author
Martha Morton
1865–1925
A trailblazing American playwright, she helped prove that a woman could build a lasting professional career on the stage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her plays brought her wide popularity, and her work also opened doors for other women in theater.
2 Audiobooks
Her Lord and Master
by Martha Morton
Val Sinestra
by Martha Morton
About the author
Born in New York City on October 10, 1865, Martha Morton became one of the first American women to achieve sustained success as a professional playwright. She spent part of her youth in England, studied literature and dramatic form, and returned to New York determined to write for the stage.
Her early path was difficult, but she broke through with commercial success and went on to write numerous plays for Broadway and touring productions. She is widely remembered as the first successful American woman to maintain a long career as a professional playwright, and she was also involved in organizing writers by helping found the Society of Dramatic Authors.
Morton died in New York on February 18, 1925. Today she is remembered not just for her own plays, but for pushing into a theater world that gave women few opportunities and making that path more visible for those who came after her.