Artist, poet, playwright, feminist, inventor, and entrepreneur Mina Loy (1882-1966) played a major role in Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism, but has been marginalized in the annals of the historical avant-garde and almost completely omitted from modern theater history. After studying art in Paris and exhibiting at the prestigious Salon D’Automne, Loy got pregnant, married, and fled to Italy, where she befriended Mabel Dodge, Gertrude Stein, Gordon Craig, and the Italian Futurists, and channeled her creativity into poetry and playwriting. Her four short plays—Collision, Cittàbapini, Sacred Prostitute, and The Pamperers—written between 1914 and 1920, are experimental, ribald, hilarious, and provocative. As much literary as theatrical, these poetic dramas push the boundaries of modern art, music, and stage design. Published together here for the first time, the plays of Mina Loy are full of frank expressions of female desire and satirical critiques of social hierarchies. These Futurist poetic dramas provide catalysts for conversations about issues that remain volatile today: gender identity, free speech, reproductive rights, equity, and access, and serve as a palpable reminder of the contributions of women to an avant-garde arts tradition that has historically championed white, European men.

~Suzanne Churchill and Alison Dobbins^[1]