Tyler, Royall (1757-1826), was an American playwright and lawyer. His satire The Contrast (1787) was the second American play and the first American comedy performed by professional actors. The play was inspired by a New York City performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s English comedy The School for Scandal (1777). The “contrast” in Tyler’s comedy of manners is between British-inspired vanity and homespun American ingenuity. The latter is represented by Jonathan, the first in a long line of “stage Yankees” in American theater.
Tyler’s writing is patriotic and humorous. He wrote five other plays, but only one was performed. Tyler also wrote a novel, The Algerine Captive (1797); and a series of satirical letters, The Yankey in London (1809).
Tyler was born on July 18, 1757, in Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1776. Tyler was an officer in the Revolutionary War and served as chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1807 to 1813. He died on Aug. 26, 1826.
