Historic Photo Gallery: 1850 to 1899
1856
Laura Keene made her Philadelphia debut when she opened at the Walnut in October 1856.
Keene was the first American woman to operate her own theatre, and while her new space
was being built on Broadway, she took her company on the road to present a repertoire of
classic comedies and recent melodramas. Of note, she was starring in
Our American Cousin
at Ford's Theatre the night Abraham Lincoln was shot.
(Photograph courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.)
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