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Stage Women's War Relief
An organization of relief by women in New York City during WWI, where woman volunteered and provided soldiers and troops in Europe with hospital supplies, clothing, entertainment, loan drives and stage performances. Also, those women opened a canteen for soldiers and sailors in New York City in 1918. (The New York Public Library). This War Relief brought joy to soldiers not having to worry about their next meal. -
Rachel Crothers (1878-1958)
Was a very successful playwright given the time period for her plays He and She, Susan and God, and When Ladies Meet. Susan and God won the Theatre Gold metal. Crothers also founded Stage Women's Relief Fund. (Encyclopedia Britannica and Brockett 183). Crothers directed her own work also. -
The Emperor Jones
Emperor Jones was a play written by Eugene O'Neill. The play is about Brutus Jones, a fugitive from justice who cons the natives of a small West Indies island into making him their Emperor. The play was the first time an African American actor played the lead in an American drama. (Hayes 2016). -
Zona Gale(1874-1938)
The first female playwright to win the Pulitzer award for her hard-work drama on Miss Lulu Bett. (Brockett 183). Gale was one of few fiction writers of her time to write contemporary stories emphasizing local color, customs and the depiction of ordinary people. (Wisconsin Historical Society). -
American Laboratory Theatre
American Lab Theatre was a school located in New York, about 500 students attended there. Founded by Richard Boleslavski and Maria Ouspenskya.It was known as the school, "where, for the first time, the technique of acting according to the Moscow Art Theatre was being taught to American students. (Willis 112). -
Group Theatre
Founded by former students of the American Laboratory Theatre and modeled Moscow Art Theatre. (Brockett 182). After the next ten years, it was the most respected theatre in the US. (Brockett 182). During the depression, the Group Theatre presented critical productions on Broadway. (Brockett 182). Many members of Group Theatre gained fed internal dissension within the company and disbanded in 1941. (Brockett 182). -
Federal Theatre
Was most active in New York. (Brockett 181). Best remembered for the Living Newspaper. (Brockett 181).Congress created the Federal Theatre Project to provide work for theater professionals during the Great Depression. (Becker 2002). The Project was funded under the WPA and directed on the national level by Vassar College drama professor Hallie Flanagan (1890-1969). (Becker 2002).Congress responded to accusations of racial integration and Communism infiltration and cancelled it in 1939. (182). -
Theatre and Its Double
The Theatre and its Double is a collection of essays by Artaud that expressed his major ideas about Theatre. (Brockett 188). He stated "The theatre has been created to drain abscess collectively. (Brockett 188). According to Artaud, theatre in the Western world has been restricted to a narrow range of human experience, primarily psychological problems of individuals or social problems in groups. (Brockett 188). -
Our Town
By Thornton Wilder. Features numerous nonrealistic techniques: the use of an on-stage assistant or stage manager to facilitate the action, visual emphasis on costume rather than scenery. (Brockett 180.) Wilder uses nonrealistic theatricalism, he uses it to clearly understandable subject matter. (Brockett 180). Set in a small town of America, Our Town depicts the archetypal patterns and life cycles that underline human experience. (Brockett 180 and 181). -
American Negro Theatre
Formed by Abram Hill, Frederick O’Neal, and other actors in Harlem, New York in 1940, the American Negro Theatre was an outgrowth of the illustrious Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in Harlem. (Hill para 1). One of the main goals was to develop a permanent acting company trained in the arts and crafts of the theatre that also reflected the special gifts, talents, and attributes of African Americans. It was hosted in a basement for awhile. (Hill para 1).