American Theatre
Soon after the American Revolution, Americans
began their expansion to the west.
It was our Manifest Destiny to tame
the wilds of the west and expand our nation
from coast to coast. Families
from all over would load up their belongings and
travel to the newly
purchased lands. People from New York, Philadelphia, Boston
and all parts of
the new nation brought with them their language, culture and
belief systems.
Along with this they also brought the theater. It was not long
after people
would begin to live in an area that the theater would take root.
The
progress of the theater in the United States can be traced along the
same
routes as the settlement of the west. Beginning on the east coast with
early
colonies the theater was carried with our ancestors to their new homes
in the
west. From St. Louise to Kansas City, from Kansas City to California
and all
parts in between. Horace Greeley said "Go west young man" and
the
theater followed. In 1492 Christopher Columbus left Azones on a trip to
discover
a western sea route to the Orient. Seventy days later Columbus made
land fall on
what he thought was an outlying portion of Asia. Columbus would
go to his death
believing he had landed in Asia, he was wrong. Although he
did open up a new
world for Europeans to expand their culture
into.(Billington 15) Thought many
early attempts where made to settle this
new land. Most ended in disaster. In
1620 however, 128 years after
Columbus made his brave but mistaken discovery of
the new world, the pilgrims
set out to make a permanent settlement in America.
They put a shore in
what is now called Massachusetts and formed a thriving, self
governed
colony.(Billington 57) 10 years later, John Wintrope brings 1000
colonist and
founds the city of Boston. Wintropes British settlement had not
been in the
new world long, in fact less than a year, when they discovered that
the Dutch
had formed their own nearby settlement. The Dutch called their town
New
Amsterdam. This caused immediate competition and rivalry between
the
settlements.(Billington 60) After a war with the Dutch the city of New
Amsterdam
came into the possession of the British Empire and King Charles the
Second. King
Charles had newly been restored to the throne of England
after a long forced
vacation on the mainland of Europe. As a reward to those
who supported his
return, he annexed New Amsterdam and renamed it New York
and gave large portions
of it to his most loyal supporters.(Billington 67) In
the ensuing years many
English colonist came to the new world setting up
towns and cities all along the
Atlantic coast line. It is in these towns
and cities that we see European
culture, especially English culture, being
planted in the new world. With this
new culture being brought to this new and
untamed land it is natural that the
forms of entertainment would also not be
far behind. The lands of the new world
where now fertile for the seed of the
theater. In 1716 we have records of a
theater being built in Willamsburg
Virginia. This is probable the first theater
built in the Americas. While
there where probable plays and some small
theatrical productions being done
earlier, this is our first ever record of a
building being built for this
specific purpose.(Hornblow) We know that in New
York in 1752, the Hallams
performed the Merchant of Venice. We also know that
the Hallams used a
theater that was build for use by Murray and Kean who had a
troupe who had
performed the same play along with Richard the III many years
earlier.
(Hornblow) So theater came early to the Americas but was contained to
the
coastal areas much like the colonies where. It would take the formation of
a
new country and an expansion of the boarders of this new country to help
theater
on its western trek across the great expanses of North America.
Caused by what
they believed was an erosions of their natural rights and
being governed with
out representation The colonies in America decided to
take a bold move and break
their ties with their English masters. This of
course was not well received by
the King of England and what is known as the
American Revolution ensued. In 1775
in Lexington and Concord fighting broke
out between American Colonist and
English Troops. On July 4, 1776, the
Second Continental Congress signed a
document that had been penned by Thomas
Jefferson. The document was a
Declaration of Independence. While the
matter was by no means decided and a long
war followed, for all practical
purposes the United States Of America was
born.(McKay 696) In an effort to
expand the borders of the United States and to
help get European interest off
the continent. Thomas Jefferson, now president of
the United States purchases
from France a vast area called Louisiana. So on
April 30th, 1803 the
territory of the fledgling country of the United States was
more than
doubled. In this territory there where already established cities
and
populations. Cities like New Orleans and St. Louise had long been active
trading
areas for the French and Spanish governments.(Billington 244) These
areas
quickly became attractive for new migrations of the Americans. Although
both
cities spoke very little English. The rapid movement of Americans into
them
caused a need for English spoken entertainment. In New Orleans there
where
French speaking theaters as early as 1809 but there had never been
any English
language plays performed. A man named Noah Ludlow with the help
of some actors
from the Turner company decided to go to New Orleans and
perform. They had been
told that there was a large English speaking
population there now and they where
in need to spend their money on English
speaking plays. This is all that Ludlow
needed. Although some of his partners
protested and left the troupe, Ludlow with
many others departed from
Nashville on Oct. 20th 1917. (Hornblow) They traveled
down the Ohio river to
the Mississippi They arrived in Natches some days later
and upon the
insistence of the local movers and shakers performed one of their
plays. "The
Honeymoon" was the first play to ever be performed in
Natches. The troupe
stayed for a few days but then continued their travels to
New Orleans. On
Dec. 24th 1817 Ludlow and his trouped opened their theater in
New Orleans
with the plays "The Honeymoon" and a farce called
"The Hotel, or a servant
with two masters". The theater was called the
St. Philip because it was
on St. Phillips St. The venture was a huge success
before Ludlow decided to
go back to Nashville for other endeavors. (Hornblow) It
is only fitting that
the man who brought theater to the Louisiana territory be
the one who brings
it to St. Louis. Noah Ludlow decided that the small city of
St. Louis was
ripe for his theater troupe. With a population of some 4000 St.
