Childhood and NineteenthCentury American Theatre

Revealing the careers and backstage lives of child performers and their place in antebellum AmericaFrom 1855 until 1863, the Marsh Troupe of Juvenile Comedians, a professional acting company of approximately thirty children, entertained audiences with their nuanced performances of adult roles on stages around the globe. In Childhood and NineteenthCentury American Theatre: The Work of the Marsh Troupe of Juvenile Actors, author Shauna Vey provides an insightful account not only of this unique antebellum stage troupe but also of contemporary theatre practices and the larger American culture, including shifts in the definition of childhood itself.Both a microhistory of a professional theatre company and its juvenile players in the decade before the Civil War and a larger narrative of cultural change in the United States, Childhood and NineteenthCentury American Theatre sheds light on how childhood was idealized both on and off the stage, how the role of the child in society shifted in the nineteenth century, and the ways economic value and sentiment contributed to how children were viewed.

Shauna Vey is an associate professor at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, where she teaches theater and communication courses. Her work has been published in Theatre History Studies and Theatre Survey.