List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors

Series Preface

Editor's Acknowledgments

Introduction: Theatre and the Enlightenment Matrix
Mechele Leon, University of Kansas, USA

1 Institutional Frameworks: The State, the Market, and the People in the Age of Enlightenment
John O'Brien, University of Virginia, USA

2 Social Functions: Audiences and Authority
David Worrall, Nottingham Trent University, UK

3 Sexuality and Gender: Changing Identities
Helen E. M. Brooks, University of Kent, UK

4 The Environment of Theatre: Power, Resistance and Commerce
Mechele Leon, University of Kansas, USA

5 Circulation: Emergent Modalities of Intercultural Performance
Mita Choudhury, Purdue Northwest, USA

6 Interpretations: From Theatrephobia to a Theatrical 'Science of Man'
Logan J. Connors, University of Miami, USA

7 Communities of Production: Eighteenth-Century Acting Companies
Deborah C. Payne, American University, USA

8 Repertoire and Genres: Cultural Logics and the Trick of Theatrical Longevity
Lisa A. Freeman, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

9 Technologies of Performance: Architecture, Scenery, Light
Pannill Camp, Washington University, USA

10 Knowledge Transmission: Theatrical Intelligence and the Intelligence of
Theatre
Daniel O'Quinn, University of Guelph, Canada

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Mechele Leon is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Kansas, USA.

French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, 'the general effect of the theatre is to strengthen the national character to augment the national inclinations, and to give a new energy to all the passions'. During the Enlightenment, the advancement of radical ideas along with the emergence of the bourgeois class contributed to a renewed interest in theatre's efficacy, informed by philosophy yet on behalf of politics. While the 18th century saw a growing desire to define the unique and specific features of a nation's drama, and audiences demanded more realistic portrayals of humanity, theatre is also implicated in this age of revolutions. A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of Enlightenment examines these intersections, informed by the writings of key 18th-century philosophers.
Richly illustrated with 45 images, the ten chapters each take a different theme as their focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.