The first American-written play, performed professionally, was created here in Philadelphia by a young watchmaker’s apprentice. This piece was performed at the Southwark Theatre, the first permanent theater in the U.S. located at 4th and South St, a year after playwright, Thomas Godfrey’s, early death at age 26. This neoclassical play skewers the ethics of the monarchy and helped set the stage for the 2nd Continental Congress to declare Independence from the crown. 

Commissioned by actor Edwin Forest, Robert Montgomery Ward wrote this play about an enslaved gladiator seeking his freedom. The play was a massive success leading Forest to be embraced as the greatest actor of his day. Gladiator became a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement and was hailed as  "decidedly the best drama ever written in this century”.  By 1854, the play had been performed over 1,000 times throughout the world.

Set in 1920, in working-class North Philadelphia, this comedy tracks a family thrown into chaos by their daughter’s suitor, a pseudo-socialist buffoon. The Show Off became a theatrical sensation as one of the first plays to depict the new American middle class.  The show was a “monster hit” playing for 571 performances. The playwright’s teenaged niece, Grace Kelly, made her stage debut in the show’s premiere.

A reading of two short plays honoring the Phila. Black Arts Movement of the 60’s-70’s, which created theater by and for Black communities. It’s leading figure, the renowned Sonia Sanchez, was the city’s first Poet Laureate and Temple professor. Sanchez’s play I’m Black When I’m Singin’, I’m Blue When I Ain’t created a new poetic/dramatic form that still dominates today.  Natyna Bean, a student of Sanchez, born and raised in North Philly, carries this legacy forward with plays that explore self-determination and hope.  In partnership with the CCP Theater & Theatre in the X.