Jolly Della Pringle ― Star of the Western Stage

A biography of American repertory theatre actor Jolly Della Pringle, this book was written by a retired theatre professor with extensive directing experience in repertory and festival theatre in the Western US, the territories in which Pringle worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author points out that while the lives and work of female stars on the Broadway and big-city coastal stages are extensively documented, little has been written about their counterparts who were stars in repertory. They were the entertainment idols of the majority of Americans, who in this era lived outside major cities, especially in the West. Pringle was one of repertory's stars. Her long career began as a child in small comedy troupes and ended in Idaho in old age, and encompassed the eras when people began to relocate to major cities and repertory was replaced by the movies as the main popular entertainment. As a result, it reveals information not only about her life but about the conditions of theatre in this place and time, and the culture of the audiences it served. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

The director of nearly 100 plays, musicals and operas, Charles E. Lauterbach is a retired Boise State University professor of theatre arts and a founding member of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and the Michigan State Performing Arts Company. He lives in Boise, Idaho.