New Playwrights for New Stages, Introduction

With the Revolutionary War over, the new republic struggled to achieve a sense of order. The years immediately following the conflict brought great economic turmoil and uncertainty. Subsequently, the American theatre continued to lie dormant and creativity suffered. Although the American Company returned from the Caribbean, reinvented as the Old American Company, the group performed tried-and-true classic plays that guaranteed an audience, overlooking newer contributions.

Nonetheless, by the end of the eighteenth century, original works by American playwrights started to appear to answer the needs of a new nation, and theatres sprouted up in every major metropolitan area. The nineteenth century saw the continued growth of theatre in America with new plays, the creation of the star system for actors, and the theatrical phenomenon known as the “long run.” Despite the new writing talent pushing the theatre forward, theatre managers held the financial and artistic reins, contracting plays to be written as vehicles for specific actors and undercompensating an unacknowledged playwriting profession.