The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

program established during the Great Depression as part of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It was one of five

Federal Project Number One Federal Project Number One, also referred to as Federal One, is the collective name for a group of projects under the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program in the United States. Of the $4.88 billion allocated by the Emergency Relief ...

projects sponsored by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...

, created not as a cultural activity but as a relief measure to employ artists, writers, directors, and theater workers. National director

Hallie Flanagan Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1889 in Redfield, South Dakota – June 23, 1969 in Old Tappan, New Jersey) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a ...

shaped the FTP into a federation of regional theaters that created relevant art, encouraged experimentation in new forms and techniques, and made it possible for millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time. As a drama professor at Vassar college, Hallie Flanagan was chosen to head the Federal Theatre Project. Although The Federal Theatre project consumed only 0.5% of the allocated budget from the WPA and was widely considered a commercial and critical success, the project became a source of heated political contention. Congress responded to accusations of racial integration and Communism infiltration and cancelled its funding as of June 30, 1939.

Background

Part of the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Theatre Project was a New Deal program established August 27, 1935, funded under the

Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 The Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed on April 8, 1935, as a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. It was a large public works program that included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Administration (PWA), t ...

. Of the $4.88 billion allocated to the WPA, $27 million was approved for the employment of

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...

musicians A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who ...

writers A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and actors under the WPA's

. Government relief efforts funding theatre through the

Federal Emergency Relief Administration The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Ad ...

and

Civil Works Administration The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...

in the two preceding years were amateur experiments regarded as charity, not a theatre program. The Federal Theatre Project was a new approach to unemployment in the theatre profession. Only those certified as employable could be offered work, and that work was to be within the individual's defined skills and trades. "For the first time in the relief experiments of this country the preservation of the skill of the worker, and hence the preservation of his self-respect, became important," wrote

, director of the Federal Theatre Project. A theater professor at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely fol ...

who had studied the operation of government-sponsored theatre abroad for the Guggenheim Foundation, WPA head

Harry Hopkins Harry Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before servi ...

selected Flanagan to head the Federal Theatre Project. Flanagan and Hopkins had been classmates at

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalism in the United States, Congrega ...

. Roosevelt and Hopkins selected her despite considerable pressure to choose someone from the commercial theatre industry; they believed the project should be led by someone with academic credentials and a national perspective. Flanagan had the daunting task of building a nationwide theater program to employ thousands of unemployed artists in as little time as possible. The Theatre industry had struggled financially prior to the financial collapse of 1929. By that time it was already threatened with extinction due to the growing popularity of films and radio, but the commercial theatre was reluctant to adapt its practices. Many actors, technicians and stagehands had suffered since

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide schedule ...

, when movies began to replace

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

and other live stage performances nationwide. Sound motion pictures displaced 30,000 musicians. In the Great Depression, people with little money for entertainment found an entire evening of entertainment at the movies for 25 cents, while commercial theatre charged $1.10 to $2.20 admission to cover the cost of theater rental, advertising and fees to performers and union technicians. Unemployed directors, actors, designers, musicians and stage crew took any kind of work they were able to find, whatever it paid, and charity was often their only recourse. "This is a tough job we're asking you to do," Hopkins told Flanagan at their first meeting in May 1935. "I don't know why I still hang on to the idea that unemployed actors get just as hungry as anybody else." Hopkins promised "a free, adult, uncensored theatre" — something Flanagan spent the next four years trying to build. She emphasized the development of local and regional theatre, "to lay the foundation for the development of a truly creative theatre in the United States with outstanding producing centers in each of those regions which have common interests as a result of geography, language origins, history, tradition, custom, occupations of the people."

Operation

On October 24, 1935, Flanagan prefaced her instructions on the Federal Theatre's operation with a statement of purpose:

The primary aim of the Federal Theatre Project is the reemployment of theatre workers now on public relief rolls: actors, directors, playwrights, designers, vaudeville artists, stage technicians, and other workers in the theatre field. The far reaching purpose is the establishment of theatres so vital to community life that they will continue to function after the program of this Federal Project is completed.

