Dates: | 1949-2019; bulk dates: 1965-2016 |
Size: | 9 linear feet in 6 boxes and 1 oversize folder |
Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 |
Collection Number: | spe-t00214 |
Immediate Source of Acquisition: | Donated by Anne V. McGravie in 2021, Anne McGravie Wright (niece) in 2022 and Hilary Mac Austin in 2023 |
Conditions Governing Access: | Materials are open without restrictions. |
Physical Location Note: | Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least 24-hours prior to your research visit to coordinate access. |
Conditions Governing Use: | Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection. Scripts, prompt books and musical scores can be read and viewed in person, but not copied without written permission of the creator or their assigns. |
Preferred Citation: | When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Anne V. McGravie Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library |
Finding Aid Author: | Accessioned by Michelle McCoy in 2025 |
Processing Information
Please note that current Chicago Public Library staff has only minimally processed the material. Many of the donated materials were loose and intermixed upon arrival. When possible, identifying information was used to reunite loose materials by title or topic. However, portions of typescript drafts may not be sequential in folders and folders may contain portions of different drafts. This is especially the case with undated documents.
Abstract
Anne V. McGravie (1926-2022) was a Scottish-born playwright and author who lived and worked in Chicago. Her plays include the Jeff Award-winning WRENS, The Cairn Stones, The Poppy Garden, Bags, Alice and Margo and The Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project, a collaboration with Nicholas Patricca at Bailiwick Repertory. The collection is composed primarily of scripts and other writings along with notes, research and production materials for plays that were staged. Additional materials include contracts, correspondence, diaries, photographs and other biographical materials.
Biographical/Historical
Anne V. McGravie (1926-2022) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1943, McGravie enlisted in the British Women’s Royal Naval Service, or the WRNS and spent most of World War II in Great Britain’s Orkney Islands. This experience inspired her Jeff Jefferson award-winning play, WRENS, that explores women’s roles in the armed forces. Following the war, McGravie came to the U.S. where she worked in educational publishing. By the mid-1960s, she shifted her writing to the theater and emerged as an award-winning playwright whose work was produced in Chicago and elsewhere.
In the 1980s, Commons Theatre produced The Life and Death of Anna May Wong, about the pioneering Chinese American movie star and Oona and the Oyster Girl. In 1992, Organic Theater produced A Few Simple Truths. WRENS was staged several times in Chicago, first at the Footsteps Theatre and later at the Organic Theater and the Rivendell Theatre and won three Jeff Jefferson Awards. After being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 60, McGravie wrote The Poppy Garden, a dark comedy about women with breast cancer that was produced by Footsteps Theatre in 1993. In 1995, McGravie collaborated on writing The Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project for Bailiwick Repertory. The production won a Jeff Jefferson Committee Citation in 1996. In 2013, at age 87, McGravie published her first novel, Dancing on Ashes. Two more of her plays, The Clown Next Door and A Stone-cold Case, were staged in the early 2010s. Her other notable plays include The Cairn Stones, Bags and Alice and Margo.
Scope and Contents
Anne V. McGravie (1926-2022) was a Scottish-born playwright and author who lived and worked in Chicago. Her plays include the Jeff Award-winning WRENS, The Cairn Stones, The Poppy Garden, Bags, Alice and Margo and The Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project, a collaboration with Nicholas Patricca at Bailiwick Repertory.
The collection is composed primarily of scripts and other writings along with notes, research and production materials for plays that were staged. Additional materials include contracts, correspondence, diaries, photographs and other biographical materials.
Arrangement
The Anne V. McGravie Papers are arranged into three Series:
- Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1949-2019
- Series 2: Plays and Theatrical Works, 1975-2014
- Series 3: Other Writings, 1965-2016
Separations
Approximately 3 linear feet of duplicated materials and unrelated materials were discarded.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Access to some audiovisual material and computer files may not be possible due to available replay equipment or to state of physical media. Tapes have not been checked to ensure content or playability. Titles and other descriptive information are as written on packages. Based on the information written on the floppy disks, it is probable that the contents were printed and researchers should consult those files.
Subject Headings
- McGravie, Anne
- Plays
- Playwriting
- Theater -- Photographs
- Theater -- 20th century -- Sources
- Theater -- History -- Sources
Related Collections
- Bailiwick Repertory Records
- Commons Theatre Records
- Organic Theater Records
- Nicholas A. Patricca Papers
- Steppenwolf Theatre Company Records
- Victory Gardens Theater Records
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1949-2019
Scope and Contents
Series 1 contains biographical materials related to McGravie’s work as an author, playwright and educator. The materials include awards, contracts, correspondence, diaries, photographs and theatrical instruction materials.
