George Pierce Baker

George Pierce Baker (1866–1935), American educator in the field of drama.

He graduated in the Harvard class of 1887, and taught in the English Department at Harvard 1888–1924. He started his '47 workshop' class in playwrighting in 1905. He was instrumental in creating the Harvard Theatre Collection at Harvard Library. In 1908 he began the Harvard Dramatic Club, acting as its sponsor, and in 1912 he founded Workshop 47 to provide a forum for the performance of plays developed within his English 47 class. Unable to persuade Harvard to offer a degree in playwrighting, he moved to Yale University in 1925, where he helped found the Yale School of Drama. He remained there until his retirement in 1933.Banham (1998, 72-73)]

Among those he taught in his playwriting class were Eugene O'Neill, George Abbott, Hallie Flanagan, Edward Sheldon, Sidney Howard, Maurine Dallas Watkins and Stanley McCandless. His "Dramatic Technique" (1919) offered a codification in English of the principles of the well-made play. [J L Styan, "Modern Drama in Theory and Practice I", quoted by Innes (2000, 7).]

Works cited

* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. "Baker, George Pierce". In "The Cambridge Guide to Theatre." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521434378. p.72-73.
* Innes, Christopher, ed. 2000. "A Sourcebook on Naturalist Theatre". London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415152291.

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