''Inheritors'' is a four-act play written by the American dramatist
Susan Glaspell
Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company.
First know ...
, first performed in .
The play concerns the legacy of an idealistic farmer who wills his highly coveted midwest farmland to the establishment of a college (Act I). Forty years later, when his granddaughter stands up for the rights of Hindu nationals to protest at the college her grandfather founded, she jeopardizes funding for the college itself and sets herself against her own uncle, the president of the institution's trustees (Act II and III). Ultimately, she defies her family's wishes, and as a consequence is bound for prison herself (Act IV).
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The play was a defense of free speech and an individual's ability to stand for his or her own ideal during a time of aggressive anti-Communist politics in the US.
''Inheritors'' was first performed at Provincetown Playhouse on April 27 1921.
[Bigsby, C.W.E. Plays by Susan Glaspell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 103.] It was revived in New York City by
Mirror Repertory in 1983 and
Metropolitan Playhouse in 2005 and was also performed at the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
Th ...
in
Richmond, London
Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Com ...
in 1997.
References
External links
* The full text of
Inheritors' at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* {{librivox book , title=Inheritors , author=Susan GLASPELL
1921 plays
Plays by Susan Glaspell