2019 Business Meeting Minutes

Toulouse 2019 ISGS Business Meeting Agenda
IN ATTENDANCE: In Toulouse: President Noelia Hernando-Real, Vice President Emeline Jouve, Membership Finance Officer Drew Eisenhauer, member Jeff Kennedy, rep. for EONS. Via internet: Executive Committee members Cheryl Black, J. Ellen Gainor, Martha Carpentier.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
Thank you to Emeline Jouve for her organization of the present conference on the Federal Theatre Project and the use of her apartment for this meeting.
Thanks to Sharon Friedman and Basia Ozieblo as past EC members.
Thank you to Judy Barlow for supervising the recent ISGS election process. Report on shift of offices. Thank you to Ellen Gainor and Martha Carpentier for returning and being re-elected to the executive committee.
Congratulations on the large number of activities engaged in by Society members on behalf of the art and legacy of Susan Glaspell:

Conferences, post-show panels/discussions, and staged readings:
“Trifles at 100” at the Metropolitan Playhouse, October 2016. Talk back discussion organized by AD Alex Roe with ISGS members Sharon Friedman and J. Ellen Gainor. Participants: J.Ellen Gainor, Sharon Friedman, Cheryl Black, Basia Ozieblo, Emeline Jouve and Noelia Hernando-Real.
Trifles seminar at Fordham University, 5 October 2016. Participants: Emeline Jouve, Basia Ozieblo, Noelia Hernando-Real.
Modern Drama Seminar on Susan Glaspell and the Provincetown Players at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 16 October 2016. Keynote speakers: Basia Ozieblo, Emeline Jouve and Linda Ben-Zvi. In addition an exhibit was displayed at the Humanities Library, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, “Susan Glaspell, pionera del teatro experimental.”
Toulouse Seminar on invisible violence in Trifles, 30 March 2017. Keynote by Noelia Hernando-Real. Seminar on Trifles organized by Emeline Jouve and Céline Nogueira at Toulouse University, France with Guest of Honor Noelia Hernando-Real.
Production of Inheritors at Starlighters II, Anamosa, Iowa, September 2017, directed by Jennifer Lynn Byll. Talkback with Cheryl Black and Milbre Burch.
The International Susan Glaspell Society joined the Society for the Study of American Women Writers at Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France, 5-8 July 2017, for their conference, “Border Crossings: Translation, Migration, & Gender in the Americas, the Transatlantic, & the Transpacific,” directed by Stéphanie Durrans. The ISGS panel was chaired by ISGS VP Emeline Jouve and titled “Beyond Borders: Susan Glaspell and her Sisters from the Provincetown Players,” featuring:
A. “From Page to Stage and Stage to Page: the Trans-literary Career of Susan Glaspell,” Cheryl Black, University of Missouri;
B. “Mud and the Water: Transcultural Explorations of Transgressive gender. Louise Bryant’s From Paris to Main Street and Djuna Barnes’s Three from the Earth,” Drew Eisenhauer, Paris College of Art;
C. “Paradigm of the ‘outside’ among the Provincetown Players, especially Susan Glaspell and Marguerite Zorach: from myth to history?” Géraldine Prévot, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France
D. STAGED READING OF FUGITIVE’S RETURN, written and directed by Cheryl Black

The Tenth International Conference on Eugene O’Neill, Galway Ireland, July 2017. ISGS Panel: The Women of the Provincetown Players and the Abbey Theatre
Chaired by Drew Eisenhauer, Paris College of Art, and featuring:
A. Linda Ben-Zvi, Tel Aviv University, “‘A Different Kind of the Same Thing’: Echoes of Synge and the Abbey Theatre Style in Glaspell’s Early One-Act Provincetown Plays”;
B. Marla Del Collins, Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, “The Verge: To Grow or Die; Irishness and the Forces Unleashed”;
C. Drew Eisenhauer, Paris College of Art,”An Irish Triangle: Transatlantic Comedies of Manners in Djuna Barnes’s An Irish Triangle, Louise Bryant’s From Paris to Main Street, and Susan Glaspell’s Woman’s Honor

5th International Conference on American Drama and Theater, Nancy, France, June 2018. ISGS Panels: “Susan Glaspell and her Sisters from the Provincetown Players: Migrating beyond Forms and Places, I & II.”
Chaired by Emeline Jouve, INU Champollion/Université Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, and featuring:
A. Emotions on the Move in Susan Glaspell’s One-Act Plays (1915–1917),” Nieves Alberola Crespo, Universitat Jaume I (Castelló, Spain);
B. “Who’s ‘100% American’? Staging Susan Glaspell’s Inheritors in the 21st Century as a Critique of Nativist Fervor in a Nation of (Im)migrants,” Milbre Burch, Independent Scholar;
C. “Susan Glaspell’s Hybrid Theatre: European Modes and Motifs in The Verge,” Sharon Friedman, Gallatin School of New York University;
D. “‘The delicate tracery of Paris and the high terraces of Lyon’: Zelda Fitzgerald, Djuna Barnes: les Flâneuses Américaines,” Drew Eisenhauer, Paris College of Art;
“Journeying Past the Village: Provincetown Player Women Playwrights Whose Plays Extended Beyond American Borders,” Jeffery Kennedy, Arizona State University

