Glaspell, << GLAS pehl, >> Susan (1882-1948), was an American playwright. With her husband, George Cram Cook, she was cofounder of the Provincetown Players and a prominent playwright for them. This influential theatrical organization, formed in 1915, produced Eugene O’Neill’s first plays. It became the Playwrights Theater, which produced Broadway plays during the 1920’s.
Susan Glaspell was born on July 1, 1882, in Davenport, Iowa. She gained recognition with two excellent one-act plays. In Trifles (1916), several women accompany their husbands on an investigation of a farmer’s death. The women spot trifles that show why the wife was driven to kill the farmer. Suppressed Desires (1915) is a lively satire on psychoanalysis and freedom of expression and action. Glaspell won a Pulitzer Prize for Alison’s House (1930). This play tells of a struggle in the family of a dead poet over whether to publish the poet’s poems. The poet represents Emily Dickinson. During later years, Glaspell turned to writing short stories and novels, maintaining her truthful portrayals of life with its psychological tensions. Glaspell died on July 27, 1948.
