A Tale of Two Theaters in 1850s Philadelphia

In the 1850s, issues not only of race but also of class in the United States were hardening into the explosive confrontation that became the Civil War (1861–1865). Not surprisingly, theatre in the nation reflected the tensions and hostilities of the social-political spheres. In this decade leading up to the outbreak of war, Philadelphia saw establishment of two theatres that appeared to cement into dedicated buildings the class differences in entertainment tastes reflecting hot-button political perspectives. Blackface minstrelsy, the working-man’s entertainment, found its first dedicated Philadelphia home in Sanford’s Opera House, opened in 1853, while upper-crust gentlemen steered their ambitious vision of an American Academy of Music to realization in 1857. The stages in both of these houses hosted much dancing: minstrel jigging and ballet mockeries were featured at Sanford’s, while the Academy brought European ballet troupes to its elegant stage. This essay reveals these two Philadelphia institutions as both contrasting and overlapping sites of antebellum urban entertainment reflecting the social-political stresses of the decade in which they were founded. 

Lynn Matluck Brooks is Arthur and Katherine Shadek Humanities Professor Emerita at Franklin & Marshall College, where she founded the Dance Program in 1984. At F&M, she was awarded the Bradley R. Dewey Award for Outstanding Scholarship and the Christian and Mary Lindback Award for Teaching. Brooks holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Temple University and is a Certified Movement Analyst. Her dance history research has earned grants from the Fulbright/Hayes Commission, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Brooks has authored books and scholarly articles and has served as performance reviewer for Dance Magazine, editor of Dance Research Journal and Dance Chronicle, and writer and editor-in-chief for thINKingDance in Philadelphia. Her current research focuses on antebellum Philadelphia/U.S. and on interconnections of dance, science, and cultural discourse.