BARNSTORMERS

Barnstormers: translation

   Actors who traveled in areas where there were no established theatres had to perform in found spaces like hotel dining rooms, dance halls, warehouses, and barns. Barnstormers, according to Bernheim (1964, 11), were distinguished by "their lack of association with a specific theatre." The term "barnstormer" was sometimes applied to overacting performers given to crude and elaborate gestures (also known as "hams"), presumably the sort of acting popular with provincial audiences.