First Theater in America / When was the drama first introduced in America? An inquiry, including a consideration of the objections that have been made to the stage.

by Charles P. Daly

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This is a mistake. Dunlap gives a quotation from Burke’s “History of Virginia” as follows: “Under the presidency of Thomas Lee, the New York Company of Comedians obtained permission to erect a theatre in Williamsburg, i. e., in the year 1750, when no New York company existed, or any other on the continent.” The last sentence, “when no New York company existed, or any other on the continent,” is not by Burke, but by Dunlap, which led me to suppose that Burke agreed with Dunlap that the drama was first introduced in America by Hallam. Burke refers to Kean & Murray’s company, who played in New York from the 6th of March to the 30th of April, 1750, and in the subsequent part of the year may have gone to Williamsburg, Virginia, and obtained permission to erect a theater there as stated by Burke.[2] Dunlap afterward acknowledged his error in a manuscript note to his copy of his history, now in the possession of Thomas J. McKee, Esq., of the city of New York.

[2] Burke’s “History of Virginia,” Vols. i and ii. Harpers, 1832.