NOAH, MORDECAI MANUEL. The Fortress of Sorrento: A Petit Historical Drama, in Two Acts.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

D. Longworth

New York

1808

FIRST EDITION.

Singerman 185

The first play written by a Jew in the United States of America. Noah's first published work. At the age of twenty-three, Noah wrote for an amateur theatrical company this historical drama “Fortress of Sorrento.” During his lifetime Noah enjoyed the reputation as perhaps America’s most popular playwright. The second play written by an American Jew would be Isaac Harby's Gordian Knot (Charleston, 1810). For a discussion of the early 19th-century American Jewish playwrights, see EJ, Vol. XV, col. 1569. The multi-faceted Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) of Portuguese Jewish descent, had deep roots in Revolutionary America. His father took an active part in the War of Independence. Indeed, it is thought that George Washington was present at the wedding of Noah’s parents. Today, Noah is remembered for his utopian dream of establishing a Jewish colony, “Ararat,” on Grand Island, New York (near Niagara Falls). At various times in his long, colorful career, Noah served as playwright, newspaper editor, and American Consul to Tunis. See JE, Vol. IX, pp. 323-4; EJ, Vol. XII cols. 1198-99.