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Margo Jones (December 12, 1911 – July 24, 1955), nicknamed the "Texas Tornado", was an American stage director and
producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
, best known for launching the American regional theater movement and for introducing the
theater-in-the-round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...
concept in
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...
. In 1947, she established the first regional professional company when she opened Theatre '47 in Dallas. Of the 85 plays Jones staged during her Dallas career, 57 were new, and one-third of those new plays had a continued life on stage, television, and radio. Jones played an important role in the early careers of a range of playwrights, such as
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...
, William Inge, Joseph Hayes,
Jerome Lawrence Jerome Lawrence (born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz; July 14, 1915 – February 29, 2004) was an American playwright and author. After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1937 and the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939, Lawrence pa ...
, and
Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
.


Early career

Born Margaret Virginia Jones in
Livingston, Texas Livingston is a town in and the county seat of Polk County, Texas. With a population of 5,640 at the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Polk County. It is located about 46 miles south of Lufkin and was originally settled in 1835 as ...
, Jones worked in community and professional theaters in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
,
Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
, and New York City. "Since 1936, Margo Jones had served as assistant director of the Federal Theatre in Houston, traveled to Soviet Russia for a festival at the Moscow Art Theatre, and founded and directed the Houston Community Theatre. She had recently joined the faculty of the University of Texas's drama department in Austin (around 1942)." She traveled internationally, experiencing theater abroad, and eventually gained commercial success on Broadway as co-director of the original production of ''
The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, ...
'' by Tennessee Williams. She directed Williams' '' Summer and Smoke'', a flop in its first production, but highly regarded years later. After she directed
Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...
's successful ''
Joan of Lorraine ''Joan of Lorraine'' is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. Plot It is about a company of actors who stage a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc, and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical ''Man of La Mancha'' ...
'', starring
Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary '' Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is ofte ...
as
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the corona ...
, she was fired during the
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, tryout. However, her name remained on the marquee and playbills, and no other director was ever credited for the production. All three plays were filmed. Bergman repeated her Joan of Lorraine role in ''
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the corona ...
'' (1948), for which she was Oscar-nominated.
Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acad ...
was Oscar-nominated for her performance in ''Summer and Smoke'' (1961). Since 1950, at least five different film/TV productions of ''The Glass Menagerie'' have been made.


Theater '47

The success of ''The Glass Menagerie'' allowed her to take the next step toward her dream of running a repertory theatre outside of New York. She moved back to Dallas and opened Theatre '47. The theater changed its name to the corresponding year every New Year's Eve, but according to the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', was more often simply called "Margo's". Her theater was in the sleek "Magnolia Lounge" (
Magnolia Petroleum Company The Magnolia Petroleum Company was an early twentieth century petroleum company in Texas. The company was established in 1911, being later acquired by the Standard Oil of New York, which operated it as a wholly-owned subsidiary until its demis ...
, later Mobil Oil) building, designed by Swiss-born architect William Lescaze, in 1936 for the Texas Centennial and situated on the grounds of
Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for th ...
in Dallas. The theater was America's first modern nonprofit professional resident theater, and also the first professional arena theater (theater-in-the-round) in the country. Jones was inspired by
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's Depression-era National Theater Project and the European arts movement, which she had experienced directly during the 1930s. The resident company was dedicated to staging new plays and classics of world theater rather than revivals of past Broadway hits. The initial season introduced William Inge's first play, ''
Farther Off from Heaven ''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' is a 1957 play by William Inge about family conflicts during the early 1920s in a small Oklahoma town. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1958 and was made into a film of the same name in 196 ...
'', later revised as ''
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs ''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' is a 1957 play by William Inge about family conflicts during the early 1920s in a small Oklahoma town. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1958 and was made into a film of the same name in 196 ...
''. Though touring shows did exist at this time, no quality professional American theatre companies existed outside of New York. Jones believed in the decentralization of theater. She wanted her art to exist all across America, beyond the realm of commercialized Broadway, and this was a key component in the start of the regional-theatre movement. She reasoned, "If we succeeded in inspiring the operation of 30 theatres like ours, the playwright won't need Broadway." Playwrights Inge,
Jerome Lawrence Jerome Lawrence (born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz; July 14, 1915 – February 29, 2004) was an American playwright and author. After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1937 and the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939, Lawrence pa ...
, and Robert E. Lee championed this sentiment when they received their first big breaks from Jones' Dallas theater. Jones envisioned it as a place where actors, writers, and technicians could have steady jobs and not be subject to the problems found in the volatile New York scene. When the Ford Foundation began giving grants outside of New York during the 1950s, the movement gathered momentum and Theatre '47 became the model of how to build a new company. In her book ''Theatre-in-the-Round'', Jones outlined inexpensive methods to enable companies to get started, detailing valuable information on subscription sales, board development, programming, actor/artist relations, and other issues relevant to new regional-theatre companies. Her theater-in-the-round concept requires no stage curtain or little scenery, and allows the audience to sit on three sides of the stage. The physical space also requires particularly skilled blocking, directing, and acting: "Its mistakes are mistakes seen very close up." Theater-in-the-round staging was used for well-known shows as the original stage production of ''
Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cerva ...
'', and all plays staged at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre (demolished in the late 1960s), including
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 ...
's autobiographical play '' After the Fall'' (1964), and through to this day.


