Mary Reynolds Aldis (1872–1949) was an American playwright and figure in the

little theater movement Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

who founded a small theater outside Chicago in the early 1910s.

Life and career

Mary Reynolds was born in 1872 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her birth year is contested, with one source listing 1869. She attended St. Mary's School in Knoxville, Illinois. In 1892, she married the Arthur Taylor Aldis, a Chicago lawyer and real estate investor, and together settled in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

, a wealthy area north of Chicago. They became known as patrons of the arts and for their relationships with area writers such as Edgar Lee Masters. Aldis was a prominent figure in the second wave of the Chicago Renaissance, a literary period between 1910 and the mid-1920s. Their Lake Forest residence became known as an artists' colony, where she converted a guest house into a small, 90-seat theater near her home. Between 1910 and 1915, the Aldis Playhouse's Lake Forest Players hosted amateur works by Aldis and others. They were reviewed as having "simple, truthful acting" and performed in Boston's

Toy Theatre Toy theater, also called paper theater and model theater (also spelt theatre, see spelling differences), is a form of miniature theater dating back to the early 19th century in Europe. Toy theaters were often printed on paperboard sheets and sold ...

. Aldis participated in the Chicago Players' Workshop, which presented Chicago playwrights. The Players also adapted from European one-acts and short stories for invited audiences. Aldis published a collection of her plays, ''Plays for Small Stages'', in 1915. Among those that Aldis wrote, produced, and performed, the 1915 ''Mrs. Pat and the Law'' is best known. These productions were contemporary with the

Chicago Little Theatre A theater company formed in 1912, the Chicago Little Theatre spearheaded and lent its name to a historic, popular wave in American Theater, the Little Theatre Movement. Founded in its namesake city by Ellen Van Volkenburg and Maurice Browne, the co ...

. Aldis hosted plays by

Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, ...

, William Butler Yeats,

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...

, and arranged for Augusta, Lady Gregory, of the Irish

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...

to perform in Chicago. She was also involved in poetry. At Lake Forest, Aldis hosted

Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, first published in 1912. As a ...

of ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

''. Aldis's own poetry appeared in that magazine, Alfred Kreymborg's '' Others: A Magazine of the New Verse'', and anthologies by ''Others'' and Monroe's ''The New Poetry''. Aldis published her first poetry collection, ''Flashlights'', in 1916. She was a member of the

Society of Midland Authors The Society of Midland Authors is an association of published authors from twelve American states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. According to its constit ...

, multiple women's groups, and led an area visiting nurses association. Aldis died on June 20, 1949.

Works

Plays * ''Plays for Small Stages'' (1915) ** ''Mrs. Pat and the Law'' ** ''The Drama Class'' ** ''Extreme Unction'' ** ''Temperament'' * ''Mrs. Pat and the Law: A Play in One Act'' (1923) * ''An Heir at Large: A Play in Seven Scenes'' (1926) Fiction * ''The Princess Jack'' (1915) * ''Drift'' (1918) Poetry * ''Flashlights'' (1916)

References

External links

Mary Aldis full text
at

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

Mary Reynolds Aldis Papers 1904–1929
at the University of Chicago Library
Mary Aldis Collection, 1910–1949
at

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts inst ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldis, Mary 1872 births 1949 deaths American dramatists and playwrights American women dramatists and playwrights American women poets People from Lake Forest, Illinois Writers from Chicago