John Alleyn, an innholder and stage player, who might have been best known even in his own day as the brother of the stage player, Edward Alleyn, deposed in a 1589–90 lawsuit in the Court of Chancery on behalf of Margaret Brayne, widow of John Brayne, a financier of the Theatre and brother-in-law of James Burbage, against whom the suit was filed. Alleyn was one of four deponents who answered interrogatories for both parties. Speaking to the widow's questions on 6 February 1592, Alleyn acknowledged knowing that the suit concerned the division of profits from the playhouse and contiguous buildings and that an arbitration had formerly been sought. Alleyn did not know details of the payments related to the arbitrated award, but he had witnessed encounters on divers occasions when the widow and an ally, Robert Myles, came to the Theatre to claim the Braynes' share. On one occasion in particular, Alleyn arrived just after Richard Burbage had chased them away with a broomstick.