Page "L. Frank Baum" Paragraph 9

In 1880, his father built him a theatre in Richburg, New York, and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them.

The Maid of Arran, a melodrama with songs based on William Black's novel A Princess of Thule, proved a modest success.

Baum not only wrote the play but composed songs for it ( making it a prototypical musical, as its songs relate to the narrative ), and acted in the leading role.

His aunt, Katharine Gray, played his character's aunt.

She was the founder of Syracuse Oratory School, and Baum advertised his services in her catalog to teach theatre, including stage business, playwriting, directing, and translating ( French, German, and Italian ), revision, and operettas, though he was not employed to do so.

On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage and radical feminist activist.

While Baum was touring with The Maid of Arran, the theatre in Richburg caught fire during a production of Baum's ironically-titled parlor drama, Matches, destroying not only the theatre, but the only known copies of many of Baum's scripts, including Matches, as well as costumes.