The Blog
12.21.11 Living Newspapers and the Federal Theatre Project
Most Americans have heard of the New Deal – it was a drastic reform measure in the early years of the Great Depression designed to provide jobs for out-of-work Americans and turn the economy around. Then and now it was a controversial package of programs. While some cheered the jobs and infrastructural reforms it created, others condemned
it for creating a government too big for its own britches. Regardless of which side of the argument you come down on, we can be certain of one thing – from a research standpoint, there were some pretty interesting programs that came out of this.
With the possible exception of the Social Security Administration, the WPA (Works Progress Administration and later the Work Projects Administration) is one of the best known programs of this era. This was where a lot of the job creation came from. To me, one of the most interesting facets of this came out of Federal #1. Federal #1 was an initiative that created jobs for artists, writers, and actors. You may remember an earlier post about the American guide series. This was part of the Federal Writers Project. What I’m going to talk about today also came out of Federal #1 – the Federal Theatre Project.
Like the Writers Project, the Theatre Project was designed to create jobs for actors, playwrights, technicians, and others involved in the theatre. Almost immediately, one of the biggest concerns was what in the world to do with all of the actors out there. There were far more actors than there were plays and characters. A solution came pretty quickly and one of the more well-known projects of the FWP was born – the Living Newspaper. These were pretty cool. Those involved in the program would read the newspapers of the day and write plays based on those topics. This meant that not only was there and endless supply of new things to write about, but that the plays would be relevant and interesting to audiences.
Many of the people involved were not afraid to stir up a little controversy. Living Newspapers were done about labor issues, the fight against syphilis, and farm policy. Generally speaking, these plays were from a fairly left-wing standpoint, a standpoint that not all members of audiences agreed with. When the program was created, WPA Dir
ector Harry Hopkins said that it was to be “a free, adult, uncensored” theatre. Program directors did their best to keep it this way, although the topics of their plays were often met with disapproval, both by the people and the government itself. For example, the State Department wasn’t crazy about the portrayals of foreign leaders in some of these plays.
Regardless, the program ran from 1935 through 1939, when it was cancelled due to lack of funding. It may not be quite as well-remembered as programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Public Works Administration, but it certainly left quite a legacy. Ever heard of Orson Welles? Arthur Miller? Both worked on the project.
Another legacy is the plays themselves. And we’ve got a few of them! One example is a collection of federal theatre plays: Triple-A plowed under, Power: a living newspaper, and Spirochete. All are Living Newspapers and pretty interesting to read. You can find the book at the State Library at p.d. 820.1 Un58fe. The images in this post come from that volume.
For previous entries, see the Archive.
.gif){kind=small}