sciences, has been awarded the George Freedley Memorial Award Special Jury Prize from the Theatre Library Association (TLA) for her book, “The Routledge Anthology of Women’s Theatre Theory & Dramatic Criticism,” co-edited with Catherine Boroughs, courtesy professor of performing and media arts (A&S). The award will be presented at the TLA Awards Ceremony on October 18 and is co-sponsored by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

“The Routledge Anthology of Women's Theatre Theory and Dramatic Criticism” is the first wide-ranging anthology of theatre theory and dramatic criticism by women writers. Gainor contributed two pieces to the anthology: the first is an entry on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and her award-winning sister, Gabriela Serena Sanchez, who serve as representatives of women working on theater theory.

Gainor’s second entry, co-authored with Florida State University scholar Elizabeth A. Osborne, is on Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Glaspell, who significantly shaped the development of theater and drama in the U.S.

Among “The Routledge Anthology’s” more than 80 other contributors are Cornell faculty and numerous alumni, including Andrew Galloway, the James John Professor of Medieval Studies in literatures in English; Nick Salvato, professor of performing and media arts; Aoise Stratford, Ph.D. ’16, senior lecturer in performing and media arts and an advising dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Sara Warner, associate professor of performing and media arts; and Marvin Carlson, Ph.D. ’61, courtesy professor of performing and media arts, all in A&S.

Reproducing key primary documents contextualized by short essays, the collection demonstrates women’s consistent and wide-ranging engagement with writing about theater and performance and offers a more expansive understanding of the forms and locations of such theoretical and critical writing, dealing with materials that often lie outside established production and publication venues.