The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Mackaye, James Steele

MACKAYE, mạ-kī', James Steele, American playwright: b. Buffalo, N. Y., 1844; d. Timpas, Colo., 25 Feb. 1894. In 1868 he went to Paris to study painting; but having there met Delsarte (q.v.) became interested in the latter's theories, and studied dramatic expression. In 1870-71 he gave in New York and Boston lectures on the art of expression. He opened the Saint James Theatre at New York in 1872, and appeared there in &lsquo;Monaldi,&rsquo; adapted by himself from the French. In 1873-75 he was studying the drama in Paris and England, and at the Crystal Palace, London, he played the title-rôle in &lsquo;Hamlet.&rsquo; His adaptation of Blum's &lsquo;Rose Michel&rsquo; in 1872 ran for 122 nights at the Union Square Theatre, New York. He established in New York the Lyceum School of Acting, which later became the American Academy of Dra t matic Arts. For several years he was manager of the Madison Square Theatre, and in 1885 built the Lyceum. Among his further plays were &lsquo;Won at Last&rsquo;; &lsquo;Through the Dark&rsquo;; &lsquo;Hazel Kirke&rsquo;; &lsquo;A Fool's Errand&rsquo;; &lsquo;In Spite of All&rsquo;; &lsquo;Paul Kauvar.&rsquo;

Consult Mackaye, Percy, &lsquo;Steele Mackaye: A Memoir&rsquo; (New York 1911).