Literature 9 – History of American Theater
Theater
– is only fully complete when it is performed
– the only actual “collaborative” play since it requires performers
and an audience
Pre-Colonial
– dramatic and performance traditions of Native Americans
– before the English and French came to the Americas
– had the transmission of histories and reinforced beliefs
– it was performance-based (conveyed emotions and was
a form of art) but did not have a theater/stage by itself
– e.g. rituals, dances, spoken prayers
Examples
1. Hopi Kachina Dances
– dancers with elaborate masks and costumes embodied
ancestral spirits
2. Sun Dances (by the Great Plains tribes)
– a physically-demanding ritual; has fasting, drumming,
dancing that pays homage to the Creator (God)
Banning of Indigenous Rituals
1. By Puritan and English governments (they discouraged them)
2. By the U.S. Government
– Religious Crimes Code (1883), which straight-up
banned rituals like the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance
Eventual Assimilation
– Native American theater was still pushed through by minorities
– it was then adopted by white people and used/mocked for
entertainment
– Native Americans were mocked using “redface”
Examples
1. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
– by “Buffalo Bill” Cody; it was an entertainment act
that went around America
– showed white people and Native Americans
2. The Theater of Neptune
– first theatrical production in North America
– performed in the Port Royal area
– depicted the natives as pledging allegiance to the
French king (and the colonizers), resulting in
the god Neptune arriving there
Many of the first American colonists were puritans, meaning they wanted
to upkeep Christian values, and thus were against the theatrical material
that was performed by the Natives, deeming it demonic; they did not
want theater. Nevertheless, the first theatres in America performed
Shakespearean plays like Hamlet and Othello.
Earliest Theatres
1. Williamsburg, Virginia (1716)
– Palace Green (founded by William Levingston)
2. Charleston, South Carolina (1730)
– Dock Street Theater
3. Philadelphia
– by a company led by Walter Murray and Thomas Keane
– was earlier than The Hallams (which was a family of actors
that was also prominent in theater)
William Penn
– believed in freedom to explore history and religion to give
insights about culture, values, and beliefs in different times/places
– however, he still believed that theater distorted things since it
was against religion/morals
– founded the State of Pennsylvania
George Fox
– founded of the Quaker Faith (which was anti-theater)
– believed that theater (the stage) and music “burthened the pure
life, and stirred up the people’s vanity”
– said that theater made it impossible to remain “pure” for God
Theatre seemed to be “too British,” and when it was eventually continued
by Americans after the Revolutionary War, it was subsequently anti-British.
Stamp Act Riot
– protests because of the Stamp Act
– a result to heavy taxation on Americans by the British
– started in 1765; led to formation of groups like the Sons of
Liberty and the rallying cry “no taxation without representation”
American Revolutionary Government
– the Continental Congress (of inland America) and established
13 main colonies, also writing a constitution and a declaration
of independence and rights
– discountenance and discourage [of] every species of
extravagance and dissipation, especially... exhibitions of shows,
plays, and other expensive diversions.
– the government initially discouraged plays since it had a large
British influence
The Bear and The Cub
– “Ye Bare and Ye Cubb”
– the first play performed in English America
– during Colonial America
– performed in the Fowkes’ Tavern on August 27, 1665
Androboros
– written by Robert Hunter in 1715
– he was the governor of New York and New Jersey
– it was a closet drama
– it was a political satire, where he made fun and antagonized
his political rivals
After the Revolutionary War and although theater was still mostly
discouraged, some Americans [with their theater houses] decided to write
their own plays and perform them across America.
The two prominent “theater capitals” by this point were New York and
Philadelphia [in Pennsylvania]. They rebelled against puritans and the
Quakers.
Stage Yankees
– people who mocked Englishmen
– had an eccentric New England dialect
– performed from Boston, New Orleans, New York, and London
– lasted from 1825 to 1850; developed an American-type character
in early native authorship
Home-grown American plays
The Contrast (1792)
– the first home-grown American Play
– was anti-British and had many pro-American sentiments
The Indian Princess (1808)
– was a Pocahontas-type play
– showed an intercultural relationship between a native
American and a white man
The Last of the Mohicans
– made by James Fenimore Cooper
Edwin Forrest
– made a debut in the Park Theatre (in Manhattan, New York)
– the most prominent actor during his time (19th century)
– played many roles like Spartacus, Macbeth, Hamlet, and
Metamora; mostly very manly roles
– commissioned his own play for him as the main character:
this play was Metamora
Backstory: He was high on nitrous oxide when a lawyer saw him reciting
Shakespearean lines; he was then offered an actor role in a theater.
Metamora
– on November 28, 1828, he set out on a commission for people to
write a play with him as its protagonist
– the criteria was supposed to be “a tragedy, in five acts, of which
the hero, or principal character, shall be an aboriginal of this
country”
– the prize was 500 dollars
– it was mostly unusual because of the Native American depiction,
but people still loved it
Metamora isn’t really about Native Americans, but it just wanted to show
what Native Americans were; they believed the “true” Americans were
white people, and the country was designated for and formed by them.
Indian Removal Act (1830)
– brought all aboriginal people and compressed them into one
state
– brought them to Mississippi, but Americans eventually reclaimed
it for their own again
– “ethnically cleansed” people east of the Mississippi River
William Charles Macready
– he was a prominent English actor
– supported Forrest, but Forrest did not like him and he contested
Macready with his Hamlet role
– described as moral, grave, and sublime
Forrest, with his pro-American mind did not like the English Macready, so
when he and several stage yankees went to London, he went to also play
his roles. People hissed and booed at him, leading to his subsequent
anger.
His anger developed for him to even go to his plays and hiss, boo, and
throw stuff at him. Their loyal “fanbases” and theatrical supporters
developed a rivalry they carried on when Macready went to America.
Astor Place Riot
– also called the “Shakespeare Riots”
– when William Charles Macready performed in New York, some
audience members (who were supporters of Robert Forrest),
plotted to ruin his performance, thus throwing things at him
– it led to a riot and an attack between Forrest and Macready’s
supporters
– Macready eventually left in disguise, but the fight continued on
– eventually, the state militia (the police) sprung into action, and
20-30 people died, with hundreds (~120) injured
Minstrel Plays (Minstrel Shows)
– plays that were racially discriminating black people
– used “blackface” (the action of painting one’s face in black
paint or ink to mock African-American slaves)
– performed by white actors
– emerged from the 1830s until the 1910s, but eventually
subsided with many anti-racist movements
It stopped completely when the Civil Rights Movement happened around
the 1950s, where Black People’s rights were protested about for fixation.
Vaudeville Plays
– started during the 1880s
– types of plays that included many random elements put together,
such as drama, tragedies, comedies, and were quite circus-y
– by the 1900s, it included trained animals, one-act plays,
magicians, and even made fun of disabled people
– some notable actors were Judy Garland, Harry Houdini, Abbot
and Costello, etc.
A New Era of Entertainment
– the theater industry was challenged by the rise of the television
and the radio
– many vaudeville actors shifted from the stage to the screen
Federal Theatre Project
– a project led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
– during the rise of the television and the Great Depression,
which followed the stock market crash of October 1929
– gave many unemployed people jobs in the theatre industry,
around 12,000 people
Showboats
– used to showcase plays all around America
– stages were set on a moving boat with specific stops
