Philadelphia

Philadelphia. The first important American theatre center, it was the site of performances in 1749 by Thomas Kean and Walter Murray, possibly at the warehouse of William Plumstead and certainly in the face of stern Quaker and other puritanical opposition; this, despite the fact that Plumstead was a magistrate, councilman, and three times mayor. Indeed, the early years were a constant struggle between players and antitheatrical authorities. Plumstead's building, which stood on the waterfront between Pine and Lombard streets and which remained standing for another hundred years, was also home to the elder Hallam when he brought his company there in 1754. Douglass and the American Company began regular seasons in the city in 1759. In 1766 he opened the first permanent American theatre there, the Southwark. It was at this playhouse that he gave the first professional performance of a native play, The Prince of Parthia, in 1767. Three later playhouses figured importantly in the city's history: the Chestnut Street (opened in 1793), the Walnut Street (built as a circus in 1809, converted to drama in 1811, and still in use as the oldest theatre in America), and the Arch Street (opened in 1828). Thomas Wignell was a major figure in the city's early theatricals, and Edwin Forrest used the city as his base throughout most of his career. In the first half of the 19th century the city was also home to the Philadelphia School of Dramatists, a group of playwrights who usually wrote blank‐verse romantic tragedies: Robert Montgomery Bird, George H. Boker, Robert T. Conrad, Richard Penn Smith, and John Augustus Stone. Although by the first third of the century the city had lost its primacy to New York, it continued to be a flourishing center. Its most famous ensemble was that run by Mrs. John Drew during the last half of the 19th century at the Arch Street Theatre. About the same time, the Philadelphia School of Comic Opera enjoyed a heyday that lasted almost until World War I. The name was given, largely in derision by the New York press, to musicals written and produced in Philadelphia, some of which toured the country and were often well received except by New York. The school is best exemplified by the works of Willard Spenser and by his most successful musical, The Little Tycoon (1886). Philadelphia was also the last important bastion of traditional minstrelsy. Although as many as ten theatres were lit during the 1920s, the city had become largely a tryout and touring town. It sunk to only three occasionally used theatres in the Depression, enjoyed a small revival beginning with World War II, then languished again. Some have pointed out that the waning of theatre in Philadelphia was the result of the demise of its greatest newspaper, The Evening Bulletin; the city was left without a drama critic comparable in knowledgeability and acuity to its noted reviewer, Ernest Schier. The theatre scene did not improve until the 1970s, when Philadelphia enjoyed the fruits of the regional theatre movement. Among the many companies operating in and near the city at the turn of the 21st century are the Arden Theatre Company, Interact Theatre Company, Society Hill Playhouse, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Venture Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, American Music Theatre Festival with the Prince Music Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Hedgerow Theatre, Mum Puppettheatre, Lantern Theatre Company, Wilma Theatre, and the People's Light and Theatre Company. Add to this the area collegiate productions and tours at the Academy of Music, the Forrest and Merriam theatres, and the new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the theatregoing situation is not so grim. Since 1995, Philadelphia honors outstanding theatre productions with its annual Barrymore Awards, named after the illustrious family of actors who came from there.