American Theatre Essay Example For Students

American Theatre Essay 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 nationfrom coast to coast. Families from all over would load up their belongings andtravel to the newly purchased lands. People from New York, Philadelphia, Bostonand all parts of the new nation brought with them their language, culture andbelief systems. Along with this they also brought the theater. It was not longafter 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 sameroutes as the settlement of the west. Beginning on the east coast with earlycolonies the theater was carried with our ancestors to their new homes in thewest. From St. Louise to Kansas City, from Kansas City to California and allparts in between. Horace Greeley said Go west young man and thetheater followed. In 1492 Christopher Columbus left Azones on a trip to discovera western sea route to the Orient. Seventy days later Columbus made land fall onwhat he thought was an outlying portion of Asia. Columbus would go to his deathbelieving he had landed in Asia, he was wrong. Although he did open up a newworld for Europeans to expand their culture into.(Billington 15) Thought manyearly attempts where made to settle this new land. Most ended in disaster. In1620 however, 128 years after Columbus made his brave but mistaken discovery ofthe 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, selfgoverned colony.(Billington 57) 10 years later, John Wintrope brings 1000colonist and founds the city of Boston. Wintropes British settlement had notbeen in the new world long, in fact less than a year, when they discovered thatthe Dutch had formed their own nearby settlement. The Dutch called their townNew Amsterdam. This caused immediate competition and rivalry between thesettlements.(Billington 60) After a war with the Dutch the city of New Amsterdamcame into the possession of the British Empire and King Charles the Second. KingCharles had newly been restored to the throne of England after a long forcedvacation on the mainland of Europe. As a reward to those who supported hisreturn, he annexed New Amsterdam and renamed it New York and gave large portionsof it to his most loyal supporters.(Billington 67) In the ensuing years manyEnglish colonist came to the new world setting up towns and cities all alon g theAtlantic coast line. It is in these towns and cities that we see Europeanculture, especially English culture, being planted in the new world. With thisnew culture being brought to this new and untamed land it is natural that theforms of entertainment would also not be far behind. The lands of the new worldwhere now fertile for the seed of the theater. In 1716 we have records of atheater being built in Willamsburg Virginia. This is probable the first theaterbuilt in the Americas. While there where probable plays and some smalltheatrical productions being done earlier, this is our first ever record of abuilding being built for this specific purpose.(Hornblow) We know that in NewYork in 1752, the Hallams performed the Merchant of Venice. We also know thatthe Hallams used a theater that was build for use by Murray and Kean who had atroupe who had performed the same play along with Richard the III many yearsearlier. (Hornblow) So theater came early to the Americas but was contained tothe coastal areas much like the colonies where. It would take the formation of anew country and an expansion of the boarders of this new country to help theateron its western trek across the great expanses of North America. Caused by whatthey believed was an erosions of their natural rights and being governed without representation The colonies in America decided to take a bold move and breaktheir ties with their English masters. This of course was not well received bythe King of England and what is known as the American Revolution ensued. In 1775in Lexington and Concord fighting broke out between American Colonist andEnglish Troops. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress signed adocument that had been penned by Thomas Jefferson. The document was aDeclaration of Independence. While the matter was by no means decided and a longwar followed, for all practical purposes the United States Of America wasborn.(McKay 696) In an effort to expand the borders of the United States a nd tohelp get European interest off the continent. Thomas Jefferson, now president ofthe United States purchases from France a vast area called Louisiana. So onApril 30th, 1803 the territory of the fledgling country of the United States wasmore than doubled. In this territory there where already established cities andpopulations. Cities like New Orleans and St. Louise had long been active tradingareas for the French and Spanish governments.(Billington 244) These areasquickly became attractive for new migrations of the Americans. Although bothcities spoke very little English. The rapid movement of Americans into themcaused a need for English spoken entertainment. In New Orleans there whereFrench speaking theaters as early as 1809 but there had never been any Englishlanguage plays performed. A man named Noah Ludlow with the help of some actorsfrom the Turner company decided to go to New Orleans and perform. They had beentold that there was a large English speaking population there now and they wherein need to spend their money on English speaking plays. This is all that Ludlowneeded. Although some of his partners protested and left the troupe, Ludlow withmany others departed from Nashville on Oct. 20th 1917. (Hornblow) They traveleddown the Ohio river to the Mississippi They arrived in Natches some days laterand upon the insistence of the local movers and shakers performed one of theirplays. The Honeymoon was the first play to ever be performed inNatches. The troupe stayed for a few days but then continued their travels toNew Orleans. On Dec. 24th 1817 Ludlow and his trouped opened their theater inNew Orleans with the plays The Honeymoon and a farce calledThe Hotel, or a servant with two masters. The theater was called theSt. Philip because it was on St. Phillips St. The venture was a huge successbefore Ludlow decided to go back to Nashville for other endeavors. (Hornblow) Itis only fitting that the man who brought theater to the Louisiana territory bethe one wh o brings it to St. Louis. Noah Ludlow decided that the small city ofSt. Louis was ripe for his theater troupe. With a population of some 4000 St. Introduction to Debt Policy EssayBibliographyBillington, Ray Allen. Westward Expansion; A history of the AmericanFrontier. New York: Macmillan, 1967 Clark, Dan Elbert. The West inAmerican History New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1937 Horblow,Arthur. A history of the Theatre in America from its Beginnings to thePresent Time. New York: B. Bloom, 1965 c1919 McKay, Hill, Buckler. Ahistory of Western Society 5th Edition Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company1995