Michelle M. Dowd is Hudson Strode Professor of English and Director of the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. She is the author of Women’s Work in Early Modern English Literature and Culture (2009) and The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage (2015). She has also co-edited several volumes and published numerous articles on early modern drama.Tom Rutter is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Drama at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Shakespeare and the Admiral’s Men (2017), The Cambridge Introduction to Christopher Marlowe (2012) and Work and Play on the Shakespearean Stage (2008), as well as numerous essays and articles on early modern drama.

The volume offers a very valiant and successful attempt to solve perhaps the biggest problem facing people who write about early modern drama today: now we know so much how do we distil it? There is not a weak essay to be seen. The book will prove an invaluable resource.

• List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsSeries PrefaceAcknowledgementsNote on the Text1 IntroductionMichelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK)2 Material and Institutional Contexts of Early Modern Drama: an A-ZEdward Gieskes (University of South Carolina, USA)RESEARCH METHODS AND PROBLEMS3.1 Did Early Modern Drama Actually Happen? Kurt Schreyer (University of Missouri, USA)3.2 Drama and Society in Shakespeare’s England Jean E. Howard (Columbia University, USA)CURRENT RESEARCH AND ISSUES 4.1 Ancient and Early Modern European Contexts of Early Modern English Drama Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University, Netherlands)4.2 Playing Companies and RepertoriesElizabeth E. Tavares (University of Alabama, USA)4.3 Playhouses and Performance Laurie Johnson (University of Southern Queensland, Australia)4.4 Drama Beyond the Playhouses Tracey Hill (Bath Spa University, UK)4.5 Material Culture Chloe Porter (University of Sussex, UK)4.6 Engendering the Stage: Women and Dramatic Culture Clare McManus (University of Roehampton, UK) and Lucy Munro (King’s College, London, UK)4.7 Matter, Nature, Cosmos: the Scientific Art of the Early Modern English Stage Jean Feerick (John Carroll University, USA)4.8 Early Modern Race-work: History, Methodology and Politics Jane Hwang Degenhardt (University of Massachusetts, USA)4.9 Sexualities, Emotions and EmbodimentHolly Dugan (George Washington University, USA)4.10 Religion and Religious Cultures Benedict S. Robinson (Stony Brook University, USA)NEW DIRECTIONS5.1 Diversifying Early Modern DramaPart One: Early Modern Disability Studies and Trans StudiesGenevieve Love (Colorado College, USA)Part Two: Gaining Perspective: Race, Diversity and Early Modern StudiesFarah Karim-Cooper (King's College, London, UK)5.2 Performing Shakespeare’s Contemporaries Harry McCarthy (Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK)CHRONOLOGY AND RESOURCES6 Rethinking the Early Years of the London Playhouses: An Essay in ChronologyAndy Kesson (University of Roehampton, UK)7 Resources Catherine Evans (University of Manchester, UK) and Amy Lidster (Jesus College, University of Oxford, UK)8 Further Reading Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK)Index

Michelle M. Dowd is Hudson Strode Professor of English and Director of the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. She is the author of Women’s Work in Early Modern English Literature and Culture (2009) and The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage (2015). She has also co-edited several volumes and published numerous articles on early modern drama.Tom Rutter is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Drama at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Shakespeare and the Admiral’s Men (2017), The Cambridge Introduction to Christopher Marlowe (2012) and Work and Play on the Shakespearean Stage (2008), as well as numerous essays and articles on early modern drama.

The volume offers a very valiant and successful attempt to solve perhaps the biggest problem facing people who write about early modern drama today: now we know so much how do we distil it? There is not a weak essay to be seen. The book will prove an invaluable resource.

• List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsSeries PrefaceAcknowledgementsNote on the Text1 IntroductionMichelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK)2 Material and Institutional Contexts of Early Modern Drama: an A-ZEdward Gieskes (University of South Carolina, USA)RESEARCH METHODS AND PROBLEMS3.1 Did Early Modern Drama Actually Happen? Kurt Schreyer (University of Missouri, USA)3.2 Drama and Society in Shakespeare’s England Jean E. Howard (Columbia University, USA)CURRENT RESEARCH AND ISSUES 4.1 Ancient and Early Modern European Contexts of Early Modern English Drama Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University, Netherlands)4.2 Playing Companies and RepertoriesElizabeth E. Tavares (University of Alabama, USA)4.3 Playhouses and Performance Laurie Johnson (University of Southern Queensland, Australia)4.4 Drama Beyond the Playhouses Tracey Hill (Bath Spa University, UK)4.5 Material Culture Chloe Porter (University of Sussex, UK)4.6 Engendering the Stage: Women and Dramatic Culture Clare McManus (University of Roehampton, UK) and Lucy Munro (King’s College, London, UK)4.7 Matter, Nature, Cosmos: the Scientific Art of the Early Modern English Stage Jean Feerick (John Carroll University, USA)4.8 Early Modern Race-work: History, Methodology and Politics Jane Hwang Degenhardt (University of Massachusetts, USA)4.9 Sexualities, Emotions and EmbodimentHolly Dugan (George Washington University, USA)4.10 Religion and Religious Cultures Benedict S. Robinson (Stony Brook University, USA)NEW DIRECTIONS5.1 Diversifying Early Modern DramaPart One: Early Modern Disability Studies and Trans StudiesGenevieve Love (Colorado College, USA)Part Two: Gaining Perspective: Race, Diversity and Early Modern StudiesFarah Karim-Cooper (King's College, London, UK)5.2 Performing Shakespeare’s Contemporaries Harry McCarthy (Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK)CHRONOLOGY AND RESOURCES6 Rethinking the Early Years of the London Playhouses: An Essay in ChronologyAndy Kesson (University of Roehampton, UK)7 Resources Catherine Evans (University of Manchester, UK) and Amy Lidster (Jesus College, University of Oxford, UK)8 Further Reading Michelle M. Dowd (University of Alabama, USA) and Tom Rutter (University of Sheffield, UK)Index