1940: Theatre Research

Theatre Research is an organization set up Nov. 1, 1940, by the Rockefeller Foundation in association with Vassar College and in cooperation with the Federal Works Projects Administration, to make available to the general public the history of the Federal Theatre Project, first government-subsidized and operated theatre in the United States. The staff, headed by Hallie Flanagan, former national director of Federal Theatre, assisted by Emmet Lavery, playwright and former head of the National Service Bureau of the Federal Theatre, completed as of Dec. 31, 1940, the following work:

Arena: An Adventure in the American Theatre, by Hallie Flanagan, published on Dec. 12, 1940, a definitive history of the Federal Theatre from its inception to its end. The appendix includes a list of some 1,200 productions of Federal Theatre over a four-year period, a financial statement of expenditures and income, and an extensive bibliography of books and articles on the project. Upon its publication Arena was reviewed by dramatic and literary critics for its historic and sociological as well as for its theatre value.

The Flexible Stage, by Emmet Lavery, to be published in 1941, a short study of techniques developed on Federal Theatre, including chapters on Living Newspaper, Negro Drama, Religious Drama, Children's Theatre, and Musical Productions.

Documented History of Federal Theatre, by Hal Kopel, to be offered as a doctor's thesis at Northwestern University.

Theatre for Tomorrow, edited by Emmet Lavery, published 1940. Appendix material represents revisions of Catholic drama surveys of National Service Bureau.

All of the research for the various volumes was based on a special loan collection of Federal Theatre records loaned by the Government, at the request of the President of the United States. See also DRAMA.

1939: Theatre Research

Theatre Research, an organization established Nov. 1, 1939, by the Rockefeller Foundation in association with Vassar College and in cooperation with the Federal Work Projects Administration, to index and prepare for public use a special loan collection of Federal Theatre records. Hallie Flanagan, former national director of Federal Theatre, is director of the staff of Theatre Research and Emmet Lavery, playwright, is assistant director. A working library has been established in Blodgett Hall at Vassar College, where special research appraisals are now being made of the experiments and productions of the Federal Theatre.

The work of Theatre Research will cover four main fields:

(1) The preparation of a report summarizing the four years' work of Federal Theatre; (2) the publication of special bulletins describing the expansion of new techniques in design and production introduced by the Federal Theatre, among them the Living Newspaper; (3) the completion of various pieces of theatre research begun by the Federal Theatre, especially in the field of religious drama, community drama, children's theatre and modern stage lighting; (4) the indexing of Federal Theatre records so that eventually they may be available for examination by students of the theatre at any convenient center.

The designation of Vassar College as the initial center of Federal Theatre research was made at the direction of President Roosevelt. Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken, President of Vassar College, accepted the designation as a recognition of the close association of Vassar College with the Federal Theatre, which began in October 1935 when Mrs. Flanagan went from her post as director of the Experimental Theatre at Vassar to that of director of Federal Theatre.