South Carolina Onstage

The only book of its kind, South Carolina Onstage offers a collection of plays spanning two hundred years, all by South Carolina authors. It begins with a concise history of the theater in the Palmetto State, from the first dramatic production in Charleston in 1735 and the golden age of the Dock Street and Charleston Theaters, through the rise of opera houses and community theatres across the state, to the dynamic dramatic culture South Carolina today enjoys. Each of the seven plays in Jon W. Tuttle's curated volume illuminates a different moment in South Carolina's history and is prefaced by an introductory essay. The plays included are William Ioor's The Battle of The Eutaw Springs (1807), John Blake White's Modern Honor (1812), Sarah Pogson's Young Carolinians (1818), William Gilmore Simms's Michael Bonham (1855), Rebecca Dial's Sand (1920), Alice Childress's Wedding Band (1966), and Sarah Hammond's Kudzu (2003). Collectively, the plays trace the compelling history of South Carolina drama and capture the rich diversity of the state's playwrights.