top of page

Coming Soon: A Theater Near You

Updated: Aug 6, 2021

Several months ago, I wrote about actress Nancy Hallam (“In Praise of Artistic Genius,” September 10, 2020) and the rundown playhouse (“A Dramatic Scheme,” October 8, 2020) in which she wowed Annapolis audiences in 1770. David Douglass, manager of the traveling troupe in which Miss Hallam was a featured performer, proposed a subscription plan to raise £600 for construction of a new, more respectable theater on West Street. Patrons who pledged £5 or more would receive the same value in theater tickets for the 1771 and 1772 performance seasons. Subscriptions were collected at Anne Catharine Green’s printing office on Charles Street and at several other locations, and the money was entrusted to lawyers William Paca and Samuel Chase. Mrs. Green’s newspaper issue of June 13, 1771 included an update on the “NEW THEATRE.”

In this notice, David Douglass informed the project’s subscribers “that all the Materials for the Building are now purchased, and Workmen engaged to complete it by the First of September.” He assured them that he and those overseeing the work were doing all in their power to make it “as commodious and elegant as any Theatre in America.” New actors from London and scenery painted by a Mr. Doll were expected to arrive within a few weeks. Douglass hoped that his patrons would “be convinced, by the Efforts he makes to entertain them, that he has a proper Sense of their Goodness, and an unremitting Desire to make every Return in his Power, for the Obligations he is under to them.”

But obligations worked two ways, and David Douglass closed by gently reminding “the Gentlemen who have neglected to pay their Subscription Money” that it was time to make good on their promises of financial support for the new theater, “as the Sum collected, is by no Means sufficient to answer the necessary Demands that will soon be made.” If fans of Nancy Hallam wanted to see her perform in a commodious and elegant setting worthy of her talent and beauty, it was time to pay up.

Read the June 13, 1771 issue of the Maryland Gazette starting here: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001281/html/m1281-1299.html

Glenn E. Campbell

HA Senior Historian


36 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page