Amusements, a corps dramatique to raise money for widows and orphans. Boston had long banned all theatricals, including puppet shows, as conducive to “immorality, impiety, and a contempt of religion,” but “Howe’s Strolling Players”—as they would later be known—delighted in lampooning such sensibilities. Young women were even permitted to play female roles, to the clucking disapproval of Boston matrons. Comedies like The Citizen and The Apprentice proved enormously popular, and The Tragedy of Zara, adapted from a Voltaire drama, was performed several times.
