American Theatre Essay Research Paper Soon after

American Theatre Essay, Research Paper

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 nation

from coast to coast. Families from all over would load up their belongings and

travel to the newly purchased lands. People from New York, Philadelphia, Boston

and all parts of the new nation brought with them their language, culture and

belief systems. Along with this they also brought the theater. It was not long

after 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 same

routes as the settlement of the west. Beginning on the east coast with early

colonies the theater was carried with our ancestors to their new homes in the

west. From St. Louise to Kansas City, from Kansas City to California and all

parts in between. Horace Greeley said "Go west young man" and the

theater followed. In 1492 Christopher Columbus left Azones on a trip to discover

a western sea route to the Orient. Seventy days later Columbus made land fall on

what he thought was an outlying portion of Asia. Columbus would go to his death

believing he had landed in Asia, he was wrong. Although he did open up a new

world for Europeans to expand their culture into.(Billington 15) Thought many

early attempts where made to settle this new land. Most ended in disaster. In

1620 however, 128 years after Columbus made his brave but mistaken discovery of

the 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, self

governed colony.(Billington 57) 10 years later, John Wintrope brings 1000

colonist and founds the city of Boston. Wintropes British settlement had not

been in the new world long, in fact less than a year, when they discovered that

the Dutch had formed their own nearby settlement. The Dutch called their town

New Amsterdam. This caused immediate competition and rivalry between the

settlements.(Billington 60) After a war with the Dutch the city of New Amsterdam

came into the possession of the British Empire and King Charles the Second. King

Charles had newly been restored to the throne of England after a long forced

vacation on the mainland of Europe. As a reward to those who supported his

return, he annexed New Amsterdam and renamed it New York and gave large portions

of it to his most loyal supporters.(Billington 67) In the ensuing years many

English colonist came to the new world setting up towns and cities all along the

Atlantic coast line. It is in these towns and cities that we see European

culture, especially English culture, being planted in the new world. With this

new culture being brought to this new and untamed land it is natural that the

forms of entertainment would also not be far behind. The lands of the new world

where now fertile for the seed of the theater. In 1716 we have records of a

theater being built in Willamsburg Virginia. This is probable the first theater

built in the Americas. While there where probable plays and some small

theatrical productions being done earlier, this is our first ever record of a

building being built for this specific purpose.(Hornblow) We know that in New

York in 1752, the Hallams performed the Merchant of Venice. We also know that

the Hallams used a theater that was build for use by Murray and Kean who had a

troupe who had performed the same play along with Richard the III many years

earlier. (Hornblow) So theater came early to the Americas but was contained to

the coastal areas much like the colonies where. It would take the formation of a

new country and an expansion of the boarders of this new country to help theater

on its western trek across the great expanses of North America. Caused by what

they believed was an erosions of their natural rights and being governed with

out representation The colonies in America decided to take a bold move and break

their ties with their English masters. This of course was not well received by

the King of England and what is known as the American Revolution ensued. In 1775

in Lexington and Concord fighting broke out between American Colonist and

English Troops. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress signed a

document that had been penned by Thomas Jefferson. The document was a

Declaration of Independence. While the matter was by no means decided and a long

war followed, for all practical purposes the United States Of America was

born.(McKay 696) In an effort to expand the borders of the United States and to

help get European interest off the continent. Thomas Jefferson, now president of

the United States purchases from France a vast area called Louisiana. So on

April 30th, 1803 the territory of the fledgling country of the United

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать