New Playwrights for New Stages I

[Tyler, Royall]. The Contrast: A Comedy in Five Acts: Written by a Citizen of the United States. Philadelphia: Thomas Wignell, 1790.

From the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature

Royall Tyler

A lawyer from a prominent Boston family, Royall Tyler visited New York City in 1787 and saw a performance by the American Company of Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. Within a month of seeing the production, Tyler wrote his first play, The Contrast. The American Company produced this five-act comedy of manners on April 16, 1787, thereby making The Contrast the first American comedy by an American-born playwright to be professionally produced by an American theatre troupe. Tyler modeled the play on Sheridan’s School but created the first truly “Yankee” character for the American stage, that of the country-bumpkin manservant, Jonathan. Set in New York’s social world, the characters illustrate the “contrast” between unpretentious sturdy Americans and ostentatious anglophiles. The prologue creates the tone for what follows:

Exult each patriot heart! – this night is shewn
A piece, which we may fairly call our own;
Where the proud titles of ‘My Lord! Your Grace!’
To humble Mr and plain Sir give place.
Our Author pictures not from foreign climes
The fashions, or the follies of the times;
But has confin’d the subject of his work
To the gay scenes – the circles of New-York.

Tyler wrote several other plays, but none rivaled the popularity of The Contrast.

Markoe, Peter. The Reconcilliation; or, The Triumph of Nature: A Comic Opera. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by Prichard and Hall, 1790.

From the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature

Peter Markoe

Immigrating to Philadelphia from the West Indies in 1783, Peter Markoe wrote two plays, The Patriot Chief (1784) and Reconciliation (1790), neither of which were produced in his lifetime. Reconciliation, a comic opera, set to music the German play Erasmus and by adding songs represented an early musical.

Dunlap, William. André; A Tragedy, in Five Acts: As Performed by the Old American Company, New-York, March 30, 1798. New York: Printed by T. and J. Swords, 1798.

From the Tracy W. McGregor Library of American History

William Dunlap

William Dunlap is considered the first professional American playwright. Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Dunlap wrote, adapted, and translated nearly sixty plays during his career in the theatre. As well as being a playwright, he also was a partner in the management of the Old American Company and opened the Park Theatre in New York with John Hodgkinson in 1798. The Father; or, American Shandyism appeared in 1789, at the John Street Theatre in New York and marked Dunlap’s first professionally produced work. It was a popular success, and he immediately followed it with another, Darby’s Return. As his reputation in the theatre grew, he continued with a steady output of plays for the next forty years. His most well-known play is the tragedy André (1798), based on the celebrated British spy case of Major John André during the Revolutionary War. Dunlap’s successes facilitated the acceptance of other plays by American playwrights in the professional theatre. With his History of the American Theatre (1832), a comprehensive chronicle of the first eighty years of theatre in America, Dunlap had earned the title of “the father of American drama.”

Hodgkinson, John. The Man of Fortitude; or, The Knight’s Adventure. New York: David Longworth, 1807.

From the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature

John Hodgkinson

A British-born actor, John Hodgkinson immigrated to America in 1792 to join the Old American Company under the management of Lewis Hallam, Jr., and John Henry. Hodgkinson became a principal actor on the American stage, distinguishing himself particularly in the title role of William Dunlap’s André. With Hallam and later Dunlap, he became involved in the management of both the John Street Theatre and the Park Theatre in New York. His professional relationship with Lewis Hallam and Hallam’s wife, however, created a great deal of conflict, prompting Hodgkinson to pen a pamphlet defending his position in the company.

Hodgkinson was said to have been ruthless in his dealings in the theatre, commandeering choice leading roles and driving from management first John Henry and then Lewis Hallam, Jr. He became one of the first stars of the star system in the American theatre.

Burk, John. Bunker-Hill; or, the Death of General Warren. New York: Printed by T. Greenleaf, 1797.

From the Tracy W. McGregor Library of American History

John Daly Burk

Radical Irish immigrant John Daly Burk fled to the United States after being expelled from Dublin’s Trinity College because of his outspoken political and religious views. After an initial failure as the editor of an extremist newspaper in Boston, Burk turned his writing talent to the stage. His Bunker-Hill; or, The Death of General Warren first opened in Boston’s Haymarket Theatre in February 1797. Though denounced by critics, the play became a favorite with audiences particularly during Fourth of July celebrations. This patriotic five-act tragedy included a climactic battle scene replete with armies, cannon fire, and a military band. Burk wrote several other plays and briefly returned to newspaper editing in New York only to be arrested for sedition in 1798. He then fled to Virginia, where he lived until his death in a duel in 1808.

Barker, J[ames] N[elson]. The Indian Princess; or, La Belle Sauvage. Philadelphia: Printed by T. and G. Palmer, for G. E. Blake, 1808.

From the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature

James Nelson Barker

Born into a prominent Philadelphia family, James Nelson Barker contributed ten plays to the American theatre repertoire of the early nineteenth century before devoting the remainder of his life to serving his country in the office of Controller of the United States Treasury. Barker shaped most of his plays around American themes and historical incidents. The Indian Princess; or, La Belle Sauvage (1808) portrayed the legend of Pocahontas for the first time on the American stage. His last and most successful play, Superstition (1824), dramatized the constraints of Puritan society in seventeenth-century New England.