Imagine a playhouse, perfectly equipped, plastic and infinitely adaptable. Invite Arthur Hopkins, John Williams, Winthrop Ames, Sam Hume and George Cram Cook to manage it; let them run riot on the stage. Clear the wings and the front of the house of all routineers. Fill the seats at each performance with the usual gallery-haunters of the New York theaters. Do not overlook the hosts of experimental playhouse directors--unleash them in the backyard area with a _kammerspielhaus_ to toy with at pleasure. Let the personnel of the play-reading committee consist of such men as Ludwig Lewisohn, Barrett H. Clark, George Jean Nathan and Francis Hackett. The result will take care of itself. This, in brief, is the theatrical ménage for which, in the main, the plays included in this volume were written. Is this a hair-brained or a frivolous notion? It may be. But, please note, it expresses, no matter how limpingly, some approach to a viewpoint. At all events it is the only touchstone applied by the editors in their choice of fifty contemporary one-act plays. PIERRE LOVING. New York City, Sept., 1920. CONTENTS AUSTRIA: PAGE VON HOFMANNSTHAL (HUGO) _Madonna Dianora_ 1 SCHNITZLER (ARTHUR) _Literature_ 13 BELGIUM: MAETERLINCK (MAURICE) _The Intruder_ 27 BOLIVIA: MORE (FEDERICO) _Interlude_ 39 FRANCE: ANCEY (GEORGE) _Monsieur Lamblin_ 45 DE PORTO-RICHE (GEORGES) _Françoise' Luck_ 53 GERMANY: ETTLINGER (KARL) _Altruism_ 67 WEDEKIND (FRANK) _The Tenor_ 77 GREAT BRITAIN: BENNETT (ARNOLD) _A Good Woman_ 89 CALDERON (GEORGE) _The Little Stone House_ 99 CANNAN (GILBERT) _Mary's Wedding_ 111 CROCKER (BOSWORTH) _The Baby Carriage_ 119 DOWSON (ERNEST) _The Pierrot of the Minute_ 133 ELLIS (MRS. HAVELOCK) _The Subjection of Kezia_ 145 HANKIN (ST. JOHN) _The Constant Lover_ 155 INDIA: MUKERJI (DHAN GOPAL) _The Judgment of Indra_ 165 IRELAND: GREGORY (LADY) _The Workhouse Ward_ 173 HOLLAND: SPEENHOFF (J. H.) _Louise_ 181 HUNGARY: BIRO (LAJOS) _The Grandmother_ 191 ITALY: GIACOSA (GIUSEPPE) _The Rights of the Soul_ 201 RUSSIA: ANDREYEV (LEONID) _Love of One's Neighbor_ 213 TCHEKOFF (ANTON) _The Boor_ 227