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The first recorded performance of a play written by an American was in 1690 at Harvard College. The first permanent American theatre was built in Philadelphia in 1766; it was made of brick and imitated English buildings in arrangement and general architecture. In 1752 Lewis Hallam, a member of a distinguished theatrical family, arrived with a troupe from England, thus marking the beginning of professional theatre in America. The theatre in America for the next 40 years was similar to British provincial theatre, with simple sets for easy traveling; few cities could yet afford theatre buildings. By the 1790s, however, ...(100 of 38183 words)