An Ideal Theater is a wide-ranging, inspiring documentary history of the American theatre movement as told by the visionaries who goaded it into being. This anthology collects over forty essays, manifestos, letters and speeches that are each introduced and placed in historical context by the noted writer and arts commentator, Todd London, who spent nearly a decade assembling this collection. This celebration of the artists who came before is an exhilarating look backward, as well as toward the future, and includes contributions from: Jane Addams  William Ball  Julian Beck  Herbert Blau  Angus Bowmer  Bernard Bragg  Maurice Browne  Robert Brustein  Alison Carey  Joseph Chaikin  Harold Clurman  Dudley Cocke  Alice Lewisohn Crowley  Gordon Davidson  R. G. Davis  Doris Derby  W. E. B. Du Bois  Zelda Fichandler  Hallie Flanagan  Eva Le Gallienne  Robert E. Gard  Susan Glaspell  Andre Gregory  Tyrone Guthrie  John Houseman  Jules Irving  Margo Jones  Frederick H. Koch  Lawrence Langner  W. McNeil Lowry  Charles Ludlam  Judith Malina  Theodore Mann  Gilbert Moses  Michaela O'Harra  John O'Neal  Joseph Papp  Robert Porterfield  Jose Quintero  Bill Rauch  Bernard Sahlins  Richard Schechner  Peter Schumann  Maurice Schwartz  Gary Sinise  Ellen Stewart  Lee Strasberg  Luis Miguel Valdez  Nina Vance  Douglas Turner Ward As well as the founding visions of theatres from across the country: The Actors Studio  The Actor's Workshop  Alley Theatre  American Conservatory Theater  American Repetory Theater  Arena Stage  Barter Theatre  Bread and Puppet Theater  The Carolina Playmakers  The Chicago Little Theater  Circle in the Square Theatre  The Civic Repertory Theatre  Cornerstone Theater Company  The Federal Theatre Project  Ford Foundation Program in Humanities and the Arts  The Free Southern Theater  The Group Theatre  The Hull-House Dramatic Association  KRIGWA Players  The Living Theatre  La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club  The Mark Taper Forum  The Mercury Theatre  Minnesota Theater Company (Guthrie Theater)  The National Theatre of the Deaf  The Negro Ensemble Company  The Negro Theatre Project, Federal Theatre Project  The Neighborhood Playhouse  New Dramatists  The New York Shakespeare Festival  The Open Theater  Oregon Shakespeare Festival  The Performance Group  The Provincetown Players  The Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center  The Ridiculous Theatrical Company  Roadside Theater  The San Francisco Mime Troupe  The Second City  Steppenwolf Theatre Company  El Teatro Campesino  Theater '47  The Theatre Guild  The Theatre of the Living Arts  The Washington Square Players  The Wisconsin Idea Theater  Yale Repertory Theatre  The Yiddish Art Theatre