Introduction

Abstract

This book examines the business of theater in France and its colonies during the eighteenth century. It shows how French theaters emerged as the most prominent and prestigious new cultural institutions of the century, a period that witnessed the inauguration of the first public playhouses in more than eighty provincial and colonial cities. It considers how theatrical production was transformed into big business as the public playhouse became a monument to the performing arts. In tracing the history of the making of the French theater industry in the late Old Regime, this book explores why and how professional public theaters became a regular fixture of cultural and social life for city dwellers throughout France and its colonies. It also discusses the important implications of the theater industry for our understanding of Enlightenment society, consumerism in France, and the absolutist state.