"Ponteach": The First American Problem Play

Abstract

Far before America had become a politically independent nation, there were dramas written on native themes. These plays were not the work of professional playwrights, but were rather written by explorers, government officials, and military men, who sought to translate into dramatic form their experiences in the New World. The French explorers were the first to include the Indian in dramatic works; usually these were written for the entertainment of the men stationed in America. Marc Lescarbot, who accompanied a French exploring party to Novia Scotia, wrote a masque called Le Theatre de Neptune (1606). This frivolous piece was offered to provide a break in the bleak and desolate days for the homesick explorers. No conflict is found in this little drama. Four Indians appear in a canoe to welcome the exploration leader, to proffer him gifts, and to offer allegiance to the French. The first full-length play on an Indian theme to be presented in America was La Blanc de Villanueve's La Pere Indian, staged in New Orleans in 1753. A record of this play's subject matter suggests that it concentrated on events within the Indian community itself, rather than on relationships between the French and the Indians. The English colonists, probably because of the strong intolerance that many of their settlers felt for theater on religious, moral, and economic grounds, began writing dramas later than the French. Their early dramas indicated a much more serious concern about the relationships between the white settlers and the Indians; they stood in sharp contrast to the French plays, which took for granted the French presence in America. The two extant plays written in English during the Colonial period-George Cockings' The Conquest of Canada and Robert Rogers' Ponteach, both published in 1766-apparently were