Louis had
never seen a professional performance of a play. There where some
amateurs
performing in the area and in their theater is where ludlow decided to
set
up. (Hornblow) On Nov 20th 1819, Ludlow and his troupe boarded a keel boat
in
Nashville and started on his journey to St. Louis. This journey was much
more
difficult than the one to New Orleans for part of the trip was up
current on the
Mississippi. They had to travel by a procedure called
Cordelling. This entailed
men with ropes pulling the boats up the river.
Finally arriving in St. Louse
Ludlows troupe performed in mid December
1819. They once again performed the
play "The Honeymoon". (Hornblow) Theater
had now expanded to the
western shores of the Mississippi. The United States
would soon conquer from
coast to coast in North American. Expanding from the
Mississippi to the coast in
California. As the Mormons expanded into the
great Salt lake area of Utah and
the Mexican War would add vast new land,
including California into the United
States the theater would not be far
behind On may 16, 1846 the United States
declared war on Mexico. Caused
partially because of United States annexation of
Texas, disagreements on
borders and President Polks desire to expand the United
States
territory.(Clark) While preparations for war where ensuing in Texas,
Col.
Stephen Kearney was on his way west to take New Mexico and
California. On Jan.
10th 1847, California was conquered. The treaty of
Guadeloupe-Hidalgo was signed
on Feb 2, 1848 after the United States had
defeated the Mexican troops and
captured the Mexican capital of Mexico City.
This treaty set the new borders
along the Rio Grande river and gave to the
United States New Mexico and
California. With these new accusations the
west was now ready for its infusion
of the theater.(Billington 586) On July
24th, 1847, A group of Mormons lead by
Brigham Young founded the city of
Salt Lake in the territory of Utah.(Billington
541) The Mormon had always
been supporters of the theater and they carried their
love of the theater
with them west. Joseph Smith encouraged the formation of a
Theatrical
company long before their exodus to the west. (Hornblow) Soon after
settling
in their new homes Salt Lake City plays where being performed. In an
area
called the Bowery the Mormons would congregate to watch all sorts
of
productions. It was here in 1850 that the Salt Lake Theater Stock Company
was
created. Their first play was "The Dead Shot" In 1862 Brigham
young
built the Salt Lake Theater. (Hornblow) While this was going on in Salt
Lake
City American where rushing to California to cash in on the gold
rush. In 1849
the famous gold rush began in California. (Clark) As American
headed west to the
shores of the Pacific ocean theater followed. On Jan 1850
in Washington Hall, a
building in San Francisco. The first professional play
was performed in
California. A play by Sheridan Knowles called "The Wife"
played to a
packed house. By 1851 there where at least 3 professional
theaters operating in
San Francisco.(Hornblow) Manifest Destiny, this
became the call of many
Americans as the United States expanded westward.
We got on boats, filled our
wagons and populated North America from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. Times where
hard for these early settlers but in it
all they found time for entertainment.
The theater has been there from
the beginning to entertain, educate and make us
think. Not only has the
theater expanded across the land it has expanded across
time. While some
would argue it was a natural expansion of the theater to the
camera and then
to the television. Our lives are totally entwined in the
theatrical arts. So
when Horace Greeley said "Go west young man" we
did and we took the theater
with us.
Bibliography
Billington, Ray Allen. "Westward Expansion;
A history of the American
Frontier." New York: Macmillan, 1967 Clark, Dan
Elbert. "The West in
American History" New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
Company, 1937 Horblow,
Arthur. "A history of the Theatre in America from
its Beginnings to the
Present Time." New York: B. Bloom, 1965 c1919
McKay, Hill, Buckler. "A
history of Western Society 5th Edition" Boston:
Houghton Mifflin
Company
1995