Maternity is a dramatic

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 three act play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 that opened January 6, 1915, at the Princess Theatre

Princess Theatre

The Princess Theatre was a joint venture between the Shubert Brothers , producer Ray Comstock, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury and actor-director Holbrook Blinn...

 on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 starring Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett (actor)

Richard Bennett was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the early decades of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...

.

An English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 version of Eugène Brieux

Eugène Brieux

Eugène Brieux , French dramatist, was born in Paris of poor parents.A one-act play, Bernard Palissy, written in collaboration with M...

's French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 play, Maternité (1904), the work was translated

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

 by Benjamin F. Blanchard. The play's book

Playbook

Playbook may refer to:*A book that contains a script or story for a theatrical play. This written version of the composition is used in preparing for a performance**Fleury Playbook, a medieval playbook kept in a French abbey until the French Revolution...

 was adapted by Richard Bennett, whose Purpose Play Society produced

Theatrical producer

A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...

.

Unlike Damaged Goods, Bennett's previous socially conscious play by Brieux, Maternity was not an artistic or financial success. Despite special matinées, which were well patronized in the final week, the production ran for only 21 performance

Performance

A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...

s before closing.

Synopsis

Maternity deals with out-of-wedlock birth and the relations of motherhood to society.

Opening night cast

Actor	Character
Vera de Cordova	Josephine
Frances Savage	Madeleine
Adrienne Morrison Adrienne Morrison Mabel Adrienne Morrison was a semi-successful stage actress of the early 20th century. She married actor Richard Bennett, with whom she had three daughters who later would become actresses. She was the daughter of actress and actor Lewis Morrison. She appeared as Nat-u-ritch, the Indian squaw, in...	Lucie Brignac
Mai Estelle	Catherine Tupin
Richard Bennett Richard Bennett (actor) Richard Bennett was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the early decades of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...	Julian Brignac
W. W. Crimmans	Dr. Hourtin
W. L. Romaine	Fechain
Jane Cooper Jane Cooper -Life and career:Cooper was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, spent her early childhood in Jacksonville, Florida, and then moved with her family to Princeton in the mid-1930s. She attended Vassar College from 1942 to 1944, and earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1946. In 1953–54...	Annette
Maud Granger	Mme. Bernin
Charles Riegal	Judge of the Court of Assises
W. L. Romaine	Prosecutor
Erville Alderson Erville Alderson Erville Alderson was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1918 and 1957. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri and died in Glendale, California.-Selected filmography:*America...	Council for the Defense
Isabel Winlocke	Mme. Thomas
Gertrude Workman	Marie Gaubert
W. W. Crimmans	Tupin
Vera de Cordova	Mme. d'Amergueux
George Ferguson George Ferguson (actor) George Hart Ferguson was an American actor. He performed on the stage and in silent movies.Ferguson appeared in two movies, Damaged Goods and The Bruiser...	De Forgeau

External links

• Maternity at the Internet Broadway Database
  Internet Broadway Database
  The Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....