Aquesta col·lecció d'assajos mostra els múltiples aspectes de la contribució que va fer la dona, al teatre americà del segle XIX. En aquest estudi s'ensenyen diversos tipus de dones i els rols que ocupen, així com reflecteix la manera que Susan Glaspell i Sophie Treadwell van ajudar a donar forma al teatre, entre moltes altres que escriurien dècades més tard.

Many women held positions of great responsibility and power in the United States during the 19th century as theatre managers: managing stock companies, owning or leasing theatres, hiring actors and other personnel, selecting plays for production, directing rehearsals, supervising all production details, and promoting their dramatic offerings. Competing in risky business ventures, these women were remarkable for defying societal norms that restricted career opportunities for women. The activities of more than 50 such women are discussed in Nineteenth-Century American Women Theatre Managers, beginning with an account of 15 pioneering women managers who were all managing theatres before 24 December 1853, when Catherine Sinclair, often incorrectly identified as the first woman theatre manager in the United States, opened her theatre in San Francisco.

Through a series of biographical sketches of female performers and managers, Dudden provides a discussion of the conflicted messages conveyed by the early theatre about what it meant to be a woman. It both showed women as sex objects and provided opportunities for careers.

This collection of essays explores the various ways that maleness and femaleness were depicted on stage and influenced theatre in the Victorian era.

Many women held positions of great responsibility and power in the United States during the 19th century as theatre managers: managing stock companies, owning or leasing theatres, hiring actors and other personnel, selecting plays for production, directing rehearsals, supervising all production details, and promoting their dramatic offerings. Competing in risky business ventures, these women were remarkable for defying societal norms that restricted career opportunities for women. The activities of more than 50 such women are discussed in Nineteenth-Century American Women Theatre Managers, beginning with an account of 15 pioneering women managers who were all managing theatres before 24 December 1853, when Catherine Sinclair, often incorrectly identified as the first woman theatre manager in the United States, opened her theatre in San Francisco.

First full-scale revision since 1987.

From Romantic verse drama to historical tragrdy, this collection of plays is a necessary contribution to a full understanding of the nineteenth-century theatrical and the development of modern theatre, including works by Joanna Baille and Mrs Henry Wood.

Women performers played a vital role in the development of American and transatlantic entertainment, celebrity culture, and gender ideology. Sara E. Lampert examines the lives, careers, and fame of overlooked figures from Europe and the United States whose work in melodrama, ballet, and other stage shows shocked and excited early U.S. audiences. These women lived and performed the tensions and contradictions of nineteenth-century gender roles, sparking debates about women's place in public life. Yet even their unprecedented wealth and prominence failed to break the patriarchal family structures that governed their lives and conditioned their careers. Inevitable contradictions arose. The burgeoning celebrity culture of the time forced women stage stars to don the costumes of domestic femininity even as the unsettled nature of life in the theater defied these ideals. A revealing foray into a lost time, Starring Women returns a generation of performers to their central place in the early history of American theater.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was the theatrical center of the United States, owing largely to the elegant Chestnut Street Theatre and its excellent resident company of actors. The survival and success of the company can be greatly attributed to Anne Brunton Merry.Mrs. Merry, who made her first appearance on stage at the ago of sixteen, experienced meteoric success in the English theatre, and after only three years was being favorably compared with te famed Sarah Siddons. She came to the Chestnut Street company in 1796, tow years afer its formation, and through her portrayals of Shakespearean heroines, as well as roles in sentimental comedy and in tragedy, she soon became the most celebrated actress in the American theatre. She established new standards of excellence in her stage portrayals, and during her tenure as manger of the Chestnut Street theatre, she transferred her own high standards to the entire company, demanding a carefully executed theatre operation and advancing the acting profession to a new level of social acceptance. In this sympathetic portrait of an unusual woman, Professor Doty traces Mrs. Merry's career from its beginning at the Bristol theatre in England in 1785 to its tragically early end in 1808. From contemporary newspapers, periodicals, memoirs, and diaries, the author has fashioned a fascinating story of a great actress and her contribution to the development of American repertory theatre during this vital period.