R uth Draper was the undisputed queen of the one-woman theater in the 20th century. Throughout nearly forty years as a professional performer, from her debut in 1920 until the night she died in 1956, Draper filled theaters all over the world through her unique ability to transform herself into a vast array of characters. From New York society matrons and New England crones to British schoolgirls and Continental divas, the portraits she created were as authentic as they were mesmerizing. Equally transfixing were the scores of characters she merely evoked, but with such precision that they too seemed to live on the stage. During her lifetime, fans of her original "monodramas" included European royalty and U.S. presidents, and such stage legends as Sarah Bernhardt and George Bernard Shaw. Henry Adams considered her a genius; Henry James wrote a monologue for her (she never performed it); John Singer Sargent sketched her; and John Gielgud declared himself "infinitely fortunate" to have both known her and seen her on stage.

Given the ephemeral nature of theater, it is rare for the legacy of a performing artist such as Draper to endure. She would now be nothing but a historical footnote if not for a series of audio recordings she made from 1954 to 1956. Though for years they were difficult to obtain, the recordings are responsible for Draper’s sizable contemporary following, which includes many performers and writers. David Mamet, Annette Bening, Lily Tomlin, Charles Busch, John Lithgow, F. Murray Abraham, Simon Callow, and Tom Waits are among her fans. While researching an article about Ruth Draper that appeared in the November 1999 issue of Vanity Fair, I learned that Draper's recordings had gone out of print. After trying unsuccessfully to convince other spoken word labels to take on the recordings, I decided to produce the first CD release myself. Ruth Draper and Her Company of Characters: Selected Monologues, containing seven of Draper's sketches, came out in 2000. A year later, I produced and released the second compact disc compilation, More Selected Monologues, containing ten additional pieces. I continue to act as distributor for the recordings, have produced public programs about Draper, and am writing a biography. The CDs are available through this website.

---Susan Mulcahy