Later career

For eight years, Jones balanced her career between Broadway and regional projects. In Dallas, she staged the world premiere of
Jerome Lawrence Jerome Lawrence (born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz; July 14, 1915 – February 29, 2004) was an American playwright and author. After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1937 and the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939, Lawrence pa ...
and Robert E. Lee's '' Inherit the Wind'', a fictionalized retelling of the Scopes monkey trial, after it had been rejected by several Broadway producers. The play received rave reviews and subsequently opened on Broadway in April 1955, where it became a major hit. ''Inherit the Wind'' become an Oscar-nominated film in 1960 and has been revived as a TV special three times.


Death

On July 17, 1955, Jones invited friends over to a party, but during the party she spilled paint on the carpet, so her secretary later brought professional cleaners to deal with it. They used
carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as tetrachloromethane, also recognised by the IUPAC, carbon tet in the cleaning industry, Halon-104 in firefighting, and Refrigerant-10 in HVACR) is an organic compound with the chemi ...
, a strong solvent commonly used in dry-cleaning processes at the time. Jones, satisfied with the cleaning, fell asleep into the night. Unfortunately, some carbon tetrachloride had been absorbed into the carpet and later evaporated, filling her home with toxic fumes. She woke up dizzy; the gas was later found to have caused
kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
. She was then found unconscious on the couch resting and she was rushed to hospital, but died a week later. According to her friends, she briefly regained consciousness and found out she was going to die, and made elaborate preparations for her burial, including asking her friends to dress her properly and grooming her for her funeral. She died July 24, 1955, at the age of 43, never realizing what killed her. In 1959, her theater was closed.


Legacy

Jones' innovative ideas inspired the growth of numerous resident companies, and made experiencing the art she loved possible for regions across America. In 1950–55, producer
Albert McCleery Albert McCleery (December 30, 1911 – May 13, 1972) was an American pioneering television producer during the 1950s. He had a reputation "as an innovative contributor to some of television's most esteemed theatrical productions". McCleery was ...
brought the concept of theater-in-the-round to television with his '' Cameo Theatre''. The Margo Jones Award was established in 1961 by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The theater space inside the Magnolia Lounge building has been renamed the Margo Jones Theatre to honor Jones and is the home to several small theater groups. The television series '' Curious & Unusual Deaths'' features an episode in season two about Jones' death.


Television

In 2006, a
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
about her life and career, ''Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater'', was shown on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...
. With Jones portrayed by
Judith Ivey Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She has twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for '' Steaming'' (1981) and '' Hurlyburly'' (1984). She has also appeared in several fil ...
, the film dramatized scenes from her life, adapted from her letters and correspondence with Broadway producers and Tennessee Williams (portrayed by
Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), Americ ...
). The film features interviews with people who worked with her, including actor
Ray Walston Herman Raymond Walston (November 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was an American actor and comedian, well known as the title character on '' My Favorite Martian''. His other major film, television, and stage roles included Luther Billis (''South Pac ...
, who got his first big break in the original production of ''Summer and Smoke''.


Stage productions


Listen to


Clips of interviews
with Albert J. Devlin,
Judith Ivey Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She has twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for '' Steaming'' (1981) and '' Hurlyburly'' (1984). She has also appeared in several fil ...
, Helen Sheehy, and Jerome Weeks conducted by Kay Cattarulla and Rob Tranchin fo
''Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater''


Book

*


Sources

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References


External links

*
Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater (1 hour documentary)
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Margo 1911 births 1955 deaths Accidental deaths in Texas American theatre directors American theatre managers and producers People from Livingston, Texas 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen Deaths by poisoning Deaths from kidney failure