Susan Glaspell, an American dramatist, writer, journalist, and actress, lived from 1876 until 1948. She was raised in Iowa, went to Drake University, and then became a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. Later, she relocated to New York City and started creating plays. She rose to prominence with the Provincetown Players, an avant-garde ensemble of authors and artists who presented experimental plays in Greenwich Village. Gender and social justice were frequent themes in Glaspell's plays. "Trifles" (1916), a one-act drama that examines the life of rural women in the Midwest and the violence that may develop in a patriarchal culture, is her most well-known work. Other noteworthy plays include "The Verge" (1921), which is about a woman's battle for artistic expression in an oppressive society, and "Inheritors" (1921), which is about the disagreements between a rich family over inheritance. In 1931, she won the Pulitzer Prize for theater for her play "Alison's House." Glaspell was a political activist and a supporter of women's rights in addition to her literary profession. She participated in a number of causes, such as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and was a member of the Heterodoxy Club, a feminist organization in Greenwich Village. 1948 saw the passing of Glaspell in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