Within a year the Federal Theatre Project employed 15,000 men and women, paying them $23.86 a week while the Actors Equity Association's minimum was $40.00. These men and women would only do six performances a week and have only four hours per day to rehearse. During its nearly four years of existence 30 million people attended FTP productions in more than 200 theaters nationwide — renting many that had been shuttered — as well as parks, schools, churches, clubs, factories, hospitals and closed-off streets. Its productions totaled approximately 1,200, not including its radio programs. Because the Federal Theatre was created to employ and train people, not to generate revenue, no provision was made for the receipt of money when the project began. At its conclusion, 65 percent of its productions were still presented free of charge. The total cost of the Federal Theatre Project was $46 million. "In any consideration of the cost of the Federal Theatre," Flanagan wrote, "it should be borne in mind that the funds were allotted, according to the terms of the Relief Act of 1935, to pay wages to unemployed people. Therefore, when Federal Theatre was criticized for spending money, it was criticized for doing what it was set up to do." The FTP established five regional centers in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

(Northeast),

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

(Midwest),

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

(West), and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

The project in Alabama was closed in January 1937 when its personnel were transferred to a new unit in Georgia. Only one event was presented in Arkansas. Units created in Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin were closed in 1936; projects in Indiana, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Texas were discontinued in 1937; and the Iowa project was closed in 1938. Many of the notable artists of the time participated in the Federal Theatre Project, including

Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known ...

who served as Midwest bureau director. The legacy of the Federal Theatre Project can also be found in beginning the careers of a new generation of theater artists.

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' (19 ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with directo ...

Martin Ritt Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater, noted for his socially conscious films. Some of the films he directed include '' The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958), '' The Black ...

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted ...

Marc Blitzstein Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro- union musical '' The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the ...

and

Abe Feder Abraham Hyman Feder (July 27, 1908, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – April 24, 1997, Manhattan, New York) was an American lighting designer. He is regarded as the creator of lighting design for the theatre and was the country's leading consultant in archi ...

are among those who became established, in part, through their work in the Federal Theatre. Blitzstein, Houseman, Welles and Feder collaborated on the controversial production, ''

The Cradle Will Rock ''The Cradle Will Rock'' is a 1937 play in music by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman. A Brechtian allegory of corruption and corporate greed, it ...

''.

Living Newspaper

Living Newspaper Living Newspaper is a term for a theatrical form presenting factual information on current events to a popular audience. Historically, Living Newspapers have also urged social action (both implicitly and explicitly) and reacted against naturali ...

s were plays written by teams of researchers-turned-playwrights. These men and women clipped articles from newspapers about current events, often hot button issues like

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

policy, syphilis testing, the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

, and housing inequity. These newspaper clippings were adapted into plays intended to inform audiences, often with

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...

or left-wing themes.< '' Triple-A Plowed Under,'' for instance, attacked the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

for killing an aid agency for farmers. These politically themed plays quickly drew criticism from members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. Although the undisguised political invective in the Living Newspaper productions sparked controversy, they also proved popular with audiences. As an art form, the Living Newspaper is perhaps the Federal Theatre's most well-known work. Problems with the Federal Theatre Project and Congress intensified when the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...

objected to the first Living Newspaper, ''Ethiopia'', about

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

and his nation's struggles against

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

's invading Italian forces. The U.S. government soon mandated that the FTP, a government agency, could not depict foreign heads of state on the stage for fear of diplomatic backlash. Playwright and director

Elmer Rice Elmer Rice (born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein, September 28, 1892 – May 8, 1967) was an American playwright. He is best known for his plays ''The Adding Machine'' (1923) and his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of New York tenement life, ''Street Sce ...

