John Street Theatre (Manhattan)

John Street Theatre, situated at 15-21 John Street, sometimes called "The Birthplace of American Theatre," was the first permanent theatre in New York. It opened on December 7, 1767, and was operated for serval decades by the American Company. It closed on January 13, 1798.

The theatre was built by David Douglass (c. 1720-1786), an English actor who had emigrated to Jamaica in about 1750. There he met Lewis Hallam, leader of a touring theatrical company, and, after Hallam's death, married his widow. The newly married pair formed the American Company from Hallam's old company and toured the United States performing and, if it was necessary, erecting theatres, across America. Douglass had built two temporary theatres in New York - on Cruger's Wharf and on Beekman Street - but his third New York theatre, the John Street Theatre, was the city's first permanent playhouse.

The John Street Theatre was modelled after Douglass's own Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia (the first permanent theatre in the United States), which was itself modelled on the theatres of London. No pictures survive of the building's exterior,Dunlap described it as "principally of wood, an unsightly object, painted red." It was set 60 feet back from the street, with a wooden covered walkway from the pavement to the doors. Inside, it had two tiers of boxes, a pit and a gallery. The dressing rooms and greenroom were located in a neighbouring shed, although Dunlap speculates that these were originally under the stage. Its seating capacity was approximately 750.

John Street opened on 7 December 1767 with a production of "The Beaux' Stratagem," and for 31 years was the only theatre in Manhattan.

From 1767 to 1774, the theatre was operated by the American Company, who gave New York its first performances of The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, King John and Every Man in his Humour, as well as contemporary plays. The theatre was also the first to introduce "Blackface" performances to the United States, with Lewis Hallam Junior's blacked-up portrayal of Mungo in 'The Padlock', which premiered at John Street on 29 May 1769.

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