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"That Furious Lesbian:" The Story of Mercedes de Acosta. (Theatre in the Americas) Robert A. Schanke Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2003. 210 pp $45.00
Women in Turmoil: Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta Robert A. Schanke, ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2003. 252 pp $40.00
How is biography situated within theatre studies? How do political and personal motivations influence methodology and object? What are the limits of biographical recovery projects, and how might theatre scholars use biography to rewrite theatre history? Schanke, a distinguished contributor to queer theatre history, raises these questions in his new work on Mercedes de Acosta.
Schanke's biography, the first book to focus solely on de Acosta (most familiar as a footnote in biographies of her famous lovers Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, or Eva Le Galliene) and published in conjunction with a collection of her plays, locates de Acosta within a tradition of mid-twentieth century gay and lesbian theatre professionals. Recovery, then, motivates this project. Schanke suggests that although "[i]n the pantheon of theater history, she is now practically unknown, except perhaps as a starstruck social butterfly and confidante of the superstars of her day. . . [h]er story provides an important study on how a writer's same-sex desire can mold a career" (That Furious Lesbian 173). Schanke wants to upgrade de Acosta from gossipy anecdote to central figure within the canon of queer theatre. His research is impressive, and his access to and familiarity with de Acosta's letters, poetry, plays, family history,...