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Washington Square Players
Washington Square Players (New York). When, in 1914, an intellectual group known as the Liberal Club rejected the idea of a dramatic branch, several disappointed members banded together to organize their own theatrical company. The founders included Edward Goodman, Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, and Helen Westley. They patterned their organization after one founded in Chicago by Maurice Browne and named it for the area in which it originated. In 1915 they began to offer one‐act plays at the tiny Bandbox Theatre, a year later moving to the larger Comedy Theatre, where they eventually presented a number of full‐length plays. Although the Players attempted to emphasize American writing and did produce such short works as Eugene O'Neill's In the Zone and Elmer Rice's Home of the Free, many of their most admired mountings were of such foreign offerings as Maeterlinck's Aglavaine, Chekhov's The Seagull, and Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. The group was dissolved in 1918 but during its brief history gave important starts to the careers of such later significant figures as Katharine Cornell, Rollo Peters, and Lee Simonson. Many of its prime movers formed the Theatre Guild shortly afterwards.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Washington Square Players." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Washington Square Players." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-WashingtonSquarePlayers.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Washington Square Players." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-WashingtonSquarePlayers.html |
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Washington Square Theatre
Washington Square Theatre, New York, on West 4th Street, shed-like corrugated-steel building designed by Jo Mielziner, built as the temporary home of the Lincoln Center repertory company pending the completion of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. It opened in 1964 with Arthur Miller's After the Fall directed by Elia Kazan, who had been appointed co-director of the new company. It was followed by a revival of O'Neill's Marco Millions and by a new play, But for Whom Charlie, by S. N. Behrman. The venture was not a success, and in 1965 the company moved to its permanent home at the Lincoln Center. From Nov.1965 to Mar. 1968 the Washington Square Theatre was occupied by a musical, Man of La Mancha, based on Cervantes' Don Quixote. It was demolished in 1968.
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WashingtonSquareTheatre.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WashingtonSquareTheatre.html |
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Washington Square Players
Washington Square Players, New York, play-producing society founded in 1914 by a group which included Lawrence Langner. Their first programme, in 1915, consisted of a number of one-act plays, some of them specially written for the occasion. In 1916 they began to present full-length plays, among them Chekhov's The Seagull, Ibsen's Ghosts, and Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession. In the same year they moved to the Comedy Theatre, where their productions included O'Neill's one-act play In the Zone (1917) and Elmer Rice's Home of the Free (1918). Katharine Cornell made her first professional appearances with them, and Lee Simonson also began his career there. They disbanded in 1918, but it was out of their work that the Theatre Guild evolved.
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Players." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Players." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WashingtonSquarePlayers.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Washington Square Players." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WashingtonSquarePlayers.html |
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