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Alice Henson Ernst

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Alice Henson Ernst (September 3, 1880 – February 12, 1980) was an American playwright, teacher, free lance writer and a reporter.

Education

Alice received her B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Washington in 1912 and her M.A. in 1913. Further graduate work was completed at Radcliffe and Yale University.

Career

From 1920-1923 she was a professor at the University of Washington. She later became an English professor at the University of Oregon (UO)[1] from 1924-1950. She also taught drama at UO.[2] In 1936, she studied mask-making among the Native Americans in Klamath Falls.[3] She published her research on Native Americans and mask-making and rituals using the masks in a paper called "Masks of the Northwest Coast."[4] The La Grande Observer called her an authority on "northwest Indians."[5]

Writings

Her play, Spring Sluicing (1927), won a first prize in a national Drama League of America contest in 1927.[6] Spring Sluicing takes place in the northwest and Alaska.[6] The play was performed in Portland in the fall of 1927.[6] Woman's clubs, like the Fortnightly Club of Eugene did readings of Spring Sluicing.[7] Spring Sluicing was published in Goin' Home, And Other Plays of the 1927 Contest (1929).[8] Later, it was published again in the collection, High Country (1935), which also contained other plays written by Ernst.[9] The Salt Lake Tribune wrote that Ernst's plays "possess strong dramatic power."[10]

She published "Dramatic Trails of the Northwest" in Theatre Arts Magazine in 1927.[2] In 1930, Theater Arts Magazine published her one-act play, The Valley of Lost Men.[11] Also in 1930, OU's Guild Theatre debuted her play, Afternoon of a Nymph.[12] Nymph described as a fantasy set in modern times.[13] In 1932, the Portland Civic Theatre performed Welcome Stranger.[12] Stranger is a "study of manners several thousand years ago and in this modern day," according to The Salt Lake Tribune.[13]

A performance of The Wooden Wife in 1936 by the Very Little Theatre in Eugene included piano music written and performed by George Hopkins.[14] The Wooden Wife takes place in a Native American dwelling.[15] The play won first place at the Northwest Writers' Conference.[16]

In 1938, she published another collection of plays, Backstage in Xanadu, which included illustrations by Constance Cole.[12] The book included the plays Cloistered Calm, Welcome Stranger, Nightingale and Afternoon of a Nymph.[12] Cloistered Calm is a comedy about "underpaid professors," while Nightingale is a romance set in Bagdad.[13] She was again published in Theatre Arts Magazine in 1939, with an illustrated article called "Northwest Animal Dances."[17]

She also wrote Trouping in the Oregon Country, which was a history of early theater in the Pacific Northwest. Her interest in the history of the Pacific Northwest grew, and she later published The Wolf Ritual of the Northwest Coast, which was well received in the U.S. and in Europe.

Plays

  • Way Out There
  • Barriers
  • Cloistered Calm
  • Out Trail
  • Spring Sluicing
  • The Wooden Wife

References

  1. ^ "To Honor Dr. Johnson". Morning Register. 1926-04-21. p. 6. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Oregon Playwright On Visit to Campus". The Daily Tar Heel. 1928. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ "University Woman Studies Indians". The Evening Herald. 1936-05-23. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ "Speaker To Tell of Indian Rites". Daily Capital Journal. 1937-04-13. p. 10. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ "Dramatics Club at High School to Stage Plays". La Grande Observer. 1936-12-05. p. 3. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  6. ^ a b c "Play Wins First Prize". Morning Register. 1927-07-03. p. 16. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ "Fortnightly to Meet Thursday". The Eugene Guard. 1928-05-02. p. 6. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  8. ^ Barker, Nettie Garmer (1929-04-18). "Book Chatter". Stanberry Headlight. p. 12. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ "Plays to Be Published". Albany Democrat-Herald. 1935-05-02. p. 9. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "Northwest Region As Play Material". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1935-09-15. p. 100. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ "Mrs Ernst Honored". The Eugene Guard. 1930-04-30. p. 3. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ a b c d Sawyer (1938-05-29). "Mrs. Ernst' Book of Plays Reviewed by Miss Sawyer". The Eugene Guard. p. 12. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ a b c "Four Plays That Read Well". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1938-08-14. p. 20. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  14. ^ "Explorers!". The Eugene Guard. 1936-05-14. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ "Eugene Writer's Play VLT Feature". The Eugene Guard. 1936-05-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "Eugene Writer's Play VLT Feature". The Eugene Guard. 1936-05-16. p. 6. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  17. ^ "Article Written By Mrs. Ernst in Theatre Arts". The Eugene Guard. 1939-08-29. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-09-13 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
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