Sarah Hallam Douglass (d. Philadelphia, 1773) was an English-born American stage actress and theatre director. She was married to

Lewis Hallam Lewis Hallam (circa 1714–1756) was an English-born actor and theatre director in the colonial United States. Career Hallam is thought to have been born in about 1714 and possibly in Dublin. His father Thomas Hallam was also an actor who wa ...

, with whom she travelled to America to perform in his company in 1752. This was the first permanent theater company in North America and thus had a pioneer role in the theater history of America. Sarah Hallam Douglass, along with the other female members of the troupe, was thus among the first pioner professional actresses in North America. She was the leading lady of the company and performed principal female roles until she gradually left them to Margaret Cheer and Nancy Hallam in the mid 1760s. Her spouse died in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, where the company had gone to perform. After the death of Lewis Hallam she married David Douglass, with whom she formed the

American Company The Old American Company was an American theatre company. It was the first fully professional theatre company to perform in North America. It also played a vital role in the theatre history of Jamaica. It was founded in 1752 and disbanded in 1805. ...

in 1758. Her son by Lewis,

Lewis Hallam, Jr. Lewis Hallam Jr. ( – November 1, 1808) was an England-born American actor and theater manager, son of Lewis Hallam, one of the pioneers of Theater in the United States, and Sarah Hallam Douglass. He was the leading actor of the Old American Co ...

became an actor in his mother and step father's company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallam Douglass, Sarah 1773 deaths 18th-century British actresses 18th-century American actresses 18th-century theatre managers 18th-century American businesswomen 18th-century American businesspeople English stage actresses American stage actresses 18th-century English women 18th-century English people