Rachel Crothers, circa 1915, from the Library of Congress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Crothers#/ media/File:Rachel_Crothers_circa_1915.jpg

 

Rachel Crothers had lifelong career in the theater, working for over 60 years as a playwright and theatermaker. She was born in 1878 in Bloomington, Illinois, into a family that exemplified female success. Her mother, at a time when women did not yet even have the right to vote, opened her own practice as a doctor. Rachel was intelligent and hardworking, graduating high school at age 13. She finished the curriculum at the New England School of Dramatic Instruction in one term, in 1892, and subsequently moved to New York in 1896, where she had her acting debut the following year. She moved to the city without knowing anyone, and enrolled in the Stahope-Wheatcroft school of acting. She moved through the program and became a teacher. She made her living as a professional actor for several seasons.

Near the turn of the century, Crothers started writing more, and her one-acts and full plays started gaining attention. She transitioned from actress to playwright, which is how she spent the rest of her career. Her first production was Three of Us at the Madison Square theater, and it was a huge success, even transferring to London. The rest of her career was filled with ups and downs, with some of her plays being massive commercial successes, and other not doing as well. After the 1930s, she continued to write, but moved to a farmhouse in Connecticut, where she died.

Rachel Crothers’ life is relatively well-recorded. Historians have focused their energy on tracing her plays – what she wrote about, how they evolved, how she navigated her subject matter. Her basic biographical information is readily available, but her personality does not shine through the historical evidence. Her own beliefs are not always in line with her plays, as we’ll see, and not always in line with what critics believed she thought. There is an interesting interplay between her subject matter and what she actually thought about her subject matter, particularly feminism.

Sources:

Gottlieb, Lois C. Rachel Crothers. Twayne, 1979.