, head of the New York office of the FTP, resigned in protest and was succeeded by his assistant, Philip W. Barber.

New productions

Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. File:Triple-A-Plowed-Under-Poster-1.jpg File:Injunction-Granted-Poster-1936.jpg File:Power-Living-Newspaper-Poster-1937.jpg File:One-Third-of-a-Nation-Poster-1.jpg File:Spirochete-Poster-1938.jpg File:One-Third-of-a-Nation-Poster-2.jpg

African-American theatre

Capitalizing on the FTP's national network and inherent diversity of artists, the Federal Theatre established specific chapters dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the work of previously under represented artists. Including the French Theatre in Los Angeles, the German Theater in New York City, and the Negro Theatre Unit which had several chapters across the country, with its largest office in New York City. The FTP set up 17 so-called Negro Theatre Units (NTU) in cities throughout the United States. The NTU had additional offices in Hartford, Boston, Salem, Newark, and Philadelphia in the East; Seattle Portland, and Los Angeles in the West; Cleveland, Detroit, Peoria, and Chicago in the Midwest; and Raleigh, Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans in the South. There were additional units in San Francisco Oklahoma, Durham, Camden, and Buffalo. By the project's conclusion 22 American cities had served as headquarters for black theater units. The New York Negro Theatre Unit was the most well known. Two of the four federal theaters in New York City—Lafayette Theatre and the Negro Youth Theater— were dedicated to the Harlem community with the intention of developing unknown theatre artists. Both theatre projects were headquartered at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, where some 30 plays were presented. The first was Frank H. Wilson's folk drama, ''Walk Together Chillun'' (1936), about the deportation of 100 African-Americans from the South to the North to work for low wages. The second was ''Conjur' Man Dies'' (1936), a comedy-mystery adapted by

Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole family. His ...

and

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Childhood Countee LeRoy Porter ...

from

Rudolph Fisher Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (May 9, 1897 – December 26, 1934) was an American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. His father was John Wesley Fisher, a clergyman, his mother was Glendora W ...

's novel. The most popular production was the third, which came to be called the ''

Voodoo Macbeth The Voodoo ''Macbeth'' is a common nickname for the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''. Orson Welles adapted and directed the production, moved the play's setting from Scotland to a fictiona ...

'' (1936), director

's adaptation of Shakespeare's play set on a mythical island suggesting the Haitian court of King

Henri Christophe Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. Christophe was of Bambara ethnicity in West Africa, and perhaps of Igbo descent. Beginning with ...

. The New York Negro Theatre Unit also oversaw projects from the African American Dance Unit featuring

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

artists displaced by the Ethiopian Crisis. These projects employed over 1,000 black actors and directors. The Negro Actors' Guild of America incorporated on October 1, 1936 in the state of New York. The ten Articles for the Certificate of Incorporation addressed the welfare, appreciation and development of black artists. The Federal Theatre Project was distinguished for its focus on racial injustice. Flanagan expressly ordered her subordinates to follow the WPA policy against racial prejudice. In fact when it came to making decisions on a national level for the project, the Federal Theatre Regulation mandated that "there may be racial representation in all national planning". A specific example of the FTP's adherence to an anti-prejudicial environment came when a white project manager in Dallas was fired for attempted to segregate black and white theater technicians on a railroad car. Additionally, the white assistant director of the project was pulled because "he was unable to work amicably" with the black artists. The FTP overtly sought out relationships with the African American community including Carter Woodson of the

Association for the Study of Negro Life and History The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History. It is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 191 ...

