About the Playwright

Born 930-935, Died 973-1002 EARLY YEARS: Most information about Hrotsvitha is inferred from primary source materials, as exact biographical details about her life have been lost to history. She is confirmed to have been a tenth century canoness, which is a precursor to what is known now as a nun; secular canonesses similar to Hrotsvitha were usually members of wealthy, noble families, especially in Germany, and their superiors, known as abbesses, were also of notable upbringing and rank. Hrotsv…
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About the Playwright

Elizabeth Cary, born at Burford Priory in Oxfordshire, was the first female writer to publish work under her own name and thought to be the first femal playwright to write in English. A poet, dramatist, and translator Elizabeth was known for her fluency in multiple languages, such as French and Hebrew. Born to Sir Lawrence Tanfield and Elizabeth Symonds, and though they supported her passion for learning, are said to have refused her a candle for reading at night so she would rest from her studi…
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About the Playwright

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673) With more than twenty published works to her name, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, is considered to be one of the most prolific female playwrights in Restoration England. Her publications range from poetry to essays about philosophy and science to novels. Cavendish’s most popular publications are her biography of her husband The Life of William Cavendish (1667) and The Blazing World (1668), which is often credited as one of th…
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About the Playwright

Aphra Behn (1640?-1689)             With at least eighteen plays to her name, Aphra Behn was England’s first professional female playwright. Almost all of her works were produced during her lifetime, while two premiered posthumously. She enjoyed the company of other professional playwrights, theatre managers, and actresses, including Thomas Killigrew, Lady Mary Davenant, and Elizabeth Barry.             Her most popular plays were her comedies, a genre in which she demanded recognition and she…
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About the Playwright

Aphra Behn (1640?-1689)             With at least eighteen plays to her name, Aphra Behn was England’s first professional female playwright. Almost all of her works were produced during her lifetime, while two premiered posthumously. She enjoyed the company of other professional playwrights, theatre managers, and actresses, including Thomas Killigrew, Lady Mary Davenant, and Elizabeth Barry.             Her most popular plays were her comedies, a genre in which she demanded recognition and she…
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About the Playwright

Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie (1819-1870) was a playwright, performer, poet, novelist, essayist and memoir writer who began publishing her work while still a teenager. Fashion is generally considered the best nineteenth century comedy, and her invaluable Autobiography of an Actress provides humorous and penetrating insights into the theater of her time. Anna was born in Bordeaux, France, on March 5, 1819, to an American family that returned to the United States when she was six. Married at fif…
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About the Playwright

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)             Abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe was at the forefront of the antebellum, anti-slavery movement. She started her career as a writer publishing articles in magazines, for which she became moderately famous, before penning what is considered her masterpiece, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).[1] It was an immensely popular and provocative book—Abraham Lincoln allegedly once greeted Stowe as “the little woman who wrote that boo…
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About the Playwright

Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937), one of the most prolific internationally-renowned literary figures of the turn of the twentieth century, has inspired generations of writers, scholars, and literary critics. Both Wharton’s personal and professional transitions are written between the lines of her novels, poems, short stories, and nonfiction works; however, her work as a playwright has received less attention.  Although Wharton’s identity as a playwright was never a defining persona, in retrospect, th…
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