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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
The career of William Dunlap (1766-1839) of Perth Amboy foreshadowed with prophetic accuracy the future power of the major influences on the New Jersey theater, namely the church and the Manhattan
stage. Dunlap, who lived in New Jersey until 1777, was one of the earliest American playwrights to handle native material and the country's
first professional playwright. His best known play is The Life of Major
Andre, one of the first uses of a native theme by a native dramatist.
The novelty and high quality of this tragedy gave Dunlap a commanding position in the growing theatrical world. He introduced the plays of
the German Kotzebue in translation and pioneered in applying the Gothic
"terror spirit" to American subjects, which led to the development of the
conventional mystery play. He was a more skillful writer than manager,
however, and when the Puritans attacked the theater in 1805 Dunlap's
unstable company was among the first to succumb. He nevertheless continued to write plays, and in 1832 he climaxed his career with A History
of the American Theater, the first documented story of the growth of the
stage in America.
The religious reaction against the "new freedom" that had helped to
ruin Dunlap gradually brought to an end the first flowering of the native
stage. From about 1820 to 1845 the wrath of the pastors and deacons virtually swept bare the stages of the State. In place of Shakespeare, Sheridan, and Lessing, Newark and cities subsisted on other wandering troupes
of minstrels, bell ringers, and circus performers.
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