The German play is an adaptation of the French play Cora, ou: L'esclavage, by Jules Barbier, which premiered in Paris in 1861; according to the German version, the action is set in 1860. The file contains materials related to rehearsal and performance, including a published copy (Berlin: Eduard Bloch, L. Lassar's Buchhandlung, n.d.), which has been annotated as a prompt-book; a handwritten scenario; and 13 handwritten role books, for all the main parts: Georg Holm; Davis, Pflanzer und Advokat; Gérard, Pflanzer und Handelsherr; William Johnson; Henry Clarence; Mrs. Staling, Kaufmannswittwe; Elise; Cora, Gérards Tochter; Jim Bell; Toby, Mulatte; Méala, Quadrone; Power, Schiffs-Capitain; and Buterfly, Matrose. Pasted to the inside front cover and front fly-leaf of the published copy are playbills (featuring a synopsis of the play, with no cast listing) for a performance of the play at Germania Theater, Philadelphia, on 6 March 1889 (see also folder 684 for that playbill, as well as a different one, and see folder 723 for an oversized playbill, all related to the same performance). The performance, which was given under the title "Cora, die Tochter des Pflanzers," was a benefit for Theodor Bloch, the prompter. The published copy bears a label of Bloch, and the role books are labeled by hand as his property. Bloch was active in German-language theater in Philadelphia from 1873 until at least the mid 1890s, and he also ran a theater lending library. Names of actors and actresses noted on the covers of role books generally reflect 3 casts in Philadelphia over time: one of 17-18 March 1881, as documented in a theater newspaper (see folder 694); the one from the performance of March 1889 cited above (in addition to the playbills, see also 2 issues of a theater newspaper, in folder 707), and at least one additional cast, probably in the 1880s (some names could not be placed).
