A handful of useful volumes do not easily fit into the categories above, but all are worthy of note. Matthew Roudané devotes a chapter of American Drama since 1960: A Critical History to American women playwrights (Terry, Norman, Wasserstein, Henley, Fornes), and in Staging Desire: Queer Readings of American Theater History, editors Kim Marra and Robert Schanke afford a queer appraisal of the lives and work of Rachel Crothers, Djuna Barnes, and Mercedes de Acosta (who is not even mentioned in other sources).
And photographer Susan Johann’s Focus on Playwrights: Portraits and Interviews is a collection of beautiful photographs, all taken in Johann’s studio using the same film, a single light, and a plain backdrop, which affords intimate looks at male and female playwrights (Schenkar, Parks, Kennedy, Nottage, and Dael Orlandersmith among them). The volume also includes interviews with Norman, Wasserstein, and Sarah Ruhl, which are likewise revealing and out of the ordinary.
