Heather S. Nathans is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the W. E. B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University. Her articles on the early national theater have appeared in the Pennsylvania History Journal, The New England Theatre Journal, and The Journal of American Drama and Theatre.

'… scholars interested in the history of the early American theatre, and the impact of social and political forces on its development, will find much here of interest.' Journal of American Studies

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Extravagance and dissipation; 2. Revolutionary transformations; 3. 'A democracy of glee'; 4. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker; 5. A commercial community; 6. Into the hands of the people; Epilogue: 'from an infant stage'; Tables; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Heather S. Nathans is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the W. E. B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University. Her articles on the early national theater have appeared in the Pennsylvania History Journal, The New England Theatre Journal, and The Journal of American Drama and Theatre.

'… scholars interested in the history of the early American theatre, and the impact of social and political forces on its development, will find much here of interest.' Journal of American Studies

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Extravagance and dissipation; 2. Revolutionary transformations; 3. 'A democracy of glee'; 4. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker; 5. A commercial community; 6. Into the hands of the people; Epilogue: 'from an infant stage'; Tables; Notes; Bibliography; Index.