Performances in 2019
• March 9, 2019: Susan Glaspell Celebration for International Women’s Month at the Bas Bleu Theatre Company with lecture by Linda Ben-Zvi;
• April 5, 2019: Guerl-rilla Theatre presents: Trifles and He Killed my Bird. Talking Horse Theatre with postshow discussion by Cheryl Black;
• April 2019: The Lasell College Performing Arts program and Drama Club produced Trifles along with a contemporary play called The Refugee Women on a double-bill called “The Strength of Women.” Performances were on March 28 – 30, 2019 on the Lasell College campus in Newton, Massachusetts. Trifles was directed by Steven F. Bloom, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eugene O’Neill Society;
• World Premiere of Free Laughter in Fort Collins with discussion by Linda Ben-Zvi;
• August 2019: Reading of Free Laughter at ATHE featuring J. Ellen Gainor and Cheryl Black

Publications since 2016
• Polster, Joshua. “Gendered Spaces: Law and Justice in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” Stages of Engagement: U.S. Theatre and Performance 1898-1949. London and New York: Routledge, 2016.
• Jouve, Emeline. Susan Glaspell’s Poetics and Politics of Rebellion. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2017.
• Alberola, Nieves. Susan Glaspell y los Provincetown Players. Laboratorio de emociones. Valencia: PUV, 2017.
• Hernando-Real, Noelia. “An Exorcism on The Outside, or Looking into Trifles – Before Breakfast: Geopathic Crises in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill and Susan Glaspell.” Eugene O’Neill Review, Special Issue on “The Women in O’Neill’s World.” Ed. Judith Barlow, 2017, pp. 74-92.
• Hernando-Real, Noelia. “On The Verge of the American Female Gothic: Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ in Susan Glaspell’s Theater.” A Critical Gaze from the Old World: Transatlantic Perspectives on American Studies. Collection Transatlantic Aesthetics and Culture. Eds. Isabel Durán, Eusebio De Lorenzo, Rebeca Gualberto, Carmen Méndez & Eduardo Valls. Brussels: Peter Lang, 2018. pp. 55-74.
• Friedman, Sharon. “Susan Glaspell.” Visions of Tragedy in Modern American Drama. Ed. David Palmer, Bloomsbury, 2018.
• American Literature in Transition, 1920-1930 ed. Ichiro Takayoshi, Cambridge UP, with a chapter by Cheryl Black on the “Stage” with special attention to the Provincetown Players and to Susan Glaspell defined as “the quintessential trans-literary dramatist of her era.”
• Arciniega, Lourdes. “Home as an Activist and Feminist Stage: Women’s Performative Agency in the Drama of Susan Glaspell.” Performing Dream Homes. Eds. Emily Klein, Jennifer-Scott Mobley & Jill Stevenson. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 45-64.
New Additions to the Literary Encyclopedia:
• Black, Cheryl. “Ambrose Holt and Family”. The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2018. https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16009
• Carpentier, Martha. “The Morning is Near Us”. The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2017. https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16010
• Carpentier, Martha. “Norma Ashe”. The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2017. https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16012
• Ben-Zvi, Linda. “Free Laughter”. The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 September 2019. https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38966
The President asked for volunteers to complete these entries:
Lifted Masks (Drew Eisenhauer and Martha Carpentier agreed to collaborate),
Her America, Jury of Her Peers, The Road to the Temple, The Visioning.

Works in Progress:
• Jeff Kennedy is working on final revisions to his history of the Provincetown Players, to be published by University of Alabama Press; Drew Eisenhauer and Jeff are working on a volume of essays on the 100th anniversary of the Provincetown Players.
• J. Ellen Gainor reported very reactive contributors and good progress on her forthcoming collection on Cambridge UP on Glaspell in Context.
To encourage future scholarship on Glaspell, Jeff Kennedy noted that the EONS Review wants our participation. Our continuing collaboration with the Eugene O’Neill Society was discussed. Jeff Kennedy, past president of EONS, suggested we propose a Glaspell special issue of the Eugene O’Neill Review. Action: Jeff Kennedy and Martha Carpentier will explore with EONS editor (and ISGS member) Alex Petit.

