Her performances consisted of performing a diverse spectrum of works: from Paul Laurence Dunbar's Negro dialects to such plays as "Romeo and Juliet", "As You Like It"; "Mary Queen of Scots"; "Cleopatra's Dying Speech"; "The Battle" by Friedrich Schiller; and "How Tom Sawyer Got His Fence Whitewashed" by Mark Twain. She is considered the first African American after Ira Aldridge to have successfully performed Shakespeare. On January 17, 1884, she appeared before a crowded house in Melodeon Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1884 to 1886, she appeared in various Shakespearean and classical tragedy roles with John A. Arneaux's troupe in New York City.