The Contrast
Quick Summary
Royall Tyler's play, The Contrast (1787), is recognized as the first American comedy. The play features a Yankee character, which was a novel addition to the stage at the time and is seen as a precursor to many similar characters in later American theater. While the play echoes English playwrights like Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Sheridan, it introduced a distinctly American element. Tyler, a lawyer and teacher, wrote The Contrast after meeting a prominent actor in New York. Although he wrote other plays, none achieved the same recognition as The Contrast. The term "contrast" itself refers to the juxtaposition of dissimilar elements or the degree of difference between things.12
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- Royall Tyler
…(especially The School for Scandal), The Contrast contains a Yankee character, the predecessor of many such in years to follow, that brought something native to the stage. His other plays, some no longer extant, did not equal The Contrast.
Read More…(especially The School for Scandal), The Contrast contains a Yankee character, the predecessor of many such in years to follow, that brought something native to the stage. His other plays, some no longer extant, did not equal The Contrast.
Read More 
Western theatreThe beginnings of American theatre…on stage until Royall Tyler’s The Contrast (1787), the first American comedy. Tyler’s play introduced a favourite theme of early American drama: the triumph of native honesty and worth over foreign sham and affectation.
Read More…on stage until Royall Tyler’s The Contrast (1787), the first American comedy. Tyler’s play introduced a favourite theme of early American drama: the triumph of native honesty and worth over foreign sham and affectation.
Read More