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German Ethnic Theatre in Texas: The Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Christa J. Carvajal
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of Georgia.

Extract

When “the floodgates of emigration from Europe were opened by the political upheavals on the continent in 1848 … Texas was the goal of the thousands of refugees who fled from the turmoil.” Throughout the following decade, waves of German immigrants were thrust onto the shores of the Texas Gulf Coast at Indianola and eventually spread over much of Southwestern and Central Texas.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1982

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References

NOTES

1 Malsch, Brownson, lndianola: The Mother of Western Texas (Austin: Shoal Creek Publishers, 1977), p. 24.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., p. 60.

3 Stone, Debra Harvick, The Drama in San Antonio. 1889–1894 (M. A. thesis, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, 1944), p. 2.Google Scholar

4 See Appendix.

5 Some prompt books and scripts of late nineteenth century German plays are part of the theatre collection at the University of Texas at Austin. They have not yet been traced, however, to specific theatres or theatre artists in Texas. Reviews of some German language productions can be found in various German language newspapers of which the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung in the collection of the Sophicnburg Memorial Museum at New Braunfels seems to have been the most attentive to theatre.

The “Casino Club Papers” at the University of Texas at San Antonio include some financial records of productions in San Antonio. The growing theatre collection of the San Antonio Public Library, initially gathered and presently being catalogued by John Igo of San Antonio College, includes a few programs and some other artifacts of German language productions.

6 Carl G. von Iwonski's theatre sketches are published and documented in McGuire, James Patrick, Iwortski in Texas: Painter and Citizen (San Antonio: San Antonio Museum Association with the cooperation of the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, 1976).Google Scholar

7 Penniger, Robert, Fredericksburg, Texas: The First Fifty Years, trans. Wisseman, Charles L. (Fredericksburg; Fredericksburg Publishing Co., 1971), p. 34.Google Scholar

8 Ibid., p. 35.

10 This production might have consisted of two one-act plays by the same author. The review in the Neu Braunfelser Zeilung treated the production as one full-length play.

11 Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, December 22, 1854, p. 2. All subsequent translations from German into English are mine.

12 German Files, The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, and Speiser, Adel, The Story of the Theatre in San Antonio, (M. A. thesis, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, 1948), p. 21.Google Scholar

13 Lafrentz, Ludwig F., “Deutsch-Texanische Theatre Reminiscenzen,” Deutsch-Texanische Monatshefle, 5, No. 1 (1900), p. 13.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., p. 12.

15 See also McGuire, Iwonski in Texas: Painter and Citizen.

17 Eloesser, Arthur, Das Bürgerliche Drama. Seine Geschichte im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz, 1898), pp. 196197.Google Scholar

18 German Files, The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures.

19 McGuire, , Iwonski in Texas: Painter and Citizen, p. 30.Google Scholar

20 Speiser, , The Story of the Theatre in San Antonio, pp. 2425.Google Scholar

21 Lafrentz, , Deutsch-Texanische Monatshefte, 5, No. 11 (1900), pp. 165166.Google Scholar

22 Speiser, , The Story of the Theatre in San Antonio, p. 35.Google Scholar

23 Lafrentz, , Deutsch-Texanische Monatshefte, 5, No. 4 (1900), p. 61.Google Scholar

24 Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, December 2, 1870, p. 2.

25 Lafrentz, , Deutsch-Texanische Monatshefte, 5, No. 9 (1900), p. 141.Google Scholar

26 Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, September 30, 1870, p. 2.

27 Lindheimer, , Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, December 8, 1854, p. 2.Google Scholar

28 Lafrentz, , Deutsch-Texanische Monatshefte, 5, No. 12 (1900), p. 187.Google Scholar