- published: 18 Jun 2014
- views: 14974
Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. Regional or resident theatres in the United States are professional theatre companies outside of New York City that produce their own seasons.
Before the first English colony was established in 1607, Spanish dramas and Native Americans tribes performed theatrical events.
The birth of professional theatre in America may have begun with the Lewis Hallam troupe that arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1752.[citation needed] A theater was built in Williamsburg in 1716, and, in January 1736, the original Dock Street Theatre was opened in Charles Town, South Carolina. In any case, The Hallams were the 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, The Recruiting Officer, and Richard III. The Merchant of Venice was their first performance, shown initially on September 15, 1752. Encountering opposition from religious organisations, Hallam and his company left for Jamaica in 1754 or 1755.[citation needed] 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.