author
Mary Taylor Cornish
1877–1940
Best remembered for short plays for children, this early 20th-century writer created lively holiday and nursery-rhyme pieces meant to be performed by young actors. Her surviving works suggest a warm, practical approach to children's theater, with simple staging and playful dialogue.
1 Audiobook
Tommy's Thanksgiving dinner : a play for small actors
by Mary Taylor Cornish
About the author
Mary Taylor Cornish (1877–1940) is a little-documented American author whose known work centers on plays for children. Library and public-domain records confirm her as the author of Tommy's Thanksgiving Dinner: A Play for Small Actors, and book listings also attribute Mother Goose Plays and When the Turkeys Turned the Tables to her.
What stands out about her writing is its clear sense of audience. These are stage pieces designed for children to perform, especially around familiar themes like Thanksgiving and nursery rhymes, which suggests she wrote for schools, community entertainments, or home performances as much as for reading.
Because so little biographical information is readily available in reliable online sources, much of her personal life remains unclear. Even so, the works linked to her name preserve a small but charming corner of children's theater from the early 1900s.