Established as a popular convention during the English Restoration, the practice of women playing male roles reached its peak in America during the first half of the nineteenth century as actresses regularly donned tunics, tights, and trousers in theaters throughout the country. This feminist history takes a gendered look at a phenomenon that has, until now, been widely regarded by theater scholars as a form of entertainment exclusively designed to titillate a male audience, and demonstrates that breeches performance revealed much more than a shapely leg.

Established as a popular convention during the English Restoration, the practice of women playing male roles reached its peak in America during the first half of the nineteenth century as actresses regularly donned tunics, tights, and trousers in theaters throughout the country. This feminist history takes a gendered look at a phenomenon that has, until now, been widely regarded by theater scholars as a form of entertainment exclusively designed to titillate a male audience, and demonstrates that breeches performance revealed much more than a shapely leg.