vifgm00020 Guide to the Federal Theatre Project playscript and radioscript collection, 1930s Federal Theatre Project photograph C0002 FINDING AID AUTHOR George Mason University Libraries 2006 By George Mason University Libraries. All rights reserved. Machine-readable finding aid derived from being created directly into EAD, created by FINDING AID ENCODER, FINDING AID ENCODED DATE Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Federal Theatre Project playscript and radioscript collection A Collection in Special Collections and Archives C0002

George Mason University Libraries 2011 Processed by: Special Collections and Archives Staff Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Descriptive Summary George Mason University. Special Collections and Archives. Federal Theatre Project Federal Theatre Project playscript and radioscript collection 1930s C0002 36 linear ft. English The Federal Theatre Project Playscript and Radioscript Collection contains over 200 copied playscripts and radioscripts, written and performed in the 1930s for the Federal Theatre Project. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Federal Theatre Project playscript and radioscript collection, Collection #C0002, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Acquisition Information

Donated by the Federal Theatre Project.

Processing Information

Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff.

Historical Information

The Federal Theatre Project was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided employment for large numbers of artists, writers, and performers during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The Federal Theatre began in 1935 and, until its end in 1939, flourished as the first and only federally sponsored and subsidized theater program in the United States. Directed by Hallie Flanagan (1880-1969), it was a way for theatrical professionals to gain employment during the Depression. Jobs were provided for many people, including actors, playwrights, scene designers, scene builders, seamstresses, lighting experts, ushers, box-office men, and stagehands.

Like many New Deal programs implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Federal Theatre Project was intended not only to benefit its participants, but also to enrich the condition of the nation. Theater was a distinguished part of American popular culture, but the economic downturn of the Depression had bankrupted the entire theater industry. As the theater houses closed down, the nation was left without an outlet for theatrical creativity. According to Hallie Flanagan, this hurt the nation as much as it hurt the theater industry - indeed, the nation was their audience and the theater could provide entertaining distractions from the effects of Depression as well as offer commentary on present conditions.

But it was not enough to simply return to the pre-Depression concept of theater. In the first meeting her staff Flanagan expressed her willingness to follow Roosevelt's experimental approach to public policy: "In a changing world, a world of experiment, the stage too must experiment - with ideas, with the psychological relationship of men and women, with color and light.... The theatre must grow up."

Flanagan pursued her ideal of developing the relationship between the Federal Theatre and the federal government: "Any theatre sponsored by the government of the United States should do no plays of a cheap, trivial, outworn or vulgar nature, but only such plays as the Government can stand proudly behind in a planned theatrical program, national in scope, regional in emphasis, and American in democratic attitude." To Flanagan, it was imperative that this new theater should be progressive and experimental, yet within a patriotic and informative framework.

The productions that best embodied Flanagan's views on theater were the Living Newspapers. These hard-hitting, poignant plays dealt with contemporary factual material, dramatizing issues such as housing, agriculture, labor, and destitution. Always ending on an upbeat note, Living Newspapers underscored the importance of hard work and morality in overcoming difficult times. Living Newspaper titles include: Triple A Plowed Under, Injunction Granted, One Third of a Nation, and Spirocheta.

The Federal Theatre was noted for employing black Americans at a time when the Federal Government did not actively protect the rights of minorities. The "Negro Theater" (as it was called in the 1930s) was an established industry before the Depression, and it greatly contributed to the success of the Federal Theatre Project. Some of the most spectacular productions were put on by black theater professionals, for example: Macbeth, Haiti, Turpentine, Run Little Chillun, and The Trial of Dr. Beck.

Scope and Content

The Federal Theatre Project Playscript and Radioscript Collection contains over 200 copied playscripts and radioscripts, written and performed in the 1930s for the Federal Theatre Project. Also included is a collection of 62 copied Federal Theatre programs, handbills given to the audience at the beginning of a production. There is also a copy of The Flexible Stage, a book by Emmet Lavery about the history of the Federal Theatre Project. And there are the works of several noted authors in the collection, including Upton Sinclair, Orson Welles, Sinclair Lewis, Arthur Arent, and Langston Hughes.

Arrangement

Organized alphabetically.

Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

Special Collections and Archives holds the Federal Theatre Project collection, which includes numerous personal and organizational records as well as oral histories.

