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.

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.

"This study of the daily work lives of five members of the Marsh Troupe, a nineteenth-century professional acting company composed primarily of children, sheds light on the construction of idealized childhood inside and outside the American theatre"--

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.