Primers to the Past: Colonial Fredericksburg and Theatrical Entertainment

Project Coordinator: Tom Clark, Stafford High School

Introduction

The Acting Companies

The Performance Spaces

The Audience and Plays

Theatre in Fredericksburg

Bibliography

Click on all images for larger view.

What little we know of theatre in Fredericksburg during colonial times can be gleaned from George Washington himself. Visiting his mother near Fredericksburg, he recorded in his ledger on June 2, 1752 that he lent his brother Samuel "By Cash at the Playhouse 1/3"¹⁴

Indeed a notice appeared in The Virginia Gazette on April 30, 1752:

"The Company of Comedians, from the New Theatre at Williamsburg, propose playing at Hobb's Hole, from the 10th of May to the 24th; from thence they intend to proceed to Fredericksburg, to play during the continuance of June Fair. We therefore hope, that all gentlemen and ladies, who are lovers of theatrical entertainments, will favour us with their company."¹⁵

This would have been the Murray/Kean Company who, in the fall of 1751 had opened their season with Shakespeare's Richard III in Williamsburg and The Recruiting Officer, in Norfolk and then going where the crowds were in early summer the following year--The Fredericksburg Fair. Their playbill, as reported in The Virginia Gazette on April 17, 1752 was the Farquhar comedy The Constant Couple with "entertainment and singing between the acts: Likewise a dance called The Drunken Peasant to which will be added a farce called Lying Valet.¹⁶

The Fredericksburg Fair was seen by the inhabitants of the small town as a way to increase its visibility, importance and to help the economy. Eventually the faires became very festive events. The dates were chosen to coincide with court business to insure a steady stream of people into the town. By 1751, there were auctions of property and slaves in front of the courthouse and horse races.¹⁷

With Washington's notation in his ledger of lending his brother money at the playhouse, author Hugh Rankin speculates that "there is the possibility that Fredericksburg had a theatre building at this time, or a building that had been altered as such." Rankin goes on to suggest that it was probably the 20 -year- old George Washington's first play ever seen on American soil.¹⁸

Local historian and author, Paula Felder, has carefully researched Fredericksburg circa 1752. According to Felder, the fair seems to have been a ubiquitous event throughout the town, with no one central location that would have had a concentrated pool of participants. Washington's ledger entry presents problems because he refers to a "Playhouse" but doesn't specify anything else. Although no records appear that show a theatre existed, a likely place for performance would have been The Long Ordinary just off of Market Square facing Caroline Street. Built by the executors of Henry Willis's estate and operated by John Thornton, it would have been an ideal space for a theatrical performance because of its size. Likewise a temporary space or playbooth could have been constructed for the troupe.

By 1771, some 19 years later, there is still the question of whether or not a theatre building existed in colonial Fredericksburg when Washington attended another play here .

However, an actual playbill for the performances in Fredericksburg states that the plays were being performed "At the Theatre", with tickets available at Captain Weedon's.

Left: Playbill for The American Company performances in Fredericksburg in 1771. Courtesy of Abby Aldrich, Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia.

The American Company (as David Douglass's company was known by 1771) was in Fredericksburg to entertain the crowds for the June Fair. On the 16th of May, 1771 The Virginia Gazette notes that:

"The American Company of Comedians will open the theatre in Fredericksburg the latter end of this month, and perform every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during their residence there."¹⁹

Their season consisted of The Provok'd Husband, Hamlet, and All in the Wrong. Rankin writes that "the actors obviously played in a courtroom or warehouse, as only pit seats were advertised."²⁰. Again, George Washington was in town and on July 25th, after dining with his brother- in- law, Fielding Lewis, spent the rest of the evening watching a play.²¹

The dirt and filth of Fredericksburg's warehouses make them an unlikely site for a theatre, and there are no records that reveal that the Fredericksburg courthouse was used for theatrical entertainment.

One possibility is The Town House, which was built by the masons for their meetings on the Market Lot on Caroline Street. It offered "a new setting for... social, cultural and semi-public events."²²

Another possibility is Weedon's Tavern itself. Situated at the corner of Caroline and William Street, the tavern was a bustling, lively place when Captain George Weedon moved to Fredericksburg in 1763. He married the daughter of the existing tavern owner, John Gordon, and eventually built a 44 by 25 foot billiard room which would have been well suited for a play. As mainly a social area for men, however, the tavern might not have actually served as the venue.

Of interesting note are the diary entries of a deputy clerk of the court, Jonathan Clark. He reveals additional performances in Fredericksburg that summer:

June 20th: Romilo and Juliet (sic)
June 21st: The Suspicious Husband and The Taming of the Shrew
July 3rd: A New Way of Paying Old Debts and The Horrid Yorkshireman. (He probably means Henry Carey's play The Honest Yorkshireman.)
July 18th: Venus Observed and Midas. (Again, he may mean another play, Thomas Otway's Venice Preserved.)
August 15th "at the playhouse Julias Caesar (sic) acted…"²³

Just as with Washington's note of a playhouse in 1752, Clark's reference also suggests the existance of a theatre building or playhouse in 1771- which the playbill and The Virginia Gazette notice seem to confirm. Whether or not a building existed, the summer of 1771 was a very busy one for plays and playgoers in Fredericksburg. As they were awaiting their new theatre to be completed in Annapolis, The American Company could have stayed in Fredericksburg for a significant time that summer since plays were performed in May, June, July and August.²⁴

Sometime after the Revolution, in 1799, the evidence becomes a lot clearer about the existence of a playhouse in town. A theatre is specifically referenced in The Fredericksburg Virginia Herald for both a number of performances to take place there, an advertisement offering a reward for the turning in of persons who damaged the theatre, and a letter complaining about politics in the theatre.

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Footnotes:
14. Ford.pg.9
15. Ford. pg.8
16. Ford.pg.8
17. Felder. Pg.175
18. Rankin.pg.40
19. Johnson and Burling pg. 392
20. Rankin.pg.160
21. Diaries, 3:43
22. Felder. Pg.176
23. Clark's Diary entries circa July and August 1771
24. Virginia Historical Magazine. pps. 428-430

See bibliography for titles.

Fredericksburg circa 1763 as drawn by Scott Howson.
Courtesy of Paula S. Felder.

The Long Ordinary and the Town House, both pictured, are likely spots for colonial theatre performances.