Augustus Thomas Biography

American dramatist, born in St Louis, Missouri. Thomas worked for some time as a journalist before turning to the theatre. One of the most prolific American dramatists, he wrote more than sixty plays, beginning with Editha's Burglar, originally a one-acter but turned into a full-length play for its Broadway production in 1889. His most important work is in a series of plays designed to depict various aspects of the American character in a regional setting, such as Alabama (1891), about an unrepentant Confederate father and his more nationalistic son, In Mizzoura (1893), The Capitol (1895), Arizona (1900), and The Copperhead (1918), about a Northerner with Southern sympathies. His many other plays deal with the conflict between the demands of individual liberty and the constraints of social or ideological conditioning.