Synopses & Reviews
Established as a popular convention during the English Restoration, the practice of women playing male roles reached its peak in America during the first half of the nineteenth century as actresses regularly donned tunics, tights, and trousers in theaters throughout the country. This feminist history takes a gendered look at a phenomenon that has, until now, been widely regarded by theater scholars as a form of entertainment exclusively designed to titillate a male audience, and demonstrates that breeches performance revealed much more than a shapely leg.
Review
"...provides a valuable service by contributing to and furthering the conversation about an important aspect of American theatre history."
--Theatre Journal Her book is a good read, fitted out with appropriate illustrations and photographs.
-American Historical Review
Synopsis
Wearing the Breeches explores the theaters most celebrated transvestite: the antebellum breeches actress.
Synopsis
"Wearing the Breeches" explores the theater7;s most celebrated transvestite: the antebellum breeches actress.
Synopsis
"Wearing the Breeches" explores the theater' s most celebrated transvestite: the antebellum breeches actress.
Synopsis
Wearing the Breeches explores the theaters most celebrated transvestite: the antebellum breeches actress.
About the Author
Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix is Assistant Professor and Associate Chair at Illinois State University.
Table of Contents
Introduction * American Breeches Performance: 1800-1869 * Breeches, Bloomers and "Biddy in the Kitchen:" Breeches Performance as Feminist Politic * Mapping the Bo[d]y Female: Immaturity, Femininity, and the Actress-As-Boy * Acting Between the Spheres: Charlotte Cushman as Androgyne * The Decline of Breeches Performance in the 1860s * Conclusion * Epilogue