AMERICAN DRAMA

1752- The Lewis Hallam troupe, led by Lewis Hallam, arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is believed to
have started the professional theater in America.

 First to organize a complete company of actors in Europe and bring them to the colonies.
 They brought a repertoire of plays popular in London at the time, including Hamlet, Othello, The
Recruiting Officer, and Richard III. The Merchant of Venice was their first performance,

1767-Soon after, Lewis Hallam, Jr., founded the American Company, opened a theater in New York,
and presented the first professionally mounted American play—The Prince of Parthia, by Thomas
Godfrey—in 1767.

In the 18th century, laws forbidding the performance of plays were banned in most states during the
American Revolutionary War at the urging of the Continental Congress

The 19th century (Pre-war theater)

1809-The Walnut." Founded in 1809 by the Circus of Pepin and Breschard, The Walnut" is the oldest
theater in America. The Walnut's first theatrical production, The Rivals, was staged in 1812.

William Shakespeare's works were commonly performed. American plays of the period were mostly
melodramas, a famous example of which was Uncle Tom's Cabin, adapted by George Aiken, from the
novel of the same name by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

In 1821, William Henry Brown established the African Grove Theatre in New York City. It was the third
attempt to have an African-American theater, but this was the most successful of them all. The company
put on not only Shakespeare, but also staged the first play written by an African-American, The Drama of
King Shotaway. The theater was shut down in 1823

Throughout the 19th century, theater culture was associated with hedonism and even violence; actors
(especially women) were looked upon as little better than prostitutes.

Post-war theater

 Theater flourished as a postwar boom allowed longer and more-frequent productions. The
advent of American rail transport allowed production companies, actors, and large, elaborate
sets to travel easily between towns, which made permanent theaters in small towns feasible.
 The invention and practical application of electric lighting also led to changes to and
improvements of scenery styles as well as changes in the design of theater interiors and seating
areas.
 The playwrights earned financial reward in the period after the war.
 Spectacles, melodramas, and farces remained popular but emphasis was given to realism.
 It was a combination of scenic realism and the less romantic view of life that accompanied the
cultural chaos of the period.
 James Herne and Marget Fleming they emphasize the most ambitious effort towards realism
20th Century

Vaudeville a theatrical genre of variety entertainment

originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions,

acts performed variety shows, using music, comedy, dance, acrobatics,

magic, puppets, and even trained animals.

Vaudeville was common in the late 19th and early 20th century
(greatest showman)

notable for heavily influencing early film, radio, and television

productions in the country.

George Burns was a very long-lived

American comedian who started out in the
vaudeville community, but went on to enjoy
a career running until the 1990s.

By the beginning of the 20th century, (non-vaudeville)

Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore were often seen as even more
important of the show during this era.

This era was improving the theatre through different types of

performance like being innovative in films, jazz singer, broadways and so
on. The advance of motion pictures also led to many changes in theater.