<P> Although a theater was built in Williamsburg , Virginia in 1716 , and the original Dock Street Theatre opened in Charleston , South Carolina in 1736 , the birth of professional theater in America may have begun when Lewis Hallam arrived with his theatrical company in Williamsburg in 1752 . Lewis and his brother William , who arrived in 1754 , were the first to organize a complete company of actors in Europe and bring them to the colonies . They brought a repertoire of plays popular in London at the time , including Hamlet , Othello , The Recruiting Officer , and Richard III . The Merchant of Venice was their first performance , shown initially on September 15 , 1752 . Encountering opposition from religious organizations , Hallam and his company left for Jamaica in 1754 or 1755 . Soon after , Lewis Hallam , Jr. , founded the American Company , opened a theater in New York , and presented the first professionally mounted American play -- The Prince of Parthia , by Thomas Godfrey -- in 1767 . </P>
<P> Although a theater was built in Williamsburg , Virginia in 1716 , and the original Dock Street Theatre opened in Charleston , South Carolina in 1736 , the birth of professional theater in America may have begun when Lewis Hallam arrived with his theatrical company in Williamsburg in 1752 . Lewis and his brother William , who arrived in 1754 , were the first to organize a complete company of actors in Europe and bring them to the colonies . They brought a repertoire of plays popular in London at the time , including Hamlet , Othello , The Recruiting Officer , and Richard III . The Merchant of Venice was their first performance , shown initially on September 15 , 1752 . Encountering opposition from religious organizations , Hallam and his company left for Jamaica in 1754 or 1755 . Soon after , Lewis Hallam , Jr. , founded the American Company , opened a theater in New York , and presented the first professionally mounted American play -- The Prince of Parthia , by Thomas Godfrey -- in 1767 . </P>
when was the first theatre built in america and where was it
when was the first theatre built in america and where was it
1716
1716