William Alexander Brown
Brown is considered the first Black playwright in America. He was also a theatrical producer and the founder of The African Grove Theatre, the first black theater in America.
The African Grove Theatre was founded and operated by Brown as the resident all Black theater company in America catering to free Blacks. The company featured music, theatrical and occasional outdoor entertainment. According to some reports, city officials shut down the Grove after a few years because of harassment by some white people and complaints about conduct to the police. The company also moved a few times for the same reasons.
The last recorded performance of the African Theatre was on Mercer and Houston Street in January 1824 and one source says that the theatre was “mysteriously burned to the ground in 1826”. There are no records of the African Grove Theater after 1823.
