Between Stock and Star

This chapter charts the growth and expansion of theater and starring in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions in the United States from 1790 to 1830, showing the terms by which English actresses began to explore the opportunities of the American market by participating in the emerging transatlantic starring system and the growth of U.S. theater. Starring was gendered by genre in ways that obscure the significance of enterprising women. But unlike men, women were rarely able to operate as if they were independent agents. The starring careers of Anne Brunton Merry, Agnes Holman, Lydia Kelly, Clara Fisher, and Mary Ann Duff reveal the professional strategies actresses used to change the terms and trajectories of their careers with varying success, professional opportunities tied to their family duties.