AustLit

Kate Howarde, born Catherine Jones in 1864, moved from England to New Zealand as a child, and married twice.

She was involved in theatre and authorship for almost her whole life (Bertrand, 2013).

Kate Howarde established her own theatre company and toured England, America, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia with a number of successful plays.

She was the first woman to write, co-direct, and produce a film in Australia, and led the way for more women to do so (O'Neill, 2008).

Kate Howarde: Theatre troupe owner, playwright, actress, director, successful business woman and all out entrepreneur takes the stage in our research project.

The light shines on her early 1900s play, Why Girls Leave Home, as we aim to provide adequate details pertaining to the play's content and context.

To do so, we have explored the life and legacy of Kate Howarde, along with the social and historical context of the production of her play.

As part of this project, the play, Why Girls Leave Home, has been digitized, analysed and compared to works with the same title, most significantly, Thomas Edison's short silent film.