Parsi Theatre – Its Origins and Development

Somnath Gupt chaired the Hindi departments at Jaswant College, Jodhpur, and the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, in the 1950s and 1960s and wrote more than a dozen books on Hindi drama, fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. Kathryn Hansen is professor emeritus of Asian studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she served as director of the Center for Asian Studies. She is the author of Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North India and Stages of Life: Indian Theatre Autobiographies.

• A Few Words Preface 1.Before the Parsi Theatre 2.The Origins of the Parsi Theatre 3.The Development of the Parsi Theatre 4.Urdu Dramatists of the Parsi Stage 5.The Parsi Theatrical Companies 6.Parsi Actors 7.Other Elements of the Parsi Theatre8.The Indar Sabha and its Influence 9.Impact of the Parsi Theatrical Companies Appendix: The Beginnings of Hindu Drama in Bombay and Maharashtra

"A valuable book. . . Especially useful are the prefaces attached to original playbooks containing details of authorship, theatre company, dates of publication and the point of view of playwrights. . . . The Parsi Theatre: Its Origin and Development in English translation is a welcome addition to the literature on the Parsi theatre."