Mackaye, Percy

(1875-1966)

   Born in New York, Percy Wallace MacKaye, son of theatrical luminary Steele MacKaye, emerged from his father's shadow as a playwright and visionary who adopted theories emerging from modernist European theatre, inspired the little theatre movement, and promoted the New Stagecraft. He studied at Harvard University, wrote poetry and taught courses, then embarked on a career as a playwright. His finest play, The Scarecrow, adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne's Feathertop, managed only 23 performances on Broadway in 1911 after its first presentation by the Harvard Dramatic Club in 1909. MacKaye also wrote masques and pageants, including St. Louis Masque (1914), marking the 150th anniversary of the city's founding, and Caliban of the Yellow Sands (1916), staged in Central Park in acknowledgment of the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. His interest in Shakespeare also included a massive tetrology, The Mystery of Hamlet, King of Denmark; or, What We Will (1949). MacKaye wrote the libretto for an operatic adaptation of Rip Van Winkle (1919) with music by Reginald De Koven. His seminal 1909 book The Playhouse and the Play, which called for the establishment of community theatres aimed at dramatic experimentation and issues of significance to their audiences, may be his most lasting contribution. MacKaye continued to promote these themes in other works, including The Civic Theatre (1912) and Community Drama (1917), as well as writing a biography of his father, Epoch (1907).