Massachusetts Historical Society

Event

"For the entertainment of her friends": Working Actresses, Society & Performance in Boston 1790-1830

At MHS

Author: Emma Futhey, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences University
Comment: Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Northeastern University

This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.

This paper explores the lives of working actresses and theatre managers in Boston through the early republic, contextualizing their places in the developing cultural identity of an “American” city. Using actress-manager Elizabeth Powell as a case study, and supplementing her story with additional figures, this paper illuminates how the working actress presented herself to potential employers and audiences, creatively deploying her femininity in an attempt to balance the dueling tensions of economic practicality and gendered social expectations. In this way, patterns of performative behavior are constructed, revealing new aspects of the working actress’s life in Boston.

Join the conversation at the Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.

Register to attend in person

Register to attend online

Hybrid Event

The in-person reception starts at 4:30 PM and the seminar will begin at 5:00 PM.

Masks are optional for this event.

The virtual seminar begins at 5:00 PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information.

Upcoming Events

The Latest

Blog
Video
Podcast