“In the years before managers could dim auditorium lights and keep audiences in darkness during a performance, culture and politics met head-on in 19th century American theatres. Endowed with a conviction in their ‘natural right’ of self-expression, audiences would attack bad acting, poor plays and, more commonly, English actors.” That conviction, combined with good old American anti-elitism, ultimately led to the deadly riots outside New York’s Astor Place Opera House in 1849.