Percy MacKaye: Community Drama and the Masque Tradition

Abstract

drama is a most neglected part of the study of American literature! is certainly apropos of American pageant drama in general and the American masque in particular. Although a number of pageant dramas and so-called masques have been produced in America, the most salient contribution to this dramatic genre has been made by the poet and playwright Percy MacKaye. Early in the twentieth century he attempted to provide the basis for a national drama by reviving the long-established masque which he sought to utilize as a means of artistic communal expression. In a general way, his contributions to the American masque stand in relationship to American literature as Ben Jonson's do to English literature, and, like Jonson, MacKaye viewed his masques not as mere spectacles but as dramatic works of art which reflect an artistic and literary purpose. Since Jonson is generally recognized as the master of the masque, an analysis and evaluation of MacKaye's theory and practice in the light of Jonson's is most illuminating and reveals that MacKaye has revived an old literary genre and adapted it to his own democratic ideals and society. In so doing MacKaye attempted to create an interest in a communal, not commercial, art which he hoped might eventually form the basis for a national drama but which more likely helped lay the groundwork for the later success of folk and symphonic drama. Born in New York City on March 16, 1875, the son of the actor-playwright and theatre manager Steele MacKaye, Percy MacKaye was ambitious to emulate his father and thus carry on a family tradition. And carry it on he did, for he soon was successful in establishing himself as a prolific writer. By 1925,

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