1.) All of the performers mentioned in the articles were solo performers. What were the advantages to performing alone? What made it appealing to to performers during this time period?

The advantages of performing solo were many. To begin with, the performer had full control of all executive decisions regarding his or her performance. The content, structure, pace, style, and duration are all determined by the performer. This meant that the performer was free to include any content that might otherwise have been considered 'taboo' in society at the time. As a result, many social and political issues of the day were topics of the Platform Readers, and were delivered to their respective audiences through comedic means. To illustrate this point, one need search no further than David Ross Locke, who, under the guise of alternate-persona "Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby", used satiric wit and humor to publicly lobby on behalf of many paramount civil rights issues. McManus states that Locke, "...advocated reforms that are incorporated in six ratified or proposed amendments to the Constitution: the 13th (slavery abolished), 14th (equal rights), 15th (right to vote), 19th (vote for women), 24th (barring poll tax in federal elections), and proposed 27th (womens rights)." The article by David Thompson lends insight into the great creative control that performers had over their work and how it impacted the performance. In regard to Charlotte Cushman, Thompson states that, "By reading all the characters, she [Cushman] became, in effect, the director of a company of Charlotte Cushman."

I would contend that this practice was made appealing to performers of this time period by the puritan laws in the United States that forbid plays, such as the "Act for the More Effectual Suppressing and Preventing of Lotteries and Plays", as discussed by Kurt L. Garrett. The fact that there were negative attitudes toward plays simply incubated a movement of platform readers. If there were not going to be plays, then a creative performance community simply found a way to circumvent the law. The "unknown reader of 1769" came into existence as a reaction to the bizarre puritan laws forbidding plays. As a result of not being able to perform as a group, the unknown reader would simply recite poetry, song and plays. Although this method was still somewhat suspect by the puritan community, the unknown reader was largely successful in his presentation of material in a solo context.