"This work is designed to offer a day-by-day calendar of colonial American theatrical activity from the beginning of the colonial period to the Revolutionary War in October of 1774. The intention is to record every known performance by a professional or amateur company or solo performer and all related information.

Thus this project (1) seeks to gather together all of the known, existing material relating to the theatres, productions, and personnel of companies and individuals performing in the American colonies; (2) reexamines all previously published evidence and claims; and (3) offers extensive new information from sources unknown or unavailable to previous researchers.

The geographic range of this study is the British American colonies, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Savannah, in the Georgia colony on the continent, and the British West Indies."--BOOK JACKET.