Daily Archives for: February 15th, 2024

10 Fascinating Facts About Isabella Stewart Gardner

By | On February 15, 2024 | Updated March 25, 2024 | Comments (0)

Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner (Mariner Books, March 2024), award–winning author Natalie Dystra delivers the definitive biographical portrait of the ambitious and innovative­—and until now misunderstood—woman behind one of America’s most important art collections.

With access to all archival holdings at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum—including thousands of digitized and newly accessible letters and other unpublished records—as well as original sources in Paris, Venice, and more. Dykstra brings Isabella to life as never before. Read More→

Categories: Other Voices Comments: (0)

Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress, Playwright, Novelist & Activist

By | On February 15, 2024 | Updated March 2, 2026 | Comments (0)

The first full-length play by Alice Childress, Trouble in Mind, premiered in 1955 at an interracial theater co-sponsored by a Presbyterian church and a synagogue in Greenwich Village.

According to accounts at the time, the audience “applauded and shouted bravos, and would not leave their seats until the author was brought on stage.” Despite initial audience enthusiasm, decades would pass before the play received the recognition it has today as a classic of American theater.

The show received an Obie Award for best original off-Broadway play that season and was slated to open on Broadway in 1957, but Childress herself pulled the plug on that production. Read More→

Categories: Classic Female Playwrights Comments: (0)