Was Anna Cora Mowat one of "Poe’s Women?" When researching a fairly obscure historical figure like Anna Cora Mowatt, it is usually very...

PART I: JOHN MADDISON MORTON AND HIS OTHER PLAY Originally posted Oct. 24, 2022 In any well-rounded streaming service that delivers...

PART IV -- IN SICKNESS AND IN WEALTH: MEN, MONEY, AND ILLNESS IN MOWATT'S NARRATIVES [CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE] Originally posted June...

PART III -- LOVE, SEX, AND HEROES Originally posted June 6, 2022 The truth is the majority of people don’t really care about history. ...

PART II -- MOWATT, MEN, AND VILLANY Originally posted May 23, 2022 If you pick up a book about popular culture in the 19th century in the...

PART I: MOWATT'S WOMEN Originally posted May 9, 2022 A Master’s thesis is really a horrid sort of little document. In the Humanities,...

PART II: ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE Originally posted March 28, 2022 The Victorian opulence of Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie’s name...

PART I: THE TIES THAT BIND Originally published March 14, 2022 Around this time last year, a well-meaning publishing company launched a...

Originally posted on March 1, 2021 Parlor theatricals were a popular culture phenomenon of the Victorian era. As such they have received...

Originally published Feb. 8, 2021 Without doubt, the most famous parlor theatrical in the history of literature is the “operatic tragedy”...

Originally posted on Feb. 1, 2021 I have never come across any laments from theatre historians bemoaning the fact that so few scripts of...

Originally published Jan. 18, 2021 [Librivox’s recording of this play can be heard here.] Although she was called upon to play the...

Originally published on Dec. 28, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Perhaps the most incredible thing that I...

Originally published Dec. 21, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Last week, I talked about the triumph of...

Originally posted Dec. 14, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) In past entries, I have talked about Mary...

Originally posted on Dec. 7, 2020 Anna Cora Mowatt’s success as a playwright in the spring of 1845 was as unprecedented as it was...

Originally published Nov. 30, 2020 As a woman who simultaneously achieved international fame as both a playwright and an actress, Anna...

Originally published May 8, 2020 (Listen to an audio recording of the play "Armand" here.) Inasmuch as Anna Cora Mowatt is known in the...