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 ‘Monaldi,’ 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 ‘Hamlet.’ His adaptation of Blum's ‘Rose Michel’ 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 Dratmatic Arts. For several years he was manager of the Madison Square Theatre, and in 1885 built the Lyceum. Among his further plays were ‘Won at Last’; ‘Through the Dark’; ‘Hazel Kirke’; ‘A Fool's Errand’; ‘In Spite of All’; ‘Paul Kauvar.’ Consult Mackaye, Percy, ‘Steele Mackaye: A Memoir’ (New York 1911).