page_title: Olympic Theatre, New York
section_title: First Olympic Theatre (1800–1821)
hierarchical_section_title: Olympic Theatre, New York / First Olympic Theatre (1800–1821)
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales. Depicted person&#58; &#32;Edmund Kean&#32;– English actor
context_page_description: The Olympic Theatre was the name given to five former 19th and early 20th-century theatres on Broadway in Manhattan and in Brooklyn, New York.
context_section_description: The first theatre in New York to bear the name Olympic was on 79–85 Anthony Street (later renamed Worth Street) in Manhattan. Converted in 1800 from a former circus building, it was named the Olympic Theatre in July 1812 under the management of actor-manager William Twaits along with Alexander Placide and Jean Baptiste Casmiere Breschard; Twaits and Placide had come to New York after the disastrous Richmond Theatre fire in Richmond, Virginia where they had been co-managers of the theatre there. The Olympic was due to open with a production led by Charlotte Melmoth and Twaits, but while travelling to fulfil this engagement Melmoth was involved in a carriage accident, resulting in a severe fracture to her arm that failed to heal, forcing her to give up her acting career. Circus acts continued to appear here throughout this period. The theatre was renovated and redecorated in 1813 when it was named the Anthony Street Theatre, becoming the Commonwealth Theatre in 1814, the Pavilion Theatre in 1816 and reverting to the Anthony Street Theatre in 1820.
  During the 1820–1821 season, the theatre was the home of the acting company of the Park Theatre while their own theatre was being rebuilt after having burnt down. With this company Edmund Kean made his first appearance to much acclaim in New York in Richard III. The theatre was demolished in 1821 shortly after the Park Theatre company left, following which the plot was bought for the Christ Episcopal Church.
caption: Portrait of Edmund Kean as Richard III, which he played at the theatre in 1820
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