, as well as

Walter White Walter White most often refers to: * Walter White (''Breaking Bad''), character in the television series ''Breaking Bad'' * Walter Francis White (1893–1955), American leader of the NAACP Walter White may also refer to: Fictional characters ...

of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. One of the existing stipulations from the Works Progress Administration for employment in the FTP was prior professional theater experience. However when encountered with 40 young jobless black playwrights national director Hallie Flanagan waived the WPA requirement in the interest of providing a platform and training ground for new young playwrights. During a national conference Flanagan proposed that the leadership of the Harlem chapter of the FTP be led by an African American artist. Rose McClendon, an established actor at the time, publicly argued against this proposal and instead suggested that initially an established white theater artist take the mantle with the understanding and intention of satisfying the WPA's prior professional theater experience clause and giving way to black artists to lead the chapter. This argument from McClendon received support from Edna Thomas, Harry Edwards, Carlton Moss, Abraham Hale Jr., Augusta Smith and Dick Campbell. This crusade for equality eventually became a sticking point for the

Dies Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

, which pulled funding for the Federal Theater Project citing "racial equality forms a vital part of the Communist dictatorship and practices". Macbeth-24-Thomas

New drama productions

Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented.

Standard drama productions

Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. File:Voodoo-Macbeth-Poster.jpg File:Turpentine-poster-1936.jpg File:Noah, a human comedy, WPA poster, 1936.jpg File:Haiti-Poster-Lafayette.jpg File:Emperor Jones 1937.jpg File:Case-of-Philip-Lawrence-Poster.jpg File:Big White Fog.jpg File:Androcles-Poster-1938.jpg

Dance drama

New productions

Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented.

Foreign-language drama

These plays were given their first professional production in the United States by the Federal Theatre Project. Titles are shown as they appeared on event programs. Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented.

New productions

German

Spanish

Yiddish

Radio

The Federal Theatre of the Air began weekly broadcasts March 15, 1936. For three years the radio division of the Federal Theatre Project presented an average of 3,000 programs annually on commercial stations and the NBC, Mutual and CBS networks. The major programs originated in New York; radio divisions were also created in 11 states. Series included ''Professional Parade'', hosted by

Fred Niblo Fred Niblo (born Frederick Liedtke; January 6, 1874 – November 11, 1948) was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer. Biography He was born Frederick Liedtke (several sources give "Frederico Nobile", apparently erroneously) in Yo ...

; ''Experiments in Symphonic Drama'', original stories written for classical music; ''Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera'', the complete works performed by Federal Theatre actors and recordings by D'Oyly Carte; ''Ibsen's Plays'', performances of 12 major plays; ''Repertory Theatre of the Air'', presenting literary classics; ''Contemporary Theatre'', presenting plays by modern authors; and the interview program, ''Exploring the Arts and Sciences''. The radio division presented a wide range of programs on health and safety, art, music and history. The American Legion sponsored

James Truslow Adams James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

's ''Epic of America''. The children's program, ''Once Upon a Time'', and

Paul de Kruif Paul Henry de Kruif (, rhyming with "life") (1890–1971) was an American microbiologist and author of Dutch descent. Publishing as Paul de Kruif, he is most noted for his 1926 book, ''Microbe Hunters''. This book was not only a bestseller for a le ...

's ''Men Against Death'' were both honored by the National Committee for Education by Radio. In March 1939, at the invitation of the BBC, Flanagan broadcast the story of the Federal Theatre Project to Britain. Asked to expand the program to encompass the entire WPA, the radio division produced ''No Help Wanted'', a dramatization by William N. Robson with music by

Leith Stevens Leith Stevens (September 13, 1909 – July 23, 1970) was an American music composer and conductor of radio and film scores. Early life and education Leith Stevens was born in Mount Moriah, Missouri,DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An ...

. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' called it "the best broadcast ever sent us from the Americas".

Federal Dance Project

The Federal Dance Project (FDP) was a short-lived entity that was ultimately absorbed into the Federal Theater Project. Dancer

Helen Tamiris Helen Tamiris (born Helen Becker; April 24, 1905 – August 4, 1966) was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher. Biography Tamiris was born in New York City on April 23, 1902. She adopted Tamiris, her stage name, from a fragment ...

was the central figure of the FDP, which existed as an independent entity from January 1936 until October 1937.

Funding pulled by Congress

In May 1938,

Martin Dies Jr Martin Dies Jr. (November 5, 1900 – November 14, 1972), also known as Martin Dies Sr., was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and after t ...

., director of The House Committee on Un-American Activities specifically targeted the WPA's Federal Theatre Project. Assailing Flanagan's professional character and political affiliations, the committee heard testimony from former Federal Theatre Project members who were unhappy with their tenure with the project. Flanagan testified that the FTP was pro-American in so far as the work celebrated the constitutional freedoms of speech and expression to address the relevant and pressing concerns of its citizens. Citing the Federal Theatre's call for racial equality, impending war, and further perpetuating the rumor that the FTP was a front for radical and communist activities Congress ended federal funding as of June 30, 1939. That immediately putting 8,000 people out of work across the country. Although the overall financial cost of the FTP was minuscule in the grand scheme of the WPA's budget, Congress determined that the average American did not consider theater as a viable recipient of their tax dollars. Following the decision, Flanagan's stepdaughter, Joanne Bentley quoted an unnamed Congressmen saying "Culture! What the Hell—Let 'em have a pick and shovel!" Members of Congress criticized a total of 81 of the Federal Theatre Project's 830 major titles for their content in public statements, committee hearings, on the floor of the Senate or House, or in testimony before Congressional committees. Only 29 were original productions of the Federal Theatre Project. The others included 32 revivals or stock productions; seven plays that were initiated by community groups; five that were never produced by the project; two works of Americana; two classics; one children's play; one Italian translation; and one Yiddish play. The Living Newspapers productions that drew criticism were ''Injunction Granted'', a history of American labor relations; '' One-Third of a Nation'', about housing conditions in New York; ''Power'', about energy from the consumer's point of view; and ''Triple A Plowed Under'', on farming problems in America. Another that was criticized, on the history of medicine, was not completed. Dramas criticized by Congress were ''American Holiday'', about a small-town murder trial; ''Around the Corner'', a Depression-era comedy; ''Chalk Dust'', about an urban high school; ''Class of '29'', the Depression years as seen through young college graduates; ''Created Equal'', a review of American life since colonial times; ''

It Can't Happen Here ''It Can't Happen Here'' is a 1935 dystopian political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. It describes the rise of a United States dictator similar to how Adolf Hitler gained power. The novel was adapted into a play by Lewis and John C. M ...

'',

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which wa ...

's parable of democracy and dictatorship; ''No More Peace'',

Ernst Toller Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic ...

's satire on dictatorships; ''Professor Mamlock'', about Nazi persecution of Jews; ''Prologue to Glory'', about the early life of Abraham Lincoln; ''The Sun and I'', about

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

in Egypt; and ''Woman of Destiny'', about a female President who works for peace. Negro Theatre Unit productions that drew criticism were ''The Case of Philip Lawrence'', a portrait of life in Harlem; ''Did Adam Sin?'', a review of black folklore with music; and ''Haiti'', a play about

Toussaint Louverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

. Also criticized for their content were the dance dramas ''Candide'', from Voltaire; ''How Long Brethren'', featuring songs by future

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

recipient

Lawrence Gellert Lawrence Gellert (1898-1979?), was a music collector, who in the 1920s and 1930s amassed a significant collection of field-recorded African-American blues and spirituals and also claimed to have documented black protest traditions in the South of th ...

; and ''Trojan Incident'', a translation of Euripides with a prologue from Homer. ''Help Yourself'', a satire on high-pressure business tactics, was among the comedies criticized by Congress. Others were ''Machine Age'', about mass production; ''On the Rocks'' by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

; and ''The Tailor Becomes a Storekeeper''. Children's plays singled out were ''Mother Goose Goes to Town'', and ''

Revolt of the Beavers ''Revolt of the Beavers'' was a children's play put on by the Federal Theater Project by Oscar Saul and Louis Lantz. It was originally directed by Peter Hyun, but he was replaced when his actors refused to go Broadway with him, insisting on a nam ...

