Academy Theatre is an American drama anthology television series that aired on NBC from July 25, 1949, to September 12, 1949.^[1] It ran for eight weeks as the summer replacement for Chevrolet on Broadway.^[2]

The series utilized a different cast each week who appeared in short works by established playwrights. The plays were broadcast live from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday nights.^[2]

In April 1949, Charles R. Denny, NBC executive vice-president and a graduate of Amherst College, arranged for a production of Julius Caesar to be broadcast to 14 cities nationwide. The play was performed by the Amherst College Masquers and directed by F. Curtis Canfield, a professor at Amherst and director of Amherst's Kirby Theatre. The broadcast marked the first time that an entire play by Shakespeare aired on television.^[5]

During the following summer, Canfield (who would later become the first dean of the Yale School of Drama), again collaborated with NBC to bring a series of one-act plays to the network. Academy Theatre was the result.^[6]

During a sabbatical as an NBC producer, Canfield convinced the network to create Masterpiece Playhouse, one-hour productions of seven classic plays including Hedda Gabler, Uncle Vanya, and Othello. Broadcast in 1950, each play was produced for the "heavy-budget" sum of $10,000.^[7]

Canfield was the producer, and Mark Hawley was the director.^[8]

After two episodes of the show had been broadcast, a reviewer wrote in The New York Times that broadcasting of Academy Theatre "is certainly a move by which both the industry and the audience will be served."^[8] Adams commended the initial presentation, The Stolen Prince, despite pointing out its flaws, because "many viewers in the television audience might now have some conception of Chinese drama".^[8] Adams said that the second episode, Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers, "had a refreshing charm seldom achieved by a television production."^[8]

A review of "The Drums of Oude" in the trade publication Variety described the episode as "pretty academic", adding, "There was hardly a trace of real emotion or suspense in this drama ...".^[9] The review placed most of the blame on "an uninspiring script" laden with stereotypes.^[9] Additionally, the review concluded, "... the staging was inept and the cast phony and stiff."^[9]