Last month, I wrote about actress Nancy Hallam, who caught the eye of an Annapolis gentleman (most likely Rev. Jonathan Boucher, rector of St. Anne’s Church) at a 1770 performance of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, King of Britain. Everything about Miss Hallam—her delicate manner, classical expression, musical voice, knowledge of character, bewitching grace, artistic range, attractive face and form, etc.—captivated her admirer, who wrote a poem of praise in her honor. The poem’s introductory letter extolled the actress’s commendable qualities as well, but it also pointed out the glaring defects of the theater in which she performed, from “the horrid Ruggedness of the Roof” to “the untoward Construction of the whole House.” Nancy Hallam was sublime, but the capital city’s playhouse was an embarrassment.
Fortunately, a fix was soon in the works. A letter published in the October 4, 1770 Maryland Gazette announced a plan to raise money for construction of a new Annapolis theater. It noted that “A WELL regulated Theatre” was “a noble Institution; calculated…for the Improvement and Refinement of human Society.” David Douglass, manager of the American Company, thanked “the Ladies and Gentlemen of Maryland” for supporting his traveling troupe’s performances, “though under every Disadvantage from the Situation, Size, and awkward Construction of the House.” If a new “commodious Theatre was erected in a convenient Part of the City of Annapolis,” the company could perform there “for about Six Weeks every Year, including the Autumnal Provincial Court and Races.” But the expense of building a playhouse was more than the American Company’s annual operating budget could handle.
Encouraged by “a Number of his Friends,” David Douglass proposed “a Scheme, which will enable him effectually to carry the Design into Execution, and at the same Time will not be very disadvantageous to the Ladies and Gentlemen, whose publick Spirit, and Taste for the rational Entertainments of the Stage, may lead them to patronise the Undertaking.” In return for an advance subscription payment of five pounds or more, a patron would receive the same value in theater tickets for the next two seasons. The subscription money would be “deposited with William Paca and Samuel Chase, Esqrs. of the City of Annapolis, and the Land conveyed to them in Trust for the subscribers, until the House is built, and this Proposal be fully complied with on the Part of the Company.” Once “a sufficient Sum, not exceeding £. 600” was subscribed, the tickets would be delivered, the money paid, the construction materials collected, and “an Engagement entered into with a Builder, to complete the Theatre for the next Season.” Subscriptions were taken at Anne Catharine Green’s printing office and several other Annapolis businesses.
Douglass’s financing scheme worked out beautifully, and the new brick theater opened on West Street less than a year later on September 9, 1771. Annapolis finally had a suitable performance venue for the marvelous Miss Hallam and her colleagues.
Read the October 4, 1770 issue of the Maryland Gazette starting here: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001281/html/m1281-1131.html
Glenn E. Campbell
HA Senior Historian