Awards:
1.) Best Conference Paper: Milbre Burch won for best paper with a unanimous vote of EC members.
2.) Best published article: No agreement was reached by EC members on the two entries that were submitted. Although each article had distinct merits, true deficits were also discovered and the EC felt it was inappropriate to recognize either by an award. It was agreed that the CFP for the awards should in future better clarify how submissions should advance Glaspell Studies.
3.) Translation (Thank you to Ellen for suggesting translator.) The EC voted to send an Honorary mention to both nominees.

Glaspell Estate:
Death of Ariadne (Cook) Lurie. Her sons have expressed to the President their willingness to go on with our collaboration. ISGS website now lists them as copyright holders but there is no contact information, as we are waiting for their confirmation to make this information available.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
Ariel’s Corner

VP Emeline Jouve explained that “Ariel’s Corner” is a specific section of the ejournal Miranda hosted by Toulouse University and dedicated to theatre. The aim is not to publish “conventional scholarly articles” but rather interviews, reviews, essays on theatre. Emeline edits this section of the journal and seeks contributions to promote Glaspell’s work. President Noelia Hernando-Real sent a call for contributions to the members’ list last year.

Past issues featured:
• Denise Doherty Pappas, “Susan Glaspell Revisited: Century Old Play Returns to its Roots,” review of The Verge at the Provincetown Theater, MA, USA—November 11-22, 2015, Miranda 12, 2016
• Noelia Hernando-Real, “Celebrating Susan Glaspell when Trifles turns 100,” an interview with the founders of the ISGS, Basia Ozieblo and Martha Carpentier, Miranda 13, 2016
• Milbre Burch,“The Relevance of Susan Glaspell’s Inheritors in the 21st Century,” an interview with Cheryl Black following the Fall 2017 production of Glaspell’s play Inheritors by the Starlighters II Theatre, Miranda 16, 2018,
• Quetzalina Lavalle Salvatori, “Celebrating Susan Glaspell and Trifles in Spain,” a review of the exhibition “Susan Glaspell (1876-1948): pionera del teatro experimental. Trifles, los Provincetown Players y el teatro de vanguardia,” Miranda 14, 2017
Emeline concluded contributions are welcome! So please, contribute!
Action: Jeff Kennedy requested the information to distribute Miranda through the EONs newsletter.

Report on Facebook Page:
Emeline Jouve reported that we launched the ISGS FB page in January 2015 and as the FB “webmaster” she has been updating the page for the past 4 years with feeds about performances and news from the society. She urged members to send information and updates for posting on the page and recapped the numbers: 176 “followers” with a rate of responsiveness of 33%
Action: Jeff promised to add an active link from the EONS FB link to Glaspell FB

MEMBERSHIP/FINANCE OFFICER’S REPORT:

Funds: Drew Eisenhauer reported that existing balances are healthy with no major deductions since the last business meeting. A technical problem prevented him from accessing the M and T bank balance from France. Martha Carpentier may have access to the account and agreed to check and establish U.S. accessibility

Expenditures 2018-2019: Drew explained expenditures from the last business meeting to the present, illustrating expenses were very much in the same range for the same purposes with a small increase in the amount spent on conferences. All agreed the expenses were appropriate for the level of the society.
Membership: Drew explained while membership was relatively stable, it had decreased somewhat and effort needed to be made to get new young scholars and graduate students involved. The good news was six new members since the last meeting had joined, but some who had not renewed meant the average active membership decreased from about 53 to 47, or a net loss equal to the new members.
Membership in numbers:
61 individuals (including 6 new members).
47 members in good standing:
14 non-renewed

Some former members (3) did not renew for technical reasons, but remain interested and will no doubt return. Others did not renew and did not return contact (11). The EC discussed removing these individuals from the list. The EC decided that each should be re-contacted one more time and then removed if not response. Action: Drew will send one last message; Martha will reach out specifically to Marcia Noe.

Amendments to the By-Laws
The president proposed that Section 1, part a. should be revised to read:
Section 1:
a. The elected officers shall be the Vice President, Membership and Finances Officer, and three Standing Members to serve on the Executive Council, all elected for three-year terms by a majority of members who vote in the election. The President and the Vice President will be eligible for one further term of office if they so desire and if re-elected. The Membership and Finances Officer will be eligible for further terms if s/he so desires and if elected. The Vice President shall be the President designee and will assume the office of President upon completion of one or two terms as Vice President. The outgoing President will be an ex officio member of the Executive Council for one year.
The motion was seconded and the vote was unanimous for the change.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND FUTURE PLANS:
• International Eugene O’Neill Conference, Boston 2020. The ISGS has sent three proposals: a panel, a roundtable, and a reading of Free Laughter, plus introduction and discussion.
• 2022 American Drama and Theatre Conference in Madrid. Noelia Hernando-Real is a co-organizer of the conference and would like the Society to be present.
• ALA 2021 (Boston): Last time our round table had to cancelled, so should we focus on SSAWW instead? Issue remains open.
• Next Business Meeting: date and place of meeting remains open.

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