The Theatre on Nassau Street, or The New Theatre, was probably the first purpose-built theatre in Manhattan.[1]
History
It was a two-story wooden structure, owned by merchant and former governor Rip Van Dam, and it opened on December 11, 1732, with a performance of The Recruiting Officer.[1] The building was located at what is now 64–66 Nassau Street, between John Street and Maiden Lane.[2]
In 1750, shortly after Van Dam's death, it hosted New York's first-known performance of a musical, The Beggar's Opera, presented by a London-based traveling troupe, Murray & Kean's. This was also the first record of professional actors in New York; previously all productions had been amateur affairs.[3] In 1753, actor and director Lewis Hallam expanded the theatre, describing the new structure as "very fine, large and commodious."[2] But only a few years later, in 1758, the building was converted to a German Calvinist church, and finally demolished in 1765 to be replaced by a more substantial building which remained on the same site until 1822.[2][4]