The Contrast

The Contrast by Royall Tyler was the first play professionally performed in the United States. The play is a very humorous satire aimed at the evils and follies of the time. Royall uses this dramatic form to satirize Americans who follow British fashions and indulge in 'British vices'. Royall Tyler was born in 1758 into one of the riches families in Boston. He graduated from Harvard and fought in the Revolutionary War. Before The Contrast the theater was looked down upon in the United States. This play made a tremendous shift in the opinions of Americans towards the theater.

Royall Tyler (June 18, 1757 – August 26, 1826), American jurist and playwright who wrote The Contrast in 1787 and published The Algerine Captive in 1797. He wrote several legal tracts, six plays, a musical drama, two long poems, a semifictional travel narrative, The Yankey in London (1809), and essays. He frequently collaborated with his friend Joseph Dennie, including co-writing a satirical column which appeared in Dennie's newspaper The Farmer's Weekly Museum.