A Bicentennial Foreword

A Bicentennial Foreword WALTER 1. MESERVE FEW CRITICS ACCEPT the idea that American drama has a two-hundredyear history worthy of recall. Some feel that with the plays of James A. Herne American dramatists reached a point where their efforts should be recognized; one post-World War II English critic finally acknowledged American drama as a "potent intruder" nearly a hundred and fifty years after the first American play was performed in London. Among the majority of critics, however, it is assumed that significant native drama in America was first ushered into an established theatre by Eugene O'Neill some sixty years ago. An unfortunate view, first offered by William Archer, the English critic, it is distinguished only by presumptions born of ignorance and the same prejudices which prompted Ralph Waldo Emerson to urge the creation and recognition of American literary efforts in 1837. As historians of American drama are well aware, there were people writing plays in that land which declared the independence celebrated this year. They were, of course, a select and, by modern standards , a largely unprofessional group - these playwrights who helped entertain the new nation - but a number of their plays deserve far more than the patronizing aside usually accorded American drama by literary and theatre historians. As the vitality of these plays written during the early decades readily asserts in productions across the country, no bicentennial special pleading is necessary: American dramatists working along with the new nation during the first half-century of independence offered plays which, with the probable exception of certain works by Freneau, Irving, Paulding (all of whom wrote plays) and Bryant, are as distinctive as any literature produced during this period. 315 316 WALTER J. MESERVE Yet the position of the American dramatist during these early years was far from enviable. Just as one must walk among the beggars in India to understand fully what Oscar Wilde said about the profession of playwriting , it is difficult to comprehend the problems which the American dramatist encountered before James. A. Herne, O'Neill, or the playwrights of the mid-twentieth century presumably first created plays worthy of world-wide critical attention. The simple acceptance of an American as a dramatist was a serious problem for playwrights a hundred and seventy years ago. In that American theatre, largely controlled by Englishmen whose native art and literature understandably held the imagination and satisfied the tastes of the new nation far more than its own fledgling efforts, it was a calculated risk to author a play and confess American nationality. It was more expedient to hide one's citizenship, and even the best dramatists of this period indulged in this deception. Some writers with reputations in literature dared not admit to writing plays. If, therefore, the dramatist not only stood in danger of achieving a notoriety which he did not want but, the structure of the theatre being what it was, had only the rarest opportunity to make a dollar, why would an Amerlcan write plays? But let that question remain rhetorical. Many plays were written, for the genus "dramaticus Americanus literatus" is nothing if not persistent. As the nineteenth century progressed and the number of newspapers and journals increased, critics and reviewers commenting on theatre and drama promoted native work and attempted to set standards of achievement . The establishing of the North American Review in 1815 became a stimulating force in the creation of an American literature. Unfortunately , it did little specifically for American drama, but William Leggett, writing for The Critic at the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century , well illustrates those who tried to encourage good American drama. Of course, he was not as successful as he hoped to be because prejudices disappear slowly and no art suddenly blossoms into mature splendor. As the new nation struggled toward goals determined by its Constitution and an acceptance among the countries of the world, the American dramatist also struggled - contending with English prejudices, native actors, and his own general lack of genius for the drama. By the second quarter of the nineteenth century nationalistic sentiments were well aroused and displayed in ways that The American Scholar best illustrates. Writing in the...