John W. Frick

Professor of Theatre

Phone: 924-8964
E-mail: jwf8f@virginia.edu 
Office Hours: M, W, F by Appointment

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University of Virginia Drama Homepage
Theatre Collections/Research Tools

EDUCATION

  • PH.D. New York University, Department of Performance Studies
  • M.A. University of Montana
  • B.A. Colgate University

 

  • PUBLICATIONS/HONORS/NATIONALSERVICE:

     BOOKS:

            The Theatre and the City: Representations of the Metropolis on the

                 American Stage  (in progress)

           Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-century America,                       

                  2003.          

           Theatre at the Margins: The Political, The Popular, The Personal, The

                Profane, Editor, 2000.

           Theatre and Violence, Editor,  1999.

           Theatrical Directors: A  Biographical Dictionary, Editor, 1994.          

           The Directory of Historic  American Theatre, Editor, 1987.

           New York's First Theatrical District:  The Rialto at Union Square, 1985.

 

      SELECTED ARTICLES:            

 

            "The City Mysteries Play on the Antebellum Stage: Investigating the          

                       Wicked City Motif," New Theatre Quarterly  20 (February 2004).

            "Monday the Herald; Tuesday the Victoria: (Re)packaging and

                      (Re)presenting the Celebrated and the Notorious on the Variety

                      Stage." Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film  30  (Winter 2004).             

            "Representations of  Temperance in Drama."  Alcohol and Temperance in

                      Modern History: An International Encyclopedia, eds. Jack Blocker and

                      Ian Tyrrell. ABC-CLIO, 2004.         

            "Langdon Mitchell and The New York Idea."  Encyclopedia of Modern

         Drama, ed. Gabrielle Cody and Evert Sprinchorn.  Grolier. 

            "'An American Prototype:  The Drunkard in its Time."  The Social History of Alcohol Review  17 (Fall/Winter 2002).            

            Introduction:  "In the Brilliancy of the Footlights: Creating America's   

                     Theatre." Exhibition on American Theatre, Special Collections,

                     Alderman Library, University of Virginia.  Summer-Fall 2002.         

            “'Nine-tenths of All Kindness..':  The Nineteenth Century American

                      Theatre and the Spirit of Reform"  New England Theatre Journal  10

                     (1999).              

            "A Changing Theatre: New York and Beyond, 1870-1945."  The Cambridge

                    History of American Theatre, ed. Don B. Wilmeth and Christopher Bigsby, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

            "William Dunlap."  American National Biography.  Oxford University Press,

                    1999.           

            "Fireworks, Bonfires, Balloons, and More:"  New York's Palace Garden."   

                   Performing Arts Resources  23 ( 1998).

            "Anti-intellectualism and  Representations of  'Commonness' in the

                    Nineteenth-Century  American Theatre."   Journal of American Drama

                   and Theatre  9   (Spring 1997).         

            "Odets, Where is thy Sting?  Reassessing the 'Playwright of the Proletariat'."    

                   Realism and the American Dramatic Tradition.  Ed., William DeMastes,  

                   University of Alabama Press,  1996.

            "Staging  Scottsboro:  The Violence of Representation and Class-Race                 

                    'Negotiations' in the 1930s."  New England Theatre Journal   6   (Fall

                    1995).              

            Introductory Overview Essay. "Theatre in New York City."  Encyclopedia of

                   New York City.  Yale University Press,  1995.         

 

HONORS/NATIONAL SERVICE:

 

            President-elect,  American Theatre and Drama Society

            Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, College of Arts

                        and Sciences, University of Virginia.

            Member, Research and Publications Committee, Association for Theatre in

                        Higher Education

            Member, Board of Directors, American Theatre and Drama Society

            American Society for Theatre Research liaison to the British Theatre             

                       Research Society

            Teaching Initiatives Grant, Faculty Senate, University of Virginia.

            Member, Editorial Board, Theatre Symposium

            Teaching Initiatives Grant, Faculty Senate, University of Virginia.

            Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship in Theatre History, Harvard University.

            Past Chair, Theatre History Focus Group, ATHE

            David Harrison Fund Award for excellence in teaching and scholarship,

                      University of Virginia