Alternative Form Available

The scripts are also available as a series in the .

Index Terms Corporate Names: Federal Theatre Project (U.S.) Subjects: Theater--United States--History--20th century. Contents List Federal Theatre Project Playscript and Radioscript Collection Playscripts Federal Theatre Project Programs A-Z 1 1

Adelante, Battle Hymn, Beyond the Horizon, Big Blow, Black Empire, Both Your Houses, Children's Autum Festival, Class of '29, Cradle Will Rock, Dance of Death, The Devil Passes, Dr. Faustus, Emperor's New Clothes, Fantacy 1929, Frankie and Jonny, Fly Away Home, Green Grow the Lilacs, Hell Bent for Heaven, Help Yourself, Horse Eats Hat, How Long Brethren, Doris Humphrey-Charles Weidman Dance Program, It Can't Happen Here, Jonny Johnson, Judgement Day, Justice, Like Falling Leaves, The Lonely Man, Long Voyage Home, Madame X, The Man-The Tree, Merchant of Venice, The Milky Way, Night Must Fall, O Say Can You Sing, One Sunday Afternoon, One-Third of a Nation, Outward Bound, Pinocchio, Power, Prologue to Glory, Persuit of Happiness, Ready!Aim!Fire!, Redemption, Revolt of the Beavers, Sing for Your Supper, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Spirochete, Story of Ferdinand, Sun and I, Sun Rises in the West, Swing Parade, Taming of the Shrew, Theatre of the Southwest, Trojan Incident, Twelfth Night, Twilight of the Theatre, When Knighthood Was in Flower, Young Choreographers Laboratory, Young Tramps

$595 F.O.B. 2 1

by George H. Corey

$595 F.O.B. 3 1

by George H. Corey

1935 January 1938 4 1

by Arthur Arent; A Living Newspaper Play

The Abyss 5 1

by John Wiley; Suggested by a Story of Edgar Allen Poe's

The Affairs of a Professor 6 1

by Virginia Yetes

Altars of Steel 7 1

by Thomas Hall-Rogers

Altars of Steel 8 1

by Thomas Hall-Rogers

America February 1936 9 1

A Peace Pageant for All Grades; The Catholic School Journal

America, America! 1934 10 1

by Alfred Kreymborg; A Mass Recital

Angelo Herndon Jones 11 1

by Langston Hughes; A One-Act Play of Negro Life

As Thousands Jeer 12 1

by Ben Heck and Eugene O'Heel; With a smirk at Irving Berlin and Moss Hart

The Bad Man 13 1

by Porter Emerson Brown

The Ballad of Davy Crockett 14 1

by H. R. Hays

Barge Incident 15 1 Barge Incident 16 1

by Herb Meadow

Barge Incident 17 1

by Herb Meadow; A Waterfront Tragedy; play reader reports

Battle Hymn 1936 18 1

by Michael Blankfort and Michael Gold

Beauty and the Beast 19 1

by Mary Dirnberger; Dramatized from the familiar fairy tale

Beyond Tomorrow 20 1

by John W. Dunn; A play of early Oklahoma life

Big Blow November 15, 1938 21 1

by Theodore Pratt; Dramatized from the Novel by Theodore Pratt

Big White Fog 22 1

by Theodore Ward; A Negro Tragedy

Black Empire 1932 23 1

by Christine Ames and Clarke Painter; A Drama

Blue-Eyed Black Boy 24 1 Booker T. Washington 25 1 Brer Rabbit December 1937 26 1

by Ruth Comfort Mitchel and Alfred Allen

Can You Hear Their Voices? 1931 27 1

by Hallie Flanagan and Margaret Ellen Clifford; A play of our time; Based on a story by Whittaker Chambers

The Case of Philip Lawrence 28 1

by Geo. McEnlee

The Chameleon 29 1

by German List Arzubide; Adapted from a story by Anton Chekhov; Translated by Angel Flores

Cheat and Swing 30 1

by john Woodworth; A legend... about Belle Starr, Queen of the desperadoes

Chisbaohoyo, the Sweetheart of the Corn 31 1

by John W. Dunn

A Christmas Carol December 1937 32 1

by Charles Dickens; Dialogue arranged for Marionetts and Hand Puppets by Alma M. Shaw

Cinda 33 1

by H. Jack Bates; A Negro Folