TYLER, ROYALL

born July 18, 1757, Boston died Aug. 26, 1826, Brattleboro, Vt., U.S. original name William Clark Tyler U.S. lawyer, teacher, and dramatist, author of the first American comedy, The Contrast (1787). After graduating from Harvard University, Tyler served in the U.S. Army and later became a lawyer. A meeting with Thomas Wignell, the star comedian of the American Company, in New York City, led him to write The Contrast, which premiered in 1787 at the John Street Theatre. A light comedy echoing the English playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Sheridan (especially The School for Scandal), The Contrast contains a Yankee character, the predecessor of many such in years to follow, that brought something native to the stage. His other plays, some no longer extant, did not equal The Contrast.