'', which the ''

New York American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

'' called a "pleasing fantasy for children". The musical ''Sing for Your Supper'' also met with Congressional criticism, although its patriotic finale, " Ballad for Americans", was chosen as the theme song of the 1940 Republican National Convention.

Cultural references

A fictionalized view of the Federal Theatre Project is presented in the 1999 film ''

Cradle Will Rock ''Cradle Will Rock'' is a 1999 American historical drama film written, produced and directed by Tim Robbins. The story fictionalizes the true events that surrounded the development of the 1937 musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'' by Marc Blitzstein; ...

'', in which

Cherry Jones Cherry Jones (born November 21, 1956) is an American actress known for her roles on screen and stage. She has received various accolades for her performances in television and theatre including three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, th ...

portrays Hallie Flanagan.

References

Citations

Cited works

* Goldstein, Malcolm. ''The Political Stage: American Drama and Theater of the Great Depression''. Oxford University Press, 1974. * Jefferson, Miles M. "The Negro on Broadway, 1947-1948". ''Phylon'' (1940–1956), vol. 9, no. 2, 1948, p. 99., doi:10.2307/272176. * Norflett, Linda Kerr. “Rosetta LeNoire: The Lady and Her Theatre". ''Black American Literature Forum'', vol. 17, no. 2, 1983, p. 69., doi:10.2307/2904582. * Pool, Rosey E. "The Negro Actor in Europe". ''Phylon'' (1940–1956), vol. 14, no. 3, 1 Sept. 1953, pp. 258–267. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/271466?refreqid=search-gateway:0a4e4b9a53d893b23f2ee26ce846367f. * Roses, Lorraine Elena. ''Black Bostonians and the Politics of Culture, 1920-1940''. University of Massachusetts Press, 2017. * Shandell, Jonathan. ''The American Negro Theatre and the Long Civil Rights Era''. University of Iowa Press, 2018. * Sheridan, Frank, and Linda Leslie. "A User's Guide to the Federal Theater Project" ''OAH Magazine of History'', vol. 11, no. 2, 1997, pp. 50–52
online

External links

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

*
Coast to Coast: The Federal Theatre Project, 1935–1939
*

* Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

*
Hallie Flanagan papers, 1923–1963
*
Federal Theatre Project designs, 1935–1939
*
Federal Theatre Project lists of plays, 1938
*
WPA Radio Scripts, 1936–1940

at

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...

Federal Theatre Project Collection, 1936–1939, CTC.1979.02, Curtis Theatre Collection
Special Collections Department,

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

BlackPast.org: Federal Theatre Project (Negro Units)

"An Hour Upon the Stage: The Brief Life of Federal Theatre".
''Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities'', July/August 2003

— ''full text plus recreation-for-radio production of the Federal Theater Project drama''.

* ttp://depts.washington.edu/depress/theater_arts_ftp.shtml "Federal Theater Project in Washington State" by Sarah Guthu — ''from the

Great Depression in Washington State Project The Great Depression in Washington State Project is a multimedia web resource based at the University of Washington in Seattle. Created in the context of renewed economic hard times in 2009, the Project includes essays, maps, digitized newspaper a ...

'' {{Authority control National theatres New Deal projects of the arts Theatre in the United States Works Progress Administration New Deal agencies 1935 establishments in Washington, D.C. Government agencies established in 1935 Arts organizations established in 1935 Cultural history of the United States 1939 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.

Background

Operation

Living Newspaper

New productions

African-American theatre

New drama productions

Standard drama productions

Dance drama

New productions

Foreign-language drama

New productions

German

Spanish

Yiddish

Radio

Federal Dance Project

Funding pulled by Congress

Cultural references

References

Citations

Cited works

Further reading

External links