Kit, the Arkansas Traveler


Kit, the Arkansas Traveler or Kit, the Arkansas Traveller is a stage play written in 1868 for the American actor Francis S. Chanfrau. It is one of the landmarks of that century's American genre of border drama.

Creation

Chanfrau conceived a drama to star himself, and in 1868, he paid $300 to Edward Spencer, generally understood to have been for fulfilling Chanfrau's commissioning of such a work. Thomas B. DeWalden did further work on the play, and it opened in Buffalo, N.Y. in the first third of 1869. It was poorly received, however, and Chanfrau prevailed on his friend, theatrical entrepreneur Clifton W. Trayleure, to make further revisions.
The New York opening in May 1871, giving author credit to Spencer and DeWalden, was successful, and he logged some 300 performances across the country, generally crediting either Spencer alone, or Spencer and Trayleure jointly.

Plot

In the drama, Chanfrau played the hero Kit Redding. His wife and daughter are kidnapped by the villain, a frontier outlaw, in a prologue, or First Act. Between acts, years pass, including the Civil War, and Kit mourns but grows rich.
In four remaining acts, he