Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: In Mizzoura — Background and Themes

Dialect and Domestic Space

The excerpts reveal a play deeply invested in the speech patterns of rural Missouri. Characters like Dave and Lizbeth use contractions and colloquialisms—'huh,' 'dog gone it,' 'git married'—that mark them as local. The stage directions specify that Dave's 'Huh!' is 'more a chuck than an exclamation,' indicating a performance style rooted in physicality and understatement. The setting is domestic: a breakfast room, a forge, a bench where Dave works a shaft with a draw knife. The action revolves around family and courtship, with Kate's mother Mrs. Vernon and sister Em'ly present. The play's world is one where a stagecoach departure and a train robbery are discussed in the same breath, blending everyday life with adventure.

The Train Robbery as Reported Event

Sam's account of the train robbery is the most extended narrative passage in the excerpts. He describes how a man ran up to his express car with an order from the superintendent, then helped sort freight before revealing his true purpose. Sam's tone is 'intensely serious' as he says, 'I joked with him—just like I'm joking with you—he was one of the nicest fellows I ever saw.' This detail undercuts the expected villainy, suggesting the play may complicate moral categories. The robbery is not staged but reported, making it a piece of offstage action that the characters—and the audience—must piece together from Sam's testimony. The editor's preface, meanwhile, emphasizes Thomas's skill at weaving such incidents into a coherent dramatic structure.

Stage Directions and Physical Comedy

The excerpts are rich in stage business that conveys character without words. Dave's repeated 'Huh!' accompanied by head shakes and swaggers, his threatening 'If you was to say seminary to me,' and his sudden shift to proposing marriage all create a comic rhythm. The stage directions specify physical actions: 'DAVE brings SAM down,' 'JIM puts his left arm around EM'LY and sits on anvil,' 'KATE turns as if to leave.' These moments suggest a performance style that relies on gesture and timing. The editor's preface, by contrast, is entirely textual, discussing Thomas's prefaces and the value of autobiographical material. The gap between the editor's academic tone and the play's earthy dialogue highlights the challenge of categorizing this work as 'American drama'—a subject that encompasses both literary analysis and popular entertainment.

Readers approaching In Mizzoura should attend to the interplay between the editor's framing and the play's vernacular energy. The preface positions Thomas as a craftsman of 'salvage,' while the excerpts show a playwright attentive to dialect, physical comedy, and the rhythms of rural life. The train robbery, reported rather than shown, invites consideration of how offstage events shape onstage relationships. This edition preserves both the play and its critical apparatus, offering a layered view of American theatre at the turn of the century.

In Mizzoura made me think of a dusty summer I once spent in southern Illinois, where a train's whistle felt like a promise. The play's careful salvage of old scenes reminded me of how The Life of David Belasco; Vol. 1 — Context and Discussion traces a similar habit, building new stages from forgotten gestures. That quiet reworking felt oddly familiar, like finding a drawer of photographs you'd forgotten arranging.