Mildred & Stella playbill collection

Collection

Identifier: W091

Staff Only

Scope and Contents of the Collection

This collection consists of one (1) playbill.

Dates

early 1990s

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research use.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Georgia State University is the owner of the physical collection and makes reproductions available for research, subject to the copyright law of the United States and item condition. Georgia State University may or may not own the rights to materials in the collection. It is the researcher's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and obtain permission from the copyright holder before publication, reproduction, or display of the materials beyond what is reasonable under copyright law. Researchers may quote selections from the collection under the fair use provision of copyright law.

Biography of Gayle Austin

Gayle M. Austin was coordinator and literary manager for the Women's Project in New York City from 1978 to 1984. As an Associate Professor in the Communications Department at Georgia State University, her research interests included gender and performance, dramaturgy, and interdisciplinary forms of performance art. Her book, Feminist Theories for Dramatic Criticism, was published in 1990, and she has written four feminist theory plays, Resisting the Birth Mark (1990), The Doll House Show (1992), Mildred & Stella (1993), and The Hedda Project (1996), all of which have been produced at Georgia State University.

History of Mildred & Stella

In playwright Gayle Austin's own words, the feminist theater play, "Mildred & Stella evolved from the fact that I am an only daughter, raised by a single mother and from my visceral reaction to the separation staged in the Judds' final concert tape. Mother Naomi decided to leave performing in December 1991 because she had chronic active hepatitis, and Wynonna Judd has gone on to a solo career."

"In Mildred & Stella, I combined scenes from the films Mildred Pierce, Stella Dallas, Persona, and Thelma and Louise; a student-written score of country style songs sung by a mother daughter duo, Naomi and Ruth, based on the Judds; slides by Atlanta artist Anne Cox, which reflected some of the subconscious issues involved; and feminist theory about film, mothers and daughters, and music. We also tried cross-gender casting, casting a male as Mildred."