153:. The African Theater moved to 1215 Mercer Street in New York City in the year 1822. Brown has been said to allow a white audience in the theater but were only allowed to sit in the back of the house. He said, "Whites do not know how to conduct themselves at the entertainments of ladies and gentlemen of Colour." The company then went on to produce more plays, such as
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William Brown established the first US theater that catered to black people in the ways that only white audiences had been catered to previously. It was one of the first spaces that gave free blacks a sense of inclusion, as well as the ability to immerse themselves in theatrical culture and see a
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87:, fearing competition, and the city sheriff forced the African Theatre to close. Brown continued performing outdoors illegally. The last record performance of the African Theatre was on
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Brown's theater proved to be highly successful and threatening to neighboring theaters, particularly when he opened up a theater space next door to the well-established
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83:(also known as the African Company) and continued to perform outdoors. Brown's theatre company was constantly harassed by "White hoodlums". Eventually, the nearby
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173:. Shortly after, the police shut down the theater after complaints from the owner of the Park Theater — Stephen Price — and white theater goers.
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African Theatre presented a programme of classical plays, popular plays, ballet, music and opera. The theater produced
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The
African Theater, or the American Theater, had its first produced play on September 17, 1821, which was
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reflection of themselves in works written by black playwrights and performed by black actors.
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Brown also wrote a number of original plays for them to perform. His most notable play
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Profiles of
African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960
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Black
Theater, U.S.A.; Forty-five Plays by Black Americans, 1847–1974
123:(whom Brown called Shotaway in the play) and his revolt against
41:. He is considered the first known black playwright in America.
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African
American Dramatists: An A-to-Z Guide: An A-to-Z Guide
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that all-Black theatre companies began to emerge again.
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American playwright and theatrical producer (1790–1884)
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when he worked as a ship's steward at the time of the
161:. In 1824, however, the African Theater was closed.
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The
Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre
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The
Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre
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459:19th-century American dramatists and playwrights
361:Jones, Douglas A. (2012). Young, Harvey (ed.).
222:The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance
365:. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–28.
79:Brown reformed his group of performers in the
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418:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
337:. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–7.
95:in January 1824. It was not until after the
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225:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
219:Kennedy, Dennis (August 26, 2010).
190:"William A. Brown, Playwright born"
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394:. New York: Free Press. pp.
49:Willian A. Brown was born in the
33:(c. 1790–1884), was an American
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309:. Greenwood Publishing Group.
282:. University Rochester Press.
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303:Peterson, Bernard L. (2001).
115:(1823), based on the life of
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112:The Drama of King Shotaway
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55:free Blacks
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35:playwright
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