Federal Theatre Project

Federal Theatre Project, operated (1936–39) by the Works Progress Administration as a measure for the relief of unemployed actors and other workers in the theater. Directed by Hallie Flanagan, who had been active in the little‐theater movement, the Project's activities were stimulated by little‐theater developments. Production units were established throughout the U.S., employing as many as 13,000 workers at one time. Some 1200 plays, by both foreign and native authors, were produced, and the aim was to supplement commercial theaters with groups presenting legitimate drama at low prices, often to audiences that had grown unaccustomed to live theater. Perhaps the most important achievement was the development of an experimental form, “The Living Newspaper,” created in New York City under the editorship of Arthur Arent. Among these plays, dramatizing contemporary social and political problems by the use of quotations from newspapers and public addresses, and employing new mechanical devices, were Triple A Plowed Under (1936), Injunction Granted (1936), Power (1937), and “…one‐third of a nation …” (1938). Other successful productions included T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, marionette plays for children, Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here, and black productions of such works as Macbeth and The Mikado. Two series of Federal Theatre Plays were published (1938), and Arena (1940) by Hallie Flanagank is a history of the Project.