Lewis Hallam Jr.

Lewis Hallam Jr. (c. 1740-November 1, 1808) was an England-born American actor and theater manager, son of Lewis Hallam, one of the pioneers of Theater in the United States,[1] and Sarah Hallam Douglass. He was the leading actor of the Old American Company, at the time the only theater in America, and the manager of the same Company in 1779-1796.

Lewis Hallam Jr.

Life

Hallam came to America in 1752, with his family, as a member of the company of his father and uncle, the future Old American Company. This was the first professional theater in North America.

He first performed in The Merchant of Venice in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was the "earliest known American Hamlet and (played) Arsaces, the hero of the first professionally produced American play, The Prince of Parthia" in 1752.[2]

In 1755, his father died, and his mother married David Douglass and united her company with hers, becoming the Old American Company in 1758. Hallam became the star of the company.

Lewis Jr.'s style was described as declaratory rather than realistic, but he was much admired and became known as America's leading Shakespearean interpreter. Lewis Jr. is believed to be the first actor in America to perform in blackface in 1769.[3] In 1769, he performed "Dear Heart! What a Terrible Life I Am Led", the first documented white stage performance of an African American-styled song.[4]

Hallam continued to work in American theatre throughout his life, except for a period, during the American Revolutionary War, when the Old American Company left for Jamaica, where it was active until it returned to the United States in 1785.[5] Hallam became the manager of the Company in 1779. The Company lost its monopoly in theatrical activity in 1790, Hallam resigned as manager in 1796.

Family

He was first married to an actress from Jamaica, only known as 'Mrs Hallam' in America, where she played minor parts in the Old Company: he brought her with him when the Company returned to America from Jamaica in 1758.[6] The couple had two sons. His first spouse died on an unknown date prior to his remarriage to Eliza Hallam.

Legacy

The theater building at Prince George's Community College in Maryland is named the Hallam Theater.

Notes
  1. Britannica
  2. American Theatre Guide
  3. Tosches, Nick (2002). Where Dead Voices Gather. Back Bay. p. 10. ISBN 0-316-89537-7.
  4. Southern, pg. 89
  5. Errol Hill, The Jamaican Stage, 1655-1900: Profile of a Colonial Theatre
  6. Errol Hill, The Jamaican Stage, 1655-1900: Profile of a Colonial Theatre
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References
  • Southern, Eileen (1997). Music of Black Americans. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-03843-2.


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