Abstract:
Raleigh's first theater was completed in 1814 and prior to that most performance based entertainment was held at the State House. The author tracks the theater's early history including the multiple changes of ownership after opening and the types of professional acts which performed within. Before the war a range of acts used the space from musicals, to dramas, and even ventriloquism. The final Ante-Bellum attraction was the Bunyan panorama in December 1861.