Modern Drama (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Modern Drama (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Title	Modern Drama
Discipline	Theatre studies
Publisher	Johns Hopkins University Press
Country	United States
History	1958–present
Frequency	Quarterly
Issn	0026-7694

Modern Drama (Johns Hopkins University Press) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the study of dramatic literature and theatre history from the late nineteenth century to the present. The journal situates scholarship on playwrights, productions, and performance cultures within broader conversations about modernism, postmodernism, and transnational exchange, engaging with archives, textual criticism, and performance studies. Its pages have featured research on a wide range of figures and institutions across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

History and Development

Established in 1958, Modern Drama emerged amid mid-twentieth-century debates over realism and avant-garde practice, succeeding earlier periodicals that addressed dramaturgy and theatrical criticism. Early issues connected work on Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw, August Strindberg, and Oscar Wilde with scholarship on institutions such as the Royal Court Theatre, the Comédie-Française, the Moscow Art Theatre, and the Metropolitan Opera. Through the 1960s and 1970s the journal responded to critical turns exemplified by studies of Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Eugene O'Neill, while engaging with movements associated with Friedrich Nietzsche's reception, Sigmund Freud's influence, and debates around Postcolonialism in relation to theatrical practices. Later decades expanded coverage to include scholarship on Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill, Tadeusz Kantor, Lope de Vega, and emerging histories of performance in non-Western contexts such as Japanese Noh, Beijing Opera, and Nigerian theatre movements tied to Wole Soyinka.

Editorial Mission and Scope

Modern Drama's editorial mission prioritizes rigorous archival research, close reading of dramatic texts, and theoretically informed analysis of performance. The journal seeks contributions that illuminate the artistic, political, and social contexts of plays by figures such as William Shakespeare when treated in modern adaptations, Marcel Proust-inspired dramaturgy, Virginia Woolf-linked experiments, or productions related to Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Samuel Beckett. It welcomes comparative and interdisciplinary work that engages with institutions and events like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Venice Biennale, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Obie Awards, as well as studies that draw on archives from the British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Rijksmuseum to reassess ignored or marginalized figures. The scope includes textual studies, performance history, reception history, dramaturgy, and translations of significant scripts tied to playwrights from Gustav Mahler-era operatic collaborations to late twentieth-century playwrights such as Sarah Kane and Heiner Müller.

Publication Formats and Distribution

Published quarterly by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Modern Drama produces research articles, critical notes, review essays, translations, and reviews of books and performances. The journal appears in print and through institutional distribution channels connected to university subscriptions including holdings at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Harvard Theatre Collection, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Special distribution has occurred via partnerships with academic conferences hosted by organizations like the Modern Language Association, the American Society for Theatre Research, and the International Federation for Theatre Research. The journal's issues have been catalogued in databases maintained by entities such as the JSTOR archive, the Project MUSE platform, and library consortia including OCLC.

Notable Contributors and Editors

Contributors to Modern Drama have included leading scholars and critics who have written on figures such as August Wilson, Denis Johnson, Marina Abramović in performance contexts, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. Editors and advisory board members over the decades have often been drawn from major institutions: faculty from Yale University, University of Oxford, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, and international centers like University of Toronto and La Sorbonne. Guest editors for themed issues have included scholars affiliated with the Royal Holloway, researchers linked to the Centre Pompidou, and curators from the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art, reflecting the journal's nexus with museums and theatres. Distinguished contributors have included critics and historians who also published monographs with presses such as Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

Indexing, Impact, and Reception

Modern Drama is indexed in major bibliographic resources used in humanities scholarship, appearing in indices associated with the Arts & Humanities Citation Index and catalogues maintained by the Modern Language Association and national research libraries. Its impact is traced through citation networks involving scholarship on landmark plays and productions, where articles have influenced scholarship on Waiting for Godot, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, and productions at the Royal National Theatre. Reviews and academic responses have appeared in outlets connected to the New York Times, The Guardian, and specialist journals such as Theatre Journal and The Drama Review, reflecting ongoing engagement from critics, directors, and historians. The journal's reception has recognized its role in shaping debates about canon formation, translation practices, and global theatrical exchange.

Special Issues and Thematic Series

Modern Drama periodically publishes special issues devoted to single playwrights, geographic regions, or theoretical problems—examining subjects like Irish dramatic modernism centered on W. B. Yeats and Sean O'Casey, Latin American theatre including work by Federico García Lorca and Griselda Gambaro, and East Asian modernism with attention to Liang Heng-era practitioners and Grotowski-influenced ensembles. Thematic series have addressed adaptation studies involving Stanley Kubrick-related filmic transpositions, translation studies connecting to Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez adaptations, and performance practice tied to festivals like the Avignon Festival. Special dossiers have been guest-edited by scholars associated with the King's College London Centre for Theatre and Performance and the University of Melbourne Drama Department, underscoring transnational editorial collaboration.

Category:Theatre studies journals