Discussion: Trifles Character Sketches

9/17/2020 Links:

https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~fliotsos/b/b/Bonstelle,_Jessie.html 1/2

index 1900-1949 1950-1999 Adams, Maude American Thtr Anderson, Max

Angels in America Berlin, Irving Bernstein, Aline Bonstelle, Jessie Cohan, George

Corpus Christi Experimental Fosse & Robbins FTP Glaspell, Susan Jones, R.E.

Lee, Canada Lion King Long Runs Multicultural Thtr Nesbit, Evelyn O'Neill, Eugene

Provincetown Plyrs Rodgers & Hammerstein Shuffle Along Vaudeville

Williams, Tennessee Wilson, August Ziegfeld, Flo

Jessie Bonstelle: The Maker of Stars and Founder of the Detroit Civic Theatre

One of the pioneering women to produce, direct, and manage theatre companies in the early twentieth century was Jessie Bonstelle. Born Laura Justine Bonesteele (later Bonstelle) around 1870 on a farm in New York state, Bonstelle began her theatre career as a performer, mainly in stock companies. Bonstelle’s career changed when New York City producer and theatre owner Jacob J. Shubert asked her to manage a stock company in Rochester, New York, around 1900. By 1910 she was managing both the Star Theatre in Buffalo, New York, and the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. During her long career she reports that she managed summer companies in Rochester, Providence, Northampton, and Detroit as well as directing and performing in productions in New York City in the winter months. Despite her success directing stock productions, New York critics were seldom kind to Bonstelle, and the majority of the Broadway plays she directed or co-directed had short runs. Her most popular production was a stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, which Bonstelle researched and directed with the help of actor/director Bertram Harrison. She launched four national tours in 1911 before opening Little Women on October 14, 1912 at Broadway’s Playhouse Theatre for 184 performances. Based on the play’s success, Bonstelle took the production to London, with then unknown actress Katharine Cornell in a lead role. Bonstelle earned a reputation for spotting and honing young talent, and Cornell was one of her many protégées. In addition to gaining fame as a star maker, Bonstelle is remembered for founding a theatre during the Little Theatre movement (a movement to start art theatres, as opposed to commercial theatres). In 1925 she founded the Bonstelle Players, which became the Detroit Civic Theatre in 1928. Remembered as perfectionist who drove her actors to keep pace with her, Bonstelle worked up to her death in 1932, all the while planning her next production. --Anne Fliotsos

Sources and further reading:

Bennett, Helen Christine. “The Star Lady.” McCall’s Magazine. 55 (Sept.): 16-17, 106, 109, 110; (Oct.): 24-25, 96, 98, 101; (Nov.): 26-27, 125, 126, 147; (Dec.): 28, 72, 75, 76; 56 (Jan.): 31; (Feb.): 35; 1928-1929.

9/17/2020 Links:

https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~fliotsos/b/b/Bonstelle,_Jessie.html 2/2

Deam, William L. “A Biographical Study of Miss Laura Justine Bonstelle-Stuart Together with an Evaluation of Her contributions to the Modern Theatre World.” Ph. D. diss., University of Michigan, 1954.

Fliotsos, Anne. “Jessie Bonstelle.” In American Women Stage Directors of the Twentieth Century. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

*Image courtesy of NYPL website.