| Summary: | By 1880 the theater had become a potent force in American popular culture, a mechanism for social interaction within a community and one that drew actors from outside it. This was especially true for the peripatetic populations who resided in the remote mining camps of the West. During the boom times on Nevada’s Comstock (1861–1880), enthusiastic audiences welcomed the visits of popular entertainers not with bouquets but with silver bars thrown onstage. Yet while actors were plentiful, successful stage careers for women were rare. One Comstock native who repeatedly challenged contemporary social structures was the actress Lillie Edgington (1856–1917). Raised in wealth, seduced at 14, forced into marriage at 18, and thrice-divorced by 24, she monetized her looks and her scandalous reputation to launch a theatrical career that offered her public admiration and economic independence, things few of her female peers were able to achieve. This independence came with the challenges a single woman faced working in a male-dominated arena, loneliness, sexual harassment, and social censure, together with the burdens of her chosen profession, uncomfortable lodgings, cramped dressing rooms, and dreary train journeys. Yet Lillie’s story both illuminates evolving theatrical tastes and helps to illustrate ways in which, despite social barriers, women could use the stage to claim their own identity, establish their own economic autonomy, and construct their own legacies.
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