Daly and Monks introduce this issue on Boucicault’s The Octoroon by reflecting on the theme of debt.

Jolly Abraham reflects on playing the Assistant and Paul in the 2022 Abbey Theatre production of An Octoroon.

Georgia Lowe reflects on designing An Octoroon for the Orange Tree Theatre and the National Theatre in London in 2017.

Short essays by Eltis, McNulty and Schweitzer on the sensations provoked by Boucicault’s melodrama, and Jacobs-Jenkins’ investigation of their legacies and politics.

Short essays by Riordan, Chen and Lonergan investigating the endings and afterlives of The/An Octoroon.

Dorney, Hofer-Robinson, Hull, Murphy, Novak and Williams consider the significance of makeup, photography and tableaux in the plays’ representation of race.

Borelli, West-Agboola and Adebayo exchange letters reflecting on the potency of these plays for how we might live now.