Hello.
Technically, the first America production of "A Doll's House," under
that title, was on December 7, 1883 in Macauley's Theatre in
Louisville, Kentucky. Helena Modjeska (aka Modrzejewska), a
well-known actress of the day, starred in that production.
A year earlier, though, an adaption with the title "The Child Wife,"
was performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Using mostly amateur actors,
that performance took place in Milwaukee's Grand Opera House on June
2, 1882. In that production, the character Nora was renamed "Eva."
Minerva Guernsey played the lead role.
Sources:
"A Doll's House
"The Child Wife" (adapted by William M. Lawrence), Grand Opera House,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 2 June 1882
First production with the title "A Doll's House": Macauley's Theatre,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 7 December 1883"
source: ibsen.net
http://www.ibsen.net/index.db2?id=90071
"1882
2 Jun. The Child Wife., Adapt. Grand Opera House, Milwaukee. Tr.
William Moorse Lawrence. Eva [N] Minerva Guernsey. H Robert Harman.
...
1883
7 Dec. Thora. Macauley's Theatre. Louisville, Kentucky. N Helena Modjeska."
source: page 173, Ibsen: A Doll's House (Plays in Production), read
using "search inside" on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0521478669/
"Modjeska, Helena
...Her portrayal (1883) of Nora in A Doll's House at Louisville, Ky.,
marked the first production of Ibsen in the United States."
source: infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0833549.html
"Helena Modrzejewska...
One of the greatest dramatic and Shakespearian actresses of the day, a
reputation which continued throught her American career of the twenty
eight years. She performed with other famous actors of her time,
including Edwin Booth and Otis Skinner. In 1883, her portrayal of Nora
in "A Doll's House" marked the first American production of Henrik
Ibsen, the great Norwegian playwright."
source: The Polish Museum of America
http://pma.prcua.org/folken.html
"Madame Modjeska, it is true, presented a version of it in Louisville,
Kentucky, in 1883, but it attracted no attention."
source:
William Archer, Introduction to "A Doll's House," hosted by Triton.edu:
http://academics.triton.edu/uc/files/dollshse.html
' in Milwaukee; but this was not a very notable event in the history
of the theater, for the actors were mostly amateurs and the play
itself was mutilated. The play was renamed "The Child-Wife" and it was
described by the translator as "a protest against the European
estimate of woman." But the pro test was diluted by the adoption of
the German ending of the play, in which Nora changes her mind and
stays with her family. The translator introduced an Irish widow to
give the play some humor, and in the second act one of Nora?s children
sang a pretty solo, which the audience enjoyed so much that she had to
repeat it. This performance is merely a historical curiosity, and it
took seven years before a really worthwhile production in a major
center of dramatic art took place. This was Beatrice Cameron?s
performance of ?"A Doll's House" in Boston in 1889.'
source: Norewegian-American Historial Association, cached by Google:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:HeXwFKHjJqEJ:www.naha.stolaf.edu/publications/volume20/vol20_1.htm+ibsen+1882&hl=en
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search strategy:
"first American" "a doll's house"
1883 "doll's house" ibsen helena
1883, louisville" "doll's house"
1882, milwaukee "child wife" ibsen
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