Jeffrey H. Richards was Eminent Professor of Literature at Old Dominion University. He was the author of Drama Theater, and Identity in the American New Republic and the editor of Early Plays: Eugene O'Neill and Early American Drama (Penguin; 2001, 1997).

Heather S. Nathans is Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland and the new President of the American Society for Theatre Research.

Rosemarie Bank, Kent State University
Roger Bechtel, Carleton College
Steven F. Bloom, Lasell College
Stephen Bottoms, The University of Manchester
Dorothy Chansky, Texas Tech University
Michelle Dvoskin, Western Kentucky University
Harry J. Elam, Jr., Stanford University
Mark Fearnow, Hanover College
Christopher J. Herr, Missouri State University
Thomas S. Hischak, The State University of New York, Cortland
Mark Hodin, Canisius College
Odai Johnson, University of Washington
Katherine E. Kelly, Texas A&M University
Amelia Howe Kritzer, University of St. Thomas
Scott C. Martin, Bowling Green State University
Jeffrey D. Mason, California State University, Bakersfield
Marvin McAllister, University of South Carolina
Sarah Meer, University of Cambridge
Mark Mullen, George Washington University
Brenda Murphy, University of Connecticut
Heather S. Nathans, Tufts University
Kathy A. Perkins, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jeffrey H. Richards, Old Dominion University
Marc Robinson, Yale University
Jon D. Rossini, University of California, Davis
Jordan Schildcrout, Purchase College
Jason Shaffer, United State Naval Academy
Theodore Shank, University of California, San Diego
Julia A. Walker, Washington University in St. Louis
Stephen Watt, Indiana University, Bloomington
S. E. Wilmer, Trinity College, Dublin
Barry B. Witham, University of Washington

"This reviewer would recommend this handbook for any graduate dramatic literature or theatre history course; each essay displays a firm grasp of the era or subject for which it was written. It is best used in conjunction with the reading of a play or the writing of a paper concerning a particular aspect of American dramatic literature rather than as a resource substituting the reading, viewing, or staging of a play." --Rodney Donahue, Journal of American Culture

"There are more than a few 'handbooks,' 'guidebooks,' or 'companions to' out there, but The Oxford Handbook of American Drama is uncommon in its thorough and wide-ranging presentation of multiple topics.... Most impressive are the ways in which the book merges the familiar with the more shadowed corners of the American canon, and, in most cases, individual topics are each engagingly unpacked by a major scholar specializing in a particular subject.... The often astonishing, politically and emotionally wrenching, and riotously entertaining theatrical heritage of the United States is fully present here in chapters immersing the reader in the work of diverse artists, companies, historical issues, and recurring themes emerging from 350-plus years of the nation's still comparatively young existence." --Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism

"Lead editor Jeffrey H. Richards, along with coeditor Heather S. Nathans, who completed the book after Richards's death...are among the leading scholars of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American stage, with a strong interest in surveying the rich and complex dramatic landscape before the modernist era.... [A]conspicuous feature of this collection is its thematic interconnections, with several key topics and issues treated in multiple essays spanning different historical periods." --Eugene O'Neill Review

"The Oxford Handbook of American Drama gathers short, evocative essays by well-known scholars into a comprehensive overview of the field.... Short, tightly focused essays balance the need for clear outlines and introductions with creative and probing forays into the field's central questions. Up-to-date citations and generous lists of sources ably guide scholars toward materials for further research. In short, it is-as one would expect from a major press-a well-conceived and executed handbook, a useful starting place for scholars new to the field and a valuable tool for those wishing to revisit the field's central ongoing discussions." --Early American Literature