Download or read book Composing Ourselves written by Dorothy Chansky and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When movies replaced theater in the early twentieth century, live drama was wide open to reform. A rebellion against commercialism, called the Little Theatre movement, promoted the notion that theatre is a valuable form of self-expression. Composing Ourselves argues that the movement was a national phenomenon that resulted in lasting ideas for serious theatre that are now ordinary parts of the American cultural landscape.