Blog Posts: Commentary and Images for Every Episode

An 1844 portrait of the young George Lippard, depicted in front of what looks like a lake with a medieval castle (likely referring to a scene from his book The Ladye Annabel). The image is a lithograph by Albert Newsom, from a daguerreotype by John …

ABOVE, a view of Philadelphia in 1840, from the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia. We can see in this image a view of the Philadelphia waterfront, looking across the Delaware River from New Jersey. The City of Camden is actually…

Cover of Barry Witham's book, A Sustainable Theatre, with an engraving of the Hedgerow Theatre by Wharton EsherickBelow, photo of Jasper Deeter on the stage of the Hedgerow Theatre, in a scene from Susan Glaspel's Inheritors. Arthur Rich and Jasper…

  Paul Robeson, in a photo taken by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in February of 1974.   PART ONE: BEGINNINGSBy the time the above photo was taken, Robeson's history in Philadelphia stretched almost fifty years. Below, an ad that …

Above, John Barrymore's oblong grave marker at Mount Vernon Cemetery in North Philadelphia. After many years of being unmarked, the oblong was finally placed there largely due to the efforts of local Barrymore buff Mark Apfel. Below left is a photo …

Above, John McCullough in costume as Virginius from Sheridan Knowles' play. It was a role he had inherited from Edwin Forrest.Below, Alexander Reinagle, in a miniature dated "1804" by the painter Robert Field in the collection of the Yale Universi…

To accompany our conversation with Jonathan Shandell and Jerrell Henderson, here are some of the images from Federal Theatre Project archives relating to the shows that we discuss in the episode:Jericho  (including rare production photographs o…

Above: Mary B. Robinson in 1994.Below: Jack Stehlin (Oberon), embraces Titania (Gloria Biegler) as the Fairies look on.  "A Midsummer Night's Dream", directed by Mary B. Robinson, was staged by the Philadelphia Drama Guild at the Zellerbach …

Above is the Ida B Siddons Female Mastodons and Burlesque Company poster, described in the episode. After I posted the image on Twitter last year, the scholar Dr. Susan Kattwinkel replied and gave me some more information about it. Apparently t…

Above, John A. Arneaux, in a photo printed in the pages of his privately published edition of Shakespeare's Historical Tragedy of Richard III: Adapted for Amateurs And the Drawing Room.  It is quite similar to the Edwin Booth acting version, bu…