• Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History

The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History

Paperback

TelevisionTheater HistoryRegional: New England

ISBN10: 0786438746
ISBN13: 9780786438747
Publisher: McFarland & Company
Published: Mar 13 2008
Pages: 278
Weight: 1.11
Height: 0.67 Width: 6.98 Depth: 9.96
Language: English

The theatre had a difficult time establishing itself in Massachusetts. Colonial authorities in Boston were adamantly opposed to theatrical amusements of any kind. In the mid-eighteenth century, even theatricals performed in the homes of private citizens aroused the indignant ire of puritanically minded authorities. In 1750 the General Court of Massachusetts passed an act prohibiting stage plays or any other theatrical entertainment. In 1762, the New Hampshire House of Representatives refused a theatre troupe admission to the town of Portsmouth on the ground that plays had a peculiar influence on the minds of young people and greatly endangered their morals by giving them a taste for intriguing amusement and pleasure. The first public dramatic performance in Boston was produced at a coffeehouse on State Street by two English actors and some local volunteers. In 1775 General John Burgoyne, himself an actor and playwright, converted Boston's Faneuil Hall into a theatre, where he presented, among other pieces, The Blockade of Boston. After the Revolutionary War, in February 1794, the dramatic history of Boston may be said to have begun with the opening of the Boston Theatre.

Also in

Theater History