Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 Writing about the South "in her own way": gender and region in the work of southern women playwrights Casey Kayser Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Kayser, Casey, "Writing about the South "in her own way": gender and region in the work of southern women playwrights" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2800. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2800 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. WRITING ABOUT THE SOUTH “IN HER OWN WAY”: GENDER AND REGION IN THE WORK OF SOUTHERN WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Casey Kayser B.A., Westminster College, 2001 M.A., University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003 May 2010 ©Copyright 2010 Casey Kayser All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION This project is dedicated to my parents, Jim and Kay Kayser, and my sister, Christy Kayser Arrazattee. The completion of this degree would not have been possible without their constant love, laughter, friendship, and support. I am grateful to my parents for cultivating in me a love of learning and knowledge from a young age, and they have always encouraged me to set lofty goals and achieve them. When I was young, I thought my father was the smartest person in the world, and he still seems that way to me today. I’m convinced much of my gift for storytelling comes from my Dad, whose stories about growing up the oldest of seven in a very animated family, or his vivid tales about the Mississippi River bandit, “Swamp Fox” Swampy Bolen, were endless sources of entertainment when I was a child. I learned my earliest lessons about feminism from my Mom, and I have no doubt that the mantra I first heard in kindergarten, “You can do anything a boy can do!” set the stage for many of my life’s successes. My Mom is always the first person I turn to in a crisis or a moment of joy (unfortunately for her, I’m an academic with a background in dramatics, so the crises are more frequent), and I am eternally grateful for her sage perspective, patience, and sense of humor. I am also appreciative of the financial support my parents have provided for my education and offered in tough times. It means very much to me that they understand and value the path I have chosen, and that throughout these long and financially unstable graduate school years, they never once said, “Get a real job!” When I moved to Baton Rouge in 2005 to pursue the PhD, my sister and best friend Christy was my willing partner in a great adventure, and I am grateful to her for that. We have both found much happiness and success in our new home, and it has been wonderful to have such a strong supporter, confidante, and partner in crime here with me. I feel blessed to have been born into what is surely one of the most loving, fun, and funniest families to have ever existed. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project represents the culmination of my graduate study at Louisiana State University and a major life accomplishment that would not have been possible without the help and support of many wonderful people. I am grateful for all of the LSU faculty and administrators who have assisted me throughout my degree program and I have been especially fortunate to have a wonderful dissertation committee. Many thanks to my co-directors Bill Demastes and Rick Moreland, as well as committee members Brannon Costello and Carolyn Ware, all who have offered much of their time, guidance, and encouragement in helping me formulate and articulate my ideas throughout my coursework, exams, and the dissertation process. They have also provided advice and support on job market issues, as did Dan Novak, whose advice, expertise, and moral support have been invaluable. I’m also grateful for my undergraduate advisor and long-time mentor, Carolyn Perry, for her friendship and guidance. I appreciate the professional opportunities she’s passed along my way, but mostly, I’m grateful to her for leading me to southern literature. Thanks must also go to LSU’s Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership, especially to Jan Shoemaker for her friendship and mentorship: for teaching me about service-learning, Cajun dancing, and many other things, and Roxanne Dill, whose smiling face, kind words, and prayers helped me through various challenging milestones. Thanks also to Kevin Cope and the LSU Faculty Senate for providing me with a graduate assistantship in my final year that provided much-needed financial assistance and many valuable learning opportunities. I am in awe as I count the many wonderful friends and colleagues who have helped me along the way, from giving advice, reading and commenting on my work, to just general support. Thanks to all of you: James Ayers, Jason Dupuy, Ashli Dykes, Edward Fowler, iv Courtney George, Gentry Hanks, Erica Abrams Locklear, Dan Mangiavellano, Laura Helen Marks, Greg Molchan, Kristi Richard Melancon, Liz Thompson, Jessica Vallelungo, Jessica Ketcham Weber, and Jennifer Ellis West. And to my long-time best friends who have supported and loved me from afar, via phone and email, and were always there to help me forget about school for a while on holiday breaks: Ashley Carel, Wendy Libey, Dominic O’Donnell, and Christie Sennott. Again my utmost appreciation goes to my immediate family, Jim, Kay, and Christy. I am also grateful for Christy’s husband, Andrew Arrazattee, whose entrance into our lives brought with it a challenge that has been almost as formidable for me as the dissertation: learning to spell his last name. My aunt Deb Eising and Nina Hampton and aunt and uncle Dave and Shari Borlin have all been very supportive—Shari is one of a handful of people who actually read my Master’s thesis and promises to be one of the few to read the dissertation. I dearly love my grandparents, Norb and Mary Eising and Bill and Marian Kayser, and all the rest of my animated extended family, who are too many to name. I’d like to thank all of my students, who always encourage me to think more deeply about teaching and learning, life, and my research. I’m especially grateful to my service- learning students with whom I two-stepped, studied Cajun traditions, and researched the South in literature, history, and real life. Many of the playwrights whose work I consider in this project have been gracious enough to send me copies of their unpublished plays and/or have taken the time to speak with me about their work, so I am in debt to Sharon Bridgforth, Rebecca Gilman, Marsha Norman, and Linda Treiber. Thanks to Voodoo Authentica on Dumaine Street in New Orleans and whoever blessed the “Spirit of Writing” candle—it worked. v And finally, thanks and love to Mark Curtiss. He reminds me to find zen and peace amidst life’s struggles, teaches me about the science of cooking, bridge-building, and those subjects I won’t ever earn a PhD in, and always inspires me to be a better person. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION. .iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. iv ABSTRACT. viii INTRODUCTION SOUTHERN WOMEN’S DRAMA AND THE PROBLEM OF PLAYWRIGHTING THE SOUTH. 1 CHAPTER ONE SPIRIT AND SUGAR WATER: LILLIAN HELLMAN’S SOUTH. 40 CHAPTER TWO “THAT MOONY, OFF-KILTER VIEW OF THINGS”: REFLEXIVITY AND THE ABSURD ON STAGE. 68 CHAPTER THREE “ANOTHER WORLD, ANOTHER PLANET”: DISPLACING THE SOUTH. 110 CHAPTER FOUR “IT’S JUST A THING THAT HAPPENS TO A TYPE”: OBJECTIFICATION AND GENDERED VIOLENCE. .150 CHAPTER FIVE “WOMEN WHO GAVE STORIES AS GIFTS”: REENVISIONING GENRE, SETTING, AND COMMUNITY. 181 CONCLUSION. 213 WORKS CITED. 220 VITA. 235 vii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines how identity—gender, race, sexuality, regional affiliation— intersects with considerations of the dramatic genre, commercial and critical factors in the American theatre, and understandings about the American South to complicate how contemporary southern women playwrights represent region. In light of the always-already “performative” nature of the South, and geographical, commercial, and ideological factors that set the South in opposition to the North, southern women playwrights face additional difficulties in navigating issues of authenticity and simulacra, the universal versus the specific, ideas about southern “backwardness” versus northern sophistication, and audience participation in fetishizing or distancing the South. Using drama as their medium creates unique problems— for instance, the multiple layers of authorship, the collective reception format, and the demand for exaggeration within production—but it also provides opportunities for southern women playwrights to challenge conventional ideas not only about the South, but also about the assumed universal spectator, who has always been figured as male/white/heterosexual/middle- class, and I argue—not southern. Reading the work of playwrights such as Pearl Cleage, Sandra Deer, Rebecca Gilman, Marsha Norman, and Shay Youngblood, I argue that these women draw on several strategies to respond to these problems of region and genre. Through conscious approaches that involve placing, displacing, and replacing the South, and by foregrounding their challenges to traditional southern notions of gender expression and sexuality, community, and domesticity, these women use the stage to reimagine the South and the dramatic genre.