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Birth!
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Introduction of Gas Lighting in Theaters
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First performance as Lady MacBeth
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Notable Performance
This was the year that Charlotte Cushman played Nancy in Oliver Twist. This became one of many performances that she was most known for. -
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Charlotte begins working on "Romeo and Juliet"
Charlotte Cushman had worked on many Shakespeare plays like MacBeth, but this is when she took a new turn to playing roles that were meant for men and characters that were not earmarked for women i.e. Romeo. Specifically this time period is when she was working on casting and producing the full script of Romeo and Juliet. Her sister Susan Cushman played her counterpart as Charlotte played Romeo. -
Charles Kean visits
Charles Kean, a significant British actor mainly specializing in Shakespeare came and toured in America with a production of King John. -
Emma Stebbins
Emma Stebbins, a sculptor. Cushman was a decided champion of a number of female artists, her most significant efforts were focused on securing commissions for and supporting the work of Stebbins. This was the year they became lifelong partners as reinforced by their correspondence to each other. -
Booth shoots Lincoln
This was the day that Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at a theater performance. Abraham Lincoln died a couple days after. John Wilkes Booth's brother Edwin Booth, founder of the Booth Theater, was close friends with Charlotte Cushman. -
Farewell Performance
In November of 1874, Charlotte Cushman debuted her final performance. Thousands had flooded the theater in order to finally see her last performance as Lady Macbeth after her four decades of her playing male roles in Shakespeare's most well known plays (Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Henry VIII, and even Hamlet). -
Death :(