The Lady Was a Gentleman

The Lady Was a Gentleman is a “docu-comedy” about 19th Century lesbian actress, Charlotte Cushman (spouse of sculptor Emma Stebbins, who designed Central Park¹s Bethesda Fountain). In the play, Charlotte Cushman, a worldwide celebrity who often played male roles, is opening as Romeo in St. Louis, Missouri, 1858. Her real life assistant, Sallie Mercer, was a free and educated African-American woman at a time when slavery was legal in many states and most women did not receive formal education. Award-winning lesbian playwright Barbara Kahn fashions a fictional story in the lives of these extraordinary historical women, in which Charlotte and Sallie encounter a frontiers-woman and her “mail order bride”.