# Emma (play)

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***Emma*** (or ***Emma: A Play in Two Acts about Emma Goldman, American Anarchist***, its full title) is a play by historian and playwright [Howard Zinn](/source/Howard_Zinn) (1922–2010). It was first performed in 1976 at [Theater for the New City](/source/Theater_for_the_New_City) directed by [Jeff Zinn](/source/Jeff_Zinn).

## Context

The play dramatizes events from the life of [Emma Goldman](/source/Emma_Goldman). Zinn wrote the play using Goldman's autobiography, correspondence between Goldman and fellow anarchist [Alexander Berkman](/source/Alexander_Berkman) (Emma's lover, who also became a character in the play), and other research.[1] As Zinn describes her in his introduction, "She seemed to be tireless as she traveled the country, lecturing to large audiences everywhere, on [birth control](/source/Birth_control) ('A woman should decide for herself'), on the problems of marriage as an institution ('Marriage has nothing to do with love'), on [patriotism](/source/Patriotism) ('the last refuge of a scoundrel'), on [free love](/source/Free_love) ('What is love if not free?'), and also on the drama — [Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw), [Ibsen](/source/Henrik_Ibsen), [Strindberg](/source/August_Strindberg)."[2]

According to author Tom H. Hastings, the play shows the period of Goldman's "[nonviolence](/source/Nonviolence) and resistance to [militarism](/source/Militarism)", rather than her earlier "attachment to violent revolution". After someone accuses her of plotting to "blow up the fleet" in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) harbor, she declares "Bombs are not my way", but she "would be happy to see the fleet sink to the bottom of the [sea](/source/Sea) ... so that we, and our brothers and sisters in other countries, can live in peace."[3]

## Plot summary

The action of the play takes place during the late 1880s, and focuses on the character of Emma Goldman as she grows from a simple textile factory worker to a revolutionary and anarchist. The outspoken advocacy of radical anarchist and populist ideals are followed through persecution and hardship to the beginnings of [World War I](/source/World_War_I).[4] The play closes with the words of Goldman during an anti-[conscription](/source/Conscription) protest in 1917, just before her arrest on [sedition](/source/Sedition) charges.[5]

## References

1. Howard Zinn (2002). [*Emma*](https://archive.org/details/emmaplayintwoact00zinn). 2002 ed. [South End Press](/source/South_End_Press). ISBN 978-0-89608-664-7.

1. Howard Zinn, *[Emma](https://archive.org/details/emmaplayintwoact00zinn)*, 2002 ed., pp. xvi, xix, [South End Press](/source/South_End_Press), 138 pp. ISBN 0-89608-664-X

1. Tom H. Hastings (2004). *Nonviolent Response to Terrorism*. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1874-5.

1. Walter Goodman (1986-02-17). ["Stage: 'Emma,' Howard Zinn's Tale of Radicals"](http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9A0DE0D9113CF934A25751C0A960948260). *New York Times*. Retrieved 2008-01-14.

1. Karamatullah K. Ghori (2003-05-18). ["Review: A woman in revolt"](https://web.archive.org/web/20081007021344/http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive/030518/books12.htm). [Dawn](/source/Dawn_(newspaper)). Archived from [the original](http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive/030518/books12.htm) on October 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.

## External links

- [Filmed stage performance of Emma](http://howardzinn.org/howard-zinns-emma/) 2005 at the Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, New York

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Emma (play)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_(play)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_(play)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.