Overview

This class will meet on July 14, 21 & 28 at 7pm. Did you know that theatre in America dates back to colonial times? You may know that The Walnut Street Theatre was founded in 1809, but even before that there was a Chestnut Street Theatre that burned down in a fire. In those days, theatre was lit using candlelight—talk about a disaster waiting to happen! During the Revolutionary War, George Washington outlawed theatre fearing that it would be a propaganda tool for the British Army. Take a journey back to the founding of our country as we explore how theatre traditions and styles developed from the colonial period through the Civil War to P.T. Barnum and Vaudeville eventually arriving at the first modern musical, Oscar Hammerstein’s, Show Boat.