MacKaye, Steele

MacKaye, Steele

▪ American playwright
born June 6, 1842, Buffalo
died February 25, 1894, Timpas, Colo., U.S.

      U.S. playwright, actor, theatre manager, and inventor who has been called the closest approximation to a Renaissance man produced by the United States in the 19th century.

      In his youth he studied painting with Hunt, Inness, and Troyon. A pupil of Delsarte and Régnier, he was the first American to act Hamlet in London (1873). At Harvard, Cornell, and elsewhere he lectured on the philosophy of aesthetics. In New York City he founded the St. James, Madison Square, and Lyceum theatres.

      MacKaye wrote 30 plays, including Hazel Kirke, performed many thousands of times, Paul Kauvar, and Money Mad, acting in them in 17 different roles. He organized the first school of acting in the U.S, which later became the American Academy of Dramatic Art; initiated overhead lighting (1874); invented the first moving “double stage” (1879); and invented folding theatre seats. In all, he patented over 100 theatrical inventions.

      For the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, MacKaye projected the world's largest theatre, his Spectatorium (seating 12,000, with 25 moving stages), revolutionizing stage production and anticipating motion pictures. Financial difficulties prevented completion of the theatre, but a scale model was later successfully demonstrated.

      His two-volume biography, Epoch: The Life of Steele MacKaye (1927), written by his son Percy, was reprinted in 1968.

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  • Mackaye, Steele — (1842 1894)    James Morrison Steele MacKaye was born in Buffalo, New York, son of a lawyer and art fancier who sent his son to Paris to study art. MacKaye returned to join the Union army during the Civil War and rose to the rank of major before… …   The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater

  • Steele MacKaye — James Morrison Steele MacKaye (pronounced ) (June 6, 1842 – February 25, 1894) was an American playwright, actor, theater manager and inventor. Having acted, written, directed and produced numerous and popular plays and theatrical spectaculars of …   Wikipedia

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  • Steele (surname) — Steele is a surname, and may refer to:A* Alex Steele * Alfred E. Steele * Alfred Nu Steele (1901 1959), US businessperson and husband of Joan Crawford * Alfonso Steele * Alison Steele * Allen Steele, American science fiction author * Anne Steele… …   Wikipedia

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  • Mackaye, Percy — (1875 1966)    Born in New York, Percy Wallace MacKaye, son of theatrical luminary Steele MacKaye, emerged from his father s shadow as a playwright and visionary who adopted theories emerging from modernist European theatre, inspired the little… …   The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater

  • MacKaye, Percy — ▪ American writer born March 16, 1875, New York City died Aug. 31, 1956, Cornish, N.H., U.S.       U.S. poet and playwright whose use of historical and contemporary folk literature furthered the development of the pageant in the U.S.… …   Universalium

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  • James MacKaye — James Medbury MacKaye (April 8, 1872 January 22, 1935) was an American engineer and philosopher.MacKaye was born in New York City, the son of actor Steele MacKaye and Mary (Medbery) MacKaye, and brother of poet Percy MacKaye and conservationist… …   Wikipedia

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