Frederic Lansing Day was an American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
b. September 28, 1890 in
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
d. 1981 in
Wilton, New Hampshire. Frederic Day, the son of Henry Brown Day, the founder of the Day Trust Company, was a
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and
Unitarian
Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to:
Christian and Christian-derived theologies
A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism:
* Unitarianism (1565–present ...
. He graduated from
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1912 and married Katharine Munroe (b. 1891 d. 1956) whom he later divorced. They had a home built in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...
in 1920. He later remarried to Frances Palfrey (b.1909 d. 2004). Frederic Day worked briefly as a journalist and as an employee in his father's bank. He published at least four plays: ''The Makers of Light: A Play in Three Parts'' (1925) originally produced by The 47 Workshop of
Harvard and published by
Brentano's, ''The Slump'' (1920), also produced by The 47 Workshop, Heaven is Deep, and The fall of the house of Usher: a dramatization in seven scenes of Edgar Allan Poe's short story.
Makers of Light
Makers of Light is a drama copyrighted by Day in 1920 and published in 1925. It was first shown at the Agassiz House Theater in Cambridge Nov. 25, 1921. The cast consisted of F.C. Packard, Jr., Angela Morris, Edith Coburn Noyes, Dorothy Sands, Oviatt McConnell, Henry Carlton, James Daly, F.L. Strong, Norman Clark, E.P. Goodnow and Robert Bushnell. It opened at the
Neighborhood Playhouse
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
of
New York City
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 U ...
, the Little Theater of Cleveland and the Play House of Cleveland.
"Makers of Light, when originally produced by the 47 Workshop made so deep an impression that later it was played at the Neighborhood Playhouse, New York City. Here it was again praised for its sincerity, subtle characterization of the chief figures and its power. Given at the Little Theater, Clevland, in the winter of 1924, it was revived the following autumn." -Professor George P. Barker
The dedication to the Makers of Light reads, ''"To my father; For his affection in spite of disapproval, his loyalty in spite of disbelief."''
External links
Small-Cast One-Act Guide OnlineInternet Broadway Database: Makers of Light
(information on residency in Cambridge)
Munroe, Katherine Langdon, 1891-1956
1886 births
1982 deaths
Yale University alumni
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
{{US-playwright-stub