#jpda

The JPDA features a wide collection of Queer plays spanning decades of English-language history and writing. From Larry Kramer's incendiary 1985 bombshell The Normal Heart, to the camp classics of Charles Ludlam and The Ridiculous Theatre Company, the archive is committed to preserving LGBTQ+ theatre history and making it accessible to the public. It is with this in mind that we are proud to announce the JPDA Queer Play Exchange. Once a month, everyone subscribed to the JPDA mailing list will receive a play in a digital format (PDF, Word, etc.) and will be invited to a special Zoom session where we will discuss the work and break down its place in the archive as well as in Queer history. Our inaugural work will be The Normal Heart and we hope you can join us in experiencing this seminal work of theatre together as a community.

As a companion piece to the first "Treasures from the Archive" video recently uploaded to the archive's website, I thought it would be fun to do a slightly deeper dive into the oldest item we have here at the JPDA. This is the Riverside Literature Series copy of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. It is number 93 in the series and was published in 1896, making it the oldest item in the collection by some margin. What is particularly interesting about this piece, other than the age, is that we know who it at one point belonged to! On the front cover near the top is written in pencil "Anna Van Aalet" and her writing can be found throughout the text. On the front page, we see her writing about SIlvius and Phebe, two pastoral characters from the play who fall in love, as well as their purpose in the play to "allow time to pass." While we don't know if she played either of these parts, no lines are underlined, we do know what she thought of the play overall. On page 79 we can see that she has written in the upper margin "I am so bored." As a theatre teacher, this made me crack up. A hundred year into the past and kids still hate Shakespeare. Other notes of interest include the "translations" at the bottom of the page for more modern definitions of Elizabethan English, a feature of many current Shakespeare texts present a hundred years in the past, as well as actual music for the songs! As You Like It has the most songs of any Shakespearean comedy and I don't think I've ever seen a text of the play that features written music before, I'd love to try and play it. Maybe for another post!

Welcome! This is archivist and blogger Andrew Jones welcoming you to the new (still has that fresh-blog-smell) Tumblr account for the Jones-Pfeiffer Drama Archive! Expect to find highlights from the archive, informative posts, activities, videos, and anything in between. This archive was compiled using the collected plays of the Jones family (Andrew, Karen) and the late Dr. Norman Pfeiffer (pictured above.) Dr. Pfeiffer was an avid theatre-goer and patron of the arts who was as responsible as anyone for my interest in theatre from a young age and the archive has been founded in his memory. We hope you enjoy your time here and remeber to visit us at the archive's website, https://andrewgroans.wixsite.com/the-jones-pfeiffer-d

平和さんで、紙の仕入れ #jpda 懐かしいお名前 #紙細工ひこかみ (平和紙業 ペーパーボイス大阪) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbbpO5ErbU5/?utm_medium=tumblr

来週開催予定のワークショップ、酒蔵ペーパークラフト作りの打合せでした。その際、JPDAの作品展で作った箱たちを自己紹介ついでに並べる予定。邪魔だなあと思いつつ、捨てずに取っておいて良かったかな？ #白鹿記念酒造博物館 #ペーパークラフト #JPDA https://www.instagram.com/p/B2WwcwhHHPS/?igshid=1lw7lr0udzsh2

My love 💕💕 #JPDA & #MRAP 💞 https://www.instagram.com/p/BwvxUDzhT80jNJWEWNko9nvRgqVGxaYXmWuNag0/?igshid=10max93v0lrod

寸法修正&ちょっと変更。 紙の色はさておき質感は奥のほうが良さげ。 #JPDA #paper #packagedesign https://www.instagram.com/p/BoOID5eA93-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yg3je6b0s45p