Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1765-1819

The rough, vital birth of American theater, captured in the plays that invented a national dramatic tradition from nothing. Spanning from the Revolutionary era through the early Republic (1765-1819), this collection gathers the first American plays ever written: works by Royall Tyler, William Dunlap, and lesser-known dramatists who faced an extraordinary challenge - how to create theater for a nation still inventing itself. These plays wrestle with colonial rebellion, republican anxiety, the comedy and tragedy of new independence, and the desperate search for a distinctly American voice. Some are clumsy. Many are brilliant. All are historically essential. This is where American drama begins, messy and alive, before anyone had figured out the rules.