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Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John

(Encyclopedia)Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John krĕvkörˈ [key], 1735–1813, American author and agriculturist, b. France as Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur. It is believed that he served under Montcalm in Ca...

Towneley Plays

(Encyclopedia)Towneley Plays, a cycle of 32 plays preserved in a manuscript of c.1460 by the Towneleys, a Lancashire family. Intended for production by the guilds of Wakefield, they are sometimes called the Wakefie...

Pleiku

(Encyclopedia)Pleiku or Play Ku both: plāko͞oˈ [key], town, central Vietnam. A highway junction for roads going east (to Quy Nhon), west (to Cambodia), north (to Da Nang), and south (to Ho Chi Minh City), it was...

dumb show

(Encyclopedia)dumb show, a theatrical pantomime included as part of a drama, especially in Elizabethan works, from the middle of the 16th cent. well into the 17th cent. Whether presented as a spectacle, with music,...

Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyĭkəlīˈyəvĭch əstrôfˈskē [key], 1823–86, Russian dramatist. Ostrovsky's first play, The Bankrupt (1847; reworked as It's a Family Affai...

squash tennis

(Encyclopedia)squash tennis, game played on a four-walled court, similar in dimensions to the court on which squash racquets is played. The two games, however, differ in equipment, rules, and play. The squash tenni...

Everyman

(Encyclopedia)Everyman, late-15th-century English morality play. It is the counterpart of the Dutch play Elckerlijk; which of these anonymous plays is the original has been the subject of controversy. When Everyman...

Gabin, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Gabin, Jean zhäN gäbăNˈ [key], 1904–76, French film actor, b. Paris; his original name was Alexis Moncourge. Gabin's work as a cabaret entertainer led to a career in films. He was one of France'...

Thomas, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Albert älbĕrˈ tômäˈ [key], 1878–1932, French statesman and Socialist leader. He worked with Jean Jaurès on the journal Humanité and was active in socialist politics. In 1910 he was e...