Rollo Webster, slightly eccentric, has a consuming ambition to play Hamlet. Escaping the restraining influences of his family, he spends his own money in engaging a company,…… Read more “‘Rollo’s Wild Oat’ by Clare Kummer”

Often considered Killigrew’s best play, this is a comedy with a bawdy tone where people flirt, trick each other and everyone else. It was the first play…… Read more “‘The Parson’s Wedding’ by Thomas Killigrew”

L. Frank Baum takes us through the adventures of Santa Claus beginning with his adoption as an infant by Necile the nymph. As a youth, Claus discovers…… Read more “‘The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus’ by L. Frank Baum”

One of the most famous Italian books in history, The Betrothed was written by Alessandro Manzoni in 1827. The two main characters, Renzo and Lucy, are engaged…… Read more “‘The Betrothed’ by Alessandro Manzoni”

The characters are well delineated, and fathers, lovers, mistresses, and servants all move about amidst a complication of errors from which there is no visible disentangling. The…… Read more “‘The Love-Tiff’ by Moliere”

The Teacup Club (For the Advancement of Woman) is formed when Dorothy decides to found an intellectual club of her own – to teach her fiance a…… Read more “‘The Teacup Club’ by Eliza Armstrong”

The fourth of ten volumes of poetry edited by Canadian poet laureate Bliss Carman (1861-1929). This collection, the first of two parts, includes many notable religious and…… Read more “‘The World’s Best Poetry: Volume 4 (Part 1)’ by Various”

The opening poem is a tender meditation on the grief of a woman who has lost a child.  Although the verbiage is rather dated, the writing is…… Read more “‘Love’s Widowhood’ by Alfred Austin”

We had hoped that our drama’s scene might lie on a pirate ship at sea. We had wished for a swaying mast, full-set with canvas—a typhoon to…… Read more “‘Wappin’ Wharf: A Frightful Comedy of Pirates’ by Charles S. Brooks”

This play is the sequel to “Earth Spirit”, in which the adventurous and manipulative Lulu marries and rids herself of three husbands, only to be arrested for…… Read more “‘Pandora’s Box’ by Frank Wedekind”