Sisters in Sin

Katie N. Johnson specializes in theatre, film, and gender studies in the English Department at Miami University of Ohio where she is Associate Professor. In 2003, she was awarded the Gerald Kahan Award for best essay in the field of theatre studies by a younger scholar. Her work has appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, the Journal of American Drama and Research, American Drama, The Eugene O'Neill Review, The American Transcendental Quarterly, and the Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History.

• Introduction: The Brothel Drama; Part I. The Female Performer as Prostitute: 1. Zaza: that 'obtruding harlot' of the stage; 2. That 'sin-stained' Sapho; 3. The Easiest Way and the actress-as-whore myth; Part II. Working Girls: 4. The shop girl: working girl dramas; 5. The girl shop: Mrs Warren's Profession; Part III. Opium Dens and Urban Brothels: Staging the White Slave: 6. White slave plays in progressive American theatre; 7. Brothel anyone? Laundering the 1913–14 white slave season; Part IV. The Legitimation and Decline of the Brothel Drama: 8. Damaged Goods: sex hysteria and the Prostitute Fatale; 9. The repentant courtesan in Anna Christie and the lesbian prostitute in The God of Vengeance.

'… a monograph that affords moments of sudden insight is a rare pleasure … On the basis of prodigious research introducing previously unexamined archival materials, Johnson provides the prospective readers with surprising historical details, new literary insights, and brilliant sociocultural analysis. Her book will be an eye-opener for Americanists of various disciplinary persuasions.' Amerikastudien