Margaret Sully West or Margaretta Sully West, née Sully, (d. 1810), was an American stage actress and theater director. She was the director of the Virginia Comedians and as such the leader of the theatrical activity within contemporary Virginia.

Life

Margaret Sully West was married to Thomas Wade West, mother of Ann West Bignall and mother-in-law of John Bignall. Her spouse, in companionship with Thomas Bignall, had broken the theater monopoly of the

Old 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 1790 by establishing the Virginia Comedians. The Virginia Comedians established the so called "Virginia circuit", and regularly performed in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

- Fredericksburg- Charleston (1794)-

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

(1795)- Petersburg (1796)-

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

(1797), cities where they also constructed playhouses. Margaret Sully West took over the management of the Virginia Comedians when she was widowed in 1799, and as such played an important role, being the managing director of one of few theater companies existent in America at the time, as well as one of the larger and more successful. Alongside the company of

Thomas Wignell Thomas Wignell (1753 – 21 February 1803) was an English-born actor and theatre manager in the colonial United States. Early years Thomas Wignell was born into a working theatre family. He was born in England to his parents John and Henrietta ...

and

Owen Morris Owen Morris (born in Caernarfon, Wales) is a Welsh record producer who has worked with rock bands including Oasis, the Fratellis, Ash, the View, Loso and the Verve. Biography Morris started working in the music industry as a sound engineer a ...

, who had broken off from the Old American Company to establish their own theater company in 1791, Margaret Sully West played a pioneering role in expanding theatrical activity in the Southeastern Seaboard in the early 19th century.

References

* Robin O. Warren,
Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
' * Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans,
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers ...
' * Jeffrey H. Richards,
Drama, Theatre, and Identity in the American New Republic
' * Jane Kathleen Curry:
Nineteenth-century American Women Theatre Managers
' {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Margaret Sully 18th-century American actresses American stage actresses 1810 deaths American theatre directors Women theatre directors Year of birth missing 18th-century theatre managers 19th-century theatre managers Women theatre managers and producers 18th-century American businesswomen 18th-century American businesspeople