Rachel Crothers was the most prolific and successful female dramatist writing for the American stage during the early years of the twentieth century. In a career that lasted almost four decades (1899-1937), Crothers contributed twenty-four full-length plays to the New York stage. Because she was a talented craftswoman with a thorough knowledge of her profession, most of these plays were critical and popular successes. In addition, at least six of her early one-act plays were produced and a number of others published, including five that appeared in popular periodicals of the day such as the Smart Set. At a time when the American stage was largely dominated by poetic drama, melodrama, and farce, Crothers injected a new note of seriousness into drama by writing plays dealing with pressing social issues or problems of contemporary concern. Her early problem plays and social comedies with their emphasis on ideas, realistic...