Boston

Boston (Massachusetts). Although it was long one of the most important American theatrical centers, players found little welcome there in early times when puritanical influences were still strong. Not until 1792, with the opening of the New Exhibition Room (later called the Broad Alley Theatre), did the city have anything resembling a playhouse, and even then the name suggested the subterfuge required. The first major playhouse in the city was the Federal Street Theatre (1794), which long dominated local theatricals. The Haymarket, erected two years later, was never able to compete successfully and was razed in 1803. The first important opposition came from the Tremont, which opened in 1827 and remained active for a decade and a half. The leading mid‐19th‐century auditoriums were the Boston Museum (1841) and the Howard Athenaeum (1846). In 1879 the Boston Ideal Opera Company was founded and soon became the nation's leading light‐opera ensemble. While it regularly toured the country, Boston remained its base. In the first half of the 20th century, Boston was a major tryout and touring center while supporting such once‐famous local organizations as the Jewett Players and Mrs. Lyman Gale's Toy Theatre. Indeed, theatre flourished, albeit the city was infamous for the harshest theatrical censorship in the land. One reason Boston remained so vital was the excellence of its theatrical criticism as exemplified by the renown of Henry Taylor Parker and Henry Austin Clapp. The fine writing of Elliot Norton of the Herald‐American and Kevin Kelly of the Globe continued this tradition. In addition to the many collegiate theatres in the area, the Huntington Theatre Company, Lyric Stage of Boston, American Repertory Theatre (in nearby Cambridge), Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and other groups, provide local productions, as well as touring productions at the Charles Playhouse, and the Wilbur and Colonial Theatres. The annual Elliot Norton Awards have been given to outstanding area theatre productions since 1982.