America’s First Theatre in the French Quarter

Dock Street Theatre is known as America’s first theatre. It was originally built in February 1736 on the corner of Church Street and Dock Street, now known as Queen Street, and opened with a performance of The Recruiting Officer. This was the first structure ever built to be strictly for theatrical performance. The original theatre is thought to have been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1740 which left a large portion of the French Quarter and other boroughs in ruins.

Following the devastation, The Planter’s Hotel took over where Dock Street Theatre stands today. The builders transformed this structure to a hotel and added the wrought iron balcony in addition to sandstone columns that emphasize the Church Street mysticism. Several notable people were employees and patrons at the Planters Hotel. - Junius Brutus Booth, father of John Wilkes Booth, was an actor in the 19th century. - Robert Smalls, a famous African-American civil war hero, spent time at the Planter’s Hotel as a waiter previous to the civil war.

But following the civil war the hotel became dilapidated, out-dated, and was slated for demolition. In 1935 the property was made available to the City of Charleston after Mayor Maybank and other significant citizens were encouraged to take the building in as a Depression Era WPA (Work Progress Administration). This is when the hotel was converted back to a theatre and the current theatre was placed inside the late Planter’s Hotel. The hotels’ grand foyer is still the foyer to the theatre and the dining room was converted to the box office lobby. Dock Street Theatre had is second grand opening at in 1937.

Among those in the audience included DuBose Hayward, author of Porgy, who was writer-in-residence a the time. The theatre was officially set into motion and operated like so until 2010. But then a $19million renovation was put into action. You can find all these recent updates with state of the art lighting and sound, seating, and cooling/heating.

The historic theatre is now managed by the City of Charleston and is home to Spoleto Festival USA. Over 120 performances a year produced by Charleston Stage happen within these historic walls. If you are a theatre buff, enjoy historic architecture, or just enjoy a good show, pay Dock Street Theatre a visit and admire its miraculous transformation that’s been 280 years in the making.