White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour

William Brown's African and American Theater

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Performing Arts, Theatre, History & Criticism, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies
Cover of the book White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour by Marvin McAllister, The University of North Carolina Press
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Author: Marvin McAllister ISBN: 9780807862605
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: November 20, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Marvin McAllister
ISBN: 9780807862605
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: November 20, 2003
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

In August 1821, William Brown, a free man of color and a retired ship's steward, opened a pleasure garden on Manhattan's West Side. It catered to black New Yorkers, who were barred admittance to whites-only venues offering drama, music, and refreshment. Over the following two years, Brown expanded his enterprises, founding a series of theaters that featured African Americans playing a range of roles unprecedented on the American stage and that drew increasingly integrated audiences.

Marvin McAllister explores Brown's pioneering career and reveals how each of Brown's ventures--the African Grove, the Minor Theatre, the American Theatre, and the African Company--explicitly cultivated an intercultural, multiracial environment. He also investigates the negative white reactions, verbal and physical, that led to Brown's managerial retirement in 1823.

Brown left his mark on American theater by shaping the careers of his performers and creating new genres of performance. Beyond that legacy, says McAllister, this nearly forgotten theatrical innovator offered a blueprint for a truly inclusive national theater.

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In August 1821, William Brown, a free man of color and a retired ship's steward, opened a pleasure garden on Manhattan's West Side. It catered to black New Yorkers, who were barred admittance to whites-only venues offering drama, music, and refreshment. Over the following two years, Brown expanded his enterprises, founding a series of theaters that featured African Americans playing a range of roles unprecedented on the American stage and that drew increasingly integrated audiences.

Marvin McAllister explores Brown's pioneering career and reveals how each of Brown's ventures--the African Grove, the Minor Theatre, the American Theatre, and the African Company--explicitly cultivated an intercultural, multiracial environment. He also investigates the negative white reactions, verbal and physical, that led to Brown's managerial retirement in 1823.

Brown left his mark on American theater by shaping the careers of his performers and creating new genres of performance. Beyond that legacy, says McAllister, this nearly forgotten theatrical innovator offered a blueprint for a truly inclusive national theater.

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