Jane Chambers  (1937 - 1983)

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Contemporary Lesbian Writers of the United States by Sandra Pollack (Editor), Denise D. Knight (Editor)

The first comprehensive biographical, critical, and bibliographical source on lesbian writers, this reference book features essays on 100 contemporary writers of poetry, fiction, and drama in the United States. All had written as self-identified lesbians at some point during the 1970-1992 period. Each essay comprises a biography, with personal history often derived from interviews, an analysis of major works and themes, an overview of the critical reception, and bibliographies of primary works and of critical studies. The volume introduction situates contemporary lesbian literature in its historical and political contexts. Appendices list publishers of lesbian writers and periodicals featuring lesbian writers. An extensive bibliography provides nonfiction resources focusing on lesbian issues.

This volume includes:  "Jane Chambers" by Nancy Dean.

Available Texts by Jane Chambers:

The Jane Chambers Playwriting Award

With The Women and Theatre Program of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and The Women and Theatre Program of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education are pleased to announce the joint sponsorship of the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award.

The program seeks plays and performance text created by women which reflect a feminist perspective and contain a majority of opportunities for women performers. Scripts may be produced or unproduced. There is no limit on length, style, or subject. The award, now in its 17th year, is given in memory of lesbian playwright, Jane Chambers, who, through her plays A Late Snow, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, My Blue Heaven, Kudzu, and The Quintessential Image, became a major feminist voice in American theater.

The award consists of $1000, free registration to attend the Women and Theatre Conference in late July, and a rehearsed reading of the winning piece at that conference. The winner should be available to attend the conference. Current students who submit plays will be entered into the student category of the competition, which carries a $250 award. Please note: plays entered do not have to be entered and produced in the KC/ACTF.

Submission must be postmarked by February 15, 2001. The winner and finalists will be notified by June 30. To obtain an application form, send a SASE to:

Jane Chambers Award
c/o Mary A. Donahoe
Department of Theatre Arts
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio 45435-0001

Queer Television

Excerpt:

Daytime Drama took a long time to admit that gays and lesbians, and their families are part of society...and part of their audience as well.

The late Jane Chambers, was well established as a lead writer for TV shows like Search for Tomorrow and Somerset – until 1974 when the success of her lesbian-themed play A Late Snow led the TV industry to blacklist her.

She also discovered that most actors were afraid to portray lesbians, on screen, or on stage. When producing A Late Snow, Chambers expected the actors from the soaps to be immune from worrying about the "character" of their characters, but she was wrong. Among the more than 100 actors who read for the parts, one broke into tears and bolted from the studio, and another became "literally speechless" during the reading. Although the characters included a college professor, an antique dealer and a graduate student, even the most talented and experienced actors portrayed them as though they were butch bull dykes arriving on Harleys...

Bluefish Cove Deserves its Reputation as a Dyke Haven

From Gay.com

By Ann Rostow for Girlfriends 

Excerpt:

I must have been around 25 years old when I saw Jane Chambers' Last Summer at Bluefish Cove at a Greenwich Village playhouse in the early 1980s. The play begins with an attractive woman fishing for bluefish off a rock, and the setting of Bluefish Cove evolves into a kind of lesbian camp, where everyone meets on the beach every day and hangs out at someone's cabin over a big bluefish dinner every evening. Romance blossoms, naturally, and if it wasn't for the unfortunate fact that the heroine dies of cancer at the end, the play would have described an idyllic lesbian summer...

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Scholars Index |