Felicity Nussbaum

Publications

Rival Queens: Actresses, Performance, and the Eighteenth-Century British Theater
Felicity Nussbaum (NEH Fellow, 2004-05)

In eighteenth-century England, actresses were frequently dismissed as mere prostitutes trading on their sexual power rather than their talents. Yet they were, Felicity Nussbaum argues, central to the success of a newly commercial theater. Urban, recently moneyed, and thoroughly engaged with their audiences, celebrated actresses were among the first women to achieve social mobility, cultural authority, and financial independence.