playwright important in the development of U.S. theatre for his consistent use of native material; he wrote or adapted nearly 70 plays.

Primarily self-educated, Thomas worked in railway freight offices for several years and then was a newspaper writer and illustrator in Kansas City, Mo., before the success of A Man of the World (1883) and The Burglar (1889) allowed him to go to New York. Assuming the management of the Madison Square Theatre, Thomas began his prodigious dramatic output. Other successful plays included In Mizzoura (1893) and The Copperhead (1918). The Print of My Remembrance (1922) was his autobiography.