Arrangement
Series 1 is arranged alphabetically by topic.
Box 1 | Folder 1 | Australia visit, 1994 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 | Autobiographical documents, 1949-200s |
Box 1 | Folder 3 | Autobiographical writings, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 4 | Awards, 1984-2016 |
Box 6 | Awards, Jeff Jefferson Committee Citation, If the Radiance of a Thousand Suns, plaque, 1996 | |
Box 1 | Folder 5 | Contracts and agreements, 1988-2003 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 | Contracts and agreements, copyrights, 1979, 1986 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 | Contracts and agreements, grants, 1984-2001 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 | Contracts and agreements, publishing, 1976-2011 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1965-1969 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1970-1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1980-1989 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1990-1999 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 | Correspondence, 2000-2009 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 | Correspondence, 2010-2019 |
Box 1 | Folder 15 | Correspondence, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 16 | Diary, 1964-1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 | Diary, circa 1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 18 | Diary, 1980-1981 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 | Diary, 2014 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 | Family history, correspondence and notes, circa 1980s-2000s |
Box 6 | McGravie, Anne, “The Immigrant,” WBEZ interview, audiocassette, undated | |
Box 1 | Folder 21 | News clippings, circa 1993-2016 |
Oversize Folder 1 | Photograph, circa 1960s | |
Box 1 | Folder 22 | Photographs, circa 1980s-2000s |
Box 1 | Folder 23 | Resumes, circa 1990s-2002 |
Box 1 | Folder 24 | Submission and planning notes, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 25 | Theater and writing instruction, college and community, 1981-2010 |
Box 1 | Folder 26 | Theater and writing instruction, correctional institutions, 1971-1997 |
Box 1 | Folder 27 | Theater and writing instruction, senior programs, 1988 |
Series 2: Theatrical Works, 1975-2014, undated
Scope and Contents
Series 2 contains scripts and other writings related to theatrical performances along with notes, research and production materials for plays that were staged. Unless otherwise noted, the scripts and drafts are typescript.
Arrangement
Series 2 is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.
Box 1 | Folder 28 | Alice and Margo, Dramatic Publishing proof, 2011 |
Box 1 | Folder 29 | Alice and Margo, production materials, circa 2010 |
Box 1 | Folder 30 | Alice and Margo, script [final], 2010 |
Box 1 | Folder 31 | Amanda, monologue and reviews, 1998 |
Box 6 | [Amanda], “The Monologue Show,” VHS videotape, undated | |
Box 1 | Folder 32 | Army women, notes and research, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 33 | Bags, production materials and programs, 1989-1997 |
Box 1 | Folder 34 | Bags, script [drafts], 1986, 1991 |
Box 1 | Folder 35 | Bags, script, 1997 |
Box 1 | Folder 36 | Bags, script [draft], 2002 |
Box 1 | Folder 37 | Bags, script published in Other Voices, 1990 Summer/Fall |
Box 6 | Bags, VHS videotapes (2), [1997] | |
Box 1 | Folder 38 | Birthday, script, 1998 |
Box 1 | Folder 39 | Blood on the Number 112, script [drafts], 2009 |
Box 1 | Folder 40 | The Bog Witch, production materials, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 41 | Bremen-Town Musicians, adaptation, undated |
Oversize Folder 1 | The Cairn Stones, poster, 1999 | |
Box 1 | Folder 42 | The Cairn Stones, production materials and program, 1999 |
Box 1 | Folder 43 | The Cairn Stones, script, 1997 |
Box 1 | Folder 44 | Candy Loving John, scripts and draft, 1986 |
Box 1 | Folder 45 | Chicago, research, undated |
Box 1 | Folder 46 | Chicago, Chicago, script [draft], 1985 |
Box 1 | Folders 47-48 | Chicago in the Morning [working title], script [drafts], 1985 |
Box 1 | Folder 49 | Chicago in the Morning [working title], script, 1998 |
Box 2 | Folder 1 | The Children’s War [The Ipsy, Wipsy Spider], notes, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 2 | The Children’s War, script [annotated], 2005 |
Box 2 | Folder 3 | The Children’s War, scripts, 2006 |
Box 2 | Folder 4 | The Children’s War, script, 2nd draft, 2010 |
Box 2 | Folder 5 | The Children’s War, scripts, 2015 |
Box 2 | Folder 6 | Clown, monologue, 1998 |
Box 2 | Folder 7 | The Clown Next Door, script, [festival version], undated |
Box 2 | Folder 8 | Composer-Librettist Studio, 1994 |
Box 2 | Folder 9 | Critic’s Choice, research, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 10 | Critic’s Choice, (Catch Forty-Four), script [drafts], 1987 |
Box 2 | Folder 11 | Critic’s Choice, script [drafts], 1990 |
Box 2 | Folder 12 | Critic’s Choice, script, 1997 |
Box 2 | Folder 13 | Critic’s Choice, script [drafts], undated |
Box 2 | Folder 14 | Dandelions, Reading Series, production materials and script, 2005 |
Box 2 | Folder 15 | Dandelions [also labeled “Nuns”], research, article draft and notes, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 16 | Dandelions [also labeled “Nuns”], research and notes, undated |
Box 6 | Dandelions [also labeled “Nuns”], research, audiocassette, undated | |
Box 2 | Folder 17 | Dandelions, script, 2004 |
Box 2 | Folder 18 | Dandelions, script, drafts, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 19 | Death, script notes, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 20 | The Death Watch, script, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 21 | Deprofundis, script, 2009 |
Box 2 | Folder 22 | Dolls, research, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 23 | Dolls, script, 1994 |
Box 2 | Folder 24 | Dolls, script [drafts], 1998 |
Box 2 | Folder 25 | Dolls, script, 1998 |
Box 2 | Folder 26 | Dolls, script, 2000 |
Box 2 | Folder 27 | Dolls, script [final], 2012 |
Box 2 | Folder 28 | Dolls, script [draft], undated |
Box 2 | Folder 29 | Dolls, staged reading notes, 1993 |
Box 2 | Folder 30 | Evacuation, script [drafts] with research, undated |
Box 2 | Folder 31 | Fallen, script [drafts], 2004 |
Box 2 | Folder 32 | A Few Simple Truths, script and reviews, 1992 |
Box 2 | Folder 33 | Fiona, lyrics, 1994 |
Box 2 | Folder 34 | Fiona Fintoul, script [draft], 2001 |
Box 6 | Ghosts, reading, audiocassettes (2), 1980 | |
Box 2 | Folder 35 | Ghosts, script [draft], 1980 |
Box 2 | Folder 36 | Gloria Moonday, script, draft, 1979 |
Box 2 | Folder 37 | Gloria Moonday, script, 1979 |
Box 2 | Folder 38 | If the Radiance from a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project, production materials, 1993-1996 |
Box 6 | If the Radiance from a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project, VHS videotape, 1996 | |
Box 2 | Folder 39 | Irish American Play, script, 1989 |
Box 2 | Folder 40 | Last Bus to Cuba, skits and editor’s notes, undated |
Box 3 | Folder 1 | [Life and Death of] Anna May Wong, production materials and program, 1981 |
Box 3 | Folder 2 | [Life and Death of] Anna May Wong, research, circa 1970s-1990s |
Box 3 | Folder 3 | Life and Death of Anna May Wong, script, 1981 |
Box 3 | Folder 4 | Life and Death of Anna May Wong, script [original production script], 1981 |
Box 3 | Folder 5 | Life and Death of Anna May Wong, scripts [Reader’s Series], 1987 |
Box 3 | Folder 6 | [Life and Death of] Anna May Wong, script [drafts] and notes, undated |
Box 6 | Life and Death of Anna May Wong, VHS videotapes (2), circa 1980s | |
Box 3 | Folder 7 | Little Rude Riding Hood, story draft, undated |
Box 3 | Folder 8 | The Matchless Mayden, script, 1st draft, 2002 |
Box 6 | Media - audiocassettes (2), undated | |
Box 6 | Media - CDs (4), undated | |
Box 6 | Media - film strips (3), undated | |
Box 6 | Media - floppy disks, 5 ¼” (5), undated | |
Box 6 | Media - floppy disks, 3 ½” (83), undated | |
Box 6 | Media - mini-cassettes (7), undated | |
Box 3 | Folder 9 | No Ifs, Ands or Buts, lyrics, 1995 |
Oversize Folder 1 | No Place Like Home, posters, 2003 | |
Box 3 | Folder 10 | No Place Like Home, Community Workshop Project, production materials and program, 2002-2003 |
Box 3 | Folder 11 | No Place Like Home, script [final draft], 2003 |
Box 3 | Folders 12-13 | Notes for theatrical and other writings (mostly manuscript), undated |
Box 3 | Folder 14 | One More Time, script, 1993 |
Box 3 | Folder 15 | Oona and the Oyster Girl, script [drafts], 1986 |
Box 3 | Folder 16 | Oona and the Oyster Girl, script [drafts], 1994 |
Box 3 | Folder 17 | Oona and the Oyster Girl and Jack the Great Dog of Ireland, script, drafts, 1997-1988 |
Box 3 | Folder 18 | Oona and the Oyster Girl, script [also called Orphans], 1998 |
Box 3 | Folder 19 | Oona and the Oyster Girl and Jack the Great Dog of Ireland, script, 2000 |
Box 3 | Folder 20 | Oona and the Oyster Girl, script [drafts], undated |
Box 3 | Folder 21 | Orphans, script [drafts], undated |
Box 3 | Folder 22 | The Parting, score, undated |
Box 3 | Folder 23 | Playwriting and theater resources, circa 1970s-2010s |
Box 3 | Folder 24 | Playwriting submission resources, circa 1980s-2010s |
Box 3 | Folder 25 | The Pomegranate Tree, lyrics, undated |
Box 3 | Folder 26 | Poppies, script, 2004 |
Box 3 | Folder 27 | Poppies, script, 2005 |
Box 3 | Folder 28 | Poppies, script, 2006 |
Box 3 | Folders 29-30 | Poppies, script [drafts], undated |
Box 3 | Folder 31 | The Poppy Garden [also called Counting Stitches] production materials and programs, 1993 |
Box 3 | Folder 32 | The Poppy Garden [also called Counting Stitches] script [drafts], 1989 |
Box 3 | Folder 33 | The Poppy Garden [also called Counting Stitches] script, 1989 |
Box 3 | Folder 34 | The Poppy Garden [also called Counting Stitches] script, 1993 |
Box 3 | Folder 35 | The Poppy Garden [also called Counting Stitches] script, 1994 |
Box 3 | Folder 36 | The Present, libretto, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 1 | Queen Margaret, research, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 2 | Queen Margaret, script and notes, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 3 | Radio drama scripts, circa 1980s-1990s |
Box 4 | Folder 4 | Rebels, script, 1982 |
Box 4 | Folder 5 | Rebels, script [used for Goodman Theatre reading], 1982 |
Box 4 | Folder 6 | The Red Shoes, adaptation, 1975 |
Box 4 | Folder 7 | Rose Cat and Cat Bush, script [drafts], 1981 |
Box 4 | Folder 8 | Runaways, or Going Home, script [draft], 1982 |
Box 4 | Folder 9 | Scotland, research, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 10 | Short plays, scripts, includes Another Bus Play, Battle of Hoe Joe Hill, Beaches, Don’t Make Me Think, Double Wedding, The Faerie Girl, House on the Range, Last Train to Nowhere, Miscounter, The Mummy Room at the Field Museum, Red Poppies, The Reunion of ’71, Sepia, Sharing a Ride, Shoot a Soldier, Stack O’Barley, Three’s Company, Whose Wife Is It, Anyway? and Women in the Military, circa 1979-1995 |
Box 4 | Folder 11 | The Short Sad Life of Maddie Mullins, script, 1st draft, 2002 |
Box 4 | Folder 12 | Siamese Twins, monologue, 1998 |
Box 4 | Folder 13 | [Sic Transit], script [draft], undated |
Box 4 | Folder 14 | A Stone-cold Case, script [final] and program, 2012 |
Box 4 | Folder 15 | Swallow the Moon, script [draft], 2010 |
Box 4 | Folder 16 | Swallow the Moon, script [draft], 2011 |
Box 4 | Folder 17 | Swallow the Moon, script [draft], undated |
Box 4 | Folder 18 | Sweet Dreams, script, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 19 | Tabernacles, script, 1st draft, 2000 |
Box 4 | Folder 20 | The Warped Weaver, script [drafts], undated |
Box 4 | Folder 21 | What I Learned About Golf, monologue, 1998 |
Box 4 | Folder 22 | Where the Poppies Grow, script with correspondence, 2001 |
Box 4 | Folder 23 | Woman Who Lived by the Sea, script, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 24 | Wonderella and Partner, scripts, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 25 | Wrens, BBC proposal, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 26 | Wrens, correspondence, 1984-2012 |
Box 4 | Folder 27 | Wrens, dramaturgy packet drafts, 2012 |
Box 4 | Folder 28 | Wrens, photo booklet by Rover Dramawerks by Naifah Photo, undated |
Box 4 | Folder 29 | Wrens, photographs, circa 1996-2012 |
Oversize Folder 1 | Wrens, posters [multiple productions], 1996-2012 | |
Box 4 | Folder 30 | Wrens, production materials and programs [multiple productions], 1984-2014 |
Box 4 | Folder 31 | Wrens, research and ephemera [includes CD], 1981-circa 1990s |
Box 4 | Folder 32 | Wrens, reviews, 1995-2012 |
Box 4 | Folder 33 | Wrens, script, 1989 |
Box 4 | Folder 34 | Wrens, script, 1992 |
Box 4 | Folder 35 | Wrens, script, 1996 |
Box 4 | Folder 36 | Wrens, script used by Rivendell?], 2011 October |
Series 3: Other Writings, 1965-2016, undated
Scope and Contents
Series 3 contains typescripts, drafts and publications of McGravie’s stories, articles and her novel, Dancing on Ashes. Research files for some of these publications are also included.
Arrangement
Series 3 is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.
Box 5 | Folder 1 | Ann Gallagher, story typescript, 1975 |
Box 5 | Folder 2 | Better Than Bingo, story typescript, 1998 |
Box 5 | Folder 3 | The Bonfire, story, typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 4 | The Boyhood of Pope John XXIII, Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1979 |
Box 5 | Folder 5 | The Contest, story typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 6 | Dancing on Ashes, book typescript [annotated with revisions], 2008 |
Box 5 | Folder 7 | Dancing on Ashes, book typescript, 2008 |
Box 5 | Folder 8 | Dancing on Ashes, book typescript [draft], undated |
Box 5 | Folder 9 | Dancing on Ashes, book release, 2013 |
Box 5 | Folder 10 | Dancing on Ashes, book correspondence and notes, 2007-2008 |
Box 5 | Folder 11 | The Girl Who Danced with Fairies, story typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 12 | The Gushygin, SRA Reading Laboratory, story, 1978 |
Box 5 | Folder 13 | Inishfree: Quiet Little Island, essay, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 14 | Ireland, film script, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 15 | Ireland (and Inishfree), notes and research, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 16 | Island Summers/Inishfree Summers, correspondence and research, circa 1970s |
Box 5 | Folder 17 | Island Summers/Inishfree Summers, typescript [drafts], circa 2006 |
Box 5 | Folder 18 | Island Summers/Inishfree Summers, notes, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 19 | It Suddenly Happens to You, story typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 20 | Lady Megan in a Hurry, story typescript, 1979 |
Box 5 | Folder 21 | “Life in a Castle,” article typescript and research, circa 1979 |
Box 5 | Folder 22 | “Local Women Playwrights and Chicago Theatres,” article typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 23 | “The Opposite Game,” article typescript and research, 2004 |
Box 5 | Folder 24 | Poetry, typescript drafts [some with reader comments], 1973-2016 |
Box 5 | Folder 25 | Reading Series books, typescripts and notes, 1984 |
Box 5 | Folder 26 | Robot Rob Will Do His Job, Reading Series book text, 1985-1986 |
Box 5 | Folder 27 | Rose, story typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 28 | Sam-Sam Leads a Dog’s Life and Other Stories, story typescript, 1986 |
Box 5 | Folder 29 | Sam-Sam Leads a Dog’s Life and Other Stories, story typescript [drafts], undated |
Box 5 | Folder 30 | Seeing, story typescript, 1975 |
Box 5 | Folder 31 | Short writings, typescript drafts, includes The Haunted Mirror, The Gander, The Lark in the Still Air, The Muse, The Rise of Towns, Skara Brae and The Whimsical Cat, 1965-1998 |
Box 5 | Folder 32 | The Twelve Swan Princesses of Ireland, typescript [draft], 2001 |
Box 5 | Folder 33 | Una and the Oyster Girl, story typescript [drafts], 2011 |
Box 5 | Folder 34 | Unfinished stories [drafts], undated |
Box 5 | Folder 35 | Untitled short writings, typescripts [drafts], undated |
Box 5 | Folder 36 | The Visitors, story typescript [draft], undated |
Box 5 | Folder 37 | “Voice of the People,” article, typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 38 | Weard Beasties, story typescript, undated |
Box 5 | Folder 39 | The Witch in the Apartment, story typescript [drafts], undated |