Theater In The Wilderness From 1860 the Salt Lake Theatre was a center of culture unsurpassed in pioneer America By Levi Edgar Young THE IDEALS and daily lives of a people may be judged by their standards of amusements. Among the fine arts encouraged by the pioneers of Utah were music and the drama, and hardly had the colonizers planted their fields and begun building their homes, when they built a theater in the wilderness. This theater was an educational factor in the early communities and every town encouraged the drama in some form. In the beautiful city of Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi River, the theater had its origin with the Latter-day Saints. As early as 1840, con¬temporary with the building of their Temple, a choir was organized with "several banks of music and choral societies." Schools were founded and a (Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles on the Salt Lake Theatre by Levi Edgar Young, president, First Council of Seventy, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) University chartered where advanced classes studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and more than all, the drama was encouraged and "cultivated to a degree, remarkable in a community so isolated and so far from the center of wealth and popula¬tion." JOSEPH SMITH organized a dramatic com¬pany, and Brigham Young, Erastus Snow and others took part in many of the plays. During those days, one of the popular plays was "Pizzaro" in which Brigham Young played the part of the High Priest. The Salt Lake Musical and Dramatic Associa¬tion was organized in Salt Lake City in 1850 for the purpose of promoting the drama and encourag¬ing music. The association included the old Nauvoo brass band and the members of the Dramatic Club. There was located on Temple Square the Bowery, where the people met for worship on the Sabbath Day. The place was a general "meeting house" for civic gatherings, as well as for religious meetings, and it became our first theater. There in the early part of the year, "Robert Macaire" was played to crowded houses, and upon one occasion a number of Ute Indians witnessed the play. An orchestra under Captain William Pitt was present, and those who took part were William Clayton, Jacob Hutchinson, George Ward, David Smith, and others. The play was advertised in the dif¬ferent ward meetings, "and it was respectfully re¬quested that all be on time, that the actors and actresses should be put to no inconvenience in the playing of their parts." THEN WAS BUILT the Social Hall, the first theater west of the Missouri River. It was a good- sized building for those days. It had an imposing stage with dressing-rooms, and the upper part was the main auditorium, while the basement was used for dancing and banquets. Soon after the- dedication of the building, Jan. 1, 1853, a bust of Shakespeare was placed above the stage. There it remained to bear witness to the idealism of the people. The first play presented was Bulwer Lytton's classic, "The Lady of Lyons." For months the com¬pany practiced their parts and the performance was given before an audience which was "highly critical and demanded the best of our talents." A number of other plays were presented, and they did much to enliven the social life of the people whose days were spent in the canyons gathering fuel and timber for their homes, and in clearing the land and irrigating crops. THE SOCIAL HALL became the center for amusements, and gold-seekers and colonizers on their way to California often found entertainment there. On the night of the production of "The Lady of Lyons," James Ferguson played Claude Melnotte, and Mrs. Wheelock, Pauline. During the first winter "Othello," "Damon and Pythias," and "Pizarro" were played. Among those who were