Considers how in the past 15 years, with renewed interest in women writers and education for girls, there has been a revival of interest in the Theatre of Education, a large, coherent body of plays for children written in Europe and America between 1750 and 1830. Discusses plays written for children from the 1500s to the early 1900s. (SG)

Relates how the Jesuits made the performance of plays integral to the curriculum of their schools. Reveals Jesuit rationales: (1) theater permitted them to accomplish their mission of propagating the faith; (2) public performances served as excellent publicity for their schools; and (3) theater could educate students who participated as no other…