German artists and theorists have furnished many of the groundbreaking models of political theater whose critical, and sometimes revolutionary, potential continues to keep theater alive. German women's dramatic work reflects their active participation in major movements for social change, yet their plays have rarely reached the mainstage or found their way into the accounts of theater history.

Katrin Sieg's study investigates how gender, central to these artists' works yet missing from the language of dramatic criticism, influenced women's use of politically powerful models and prompted their invention of new dramatic forms and performance styles.