Nan Mullenneaux Staging Family hardcover sku-712907748

Nan Mullenneaux's Staging Family: Domestic Deceptions of Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Actresses is a hardcover in the Expanding Frontiers: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality series, listed under All Manuals & Guides. It examines the personal and professional lives of more than sixty American actresses.

They appeared publicly alongside men, supported nuclear and extended families, challenged domestic common law and worked in the transnational theater market. Mullenneaux describes how actresses used conventional language about domestic life to conceal unconventional arrangements and navigate gender constraints.

She traces patterns of negotiation and reinvention alongside legal, economic and social change, considering gendered power, feminism, race, class, embodiment, family history and national and transnational culture. The book also relates their experiences to questions about balancing work and personal responsibilities today. SKU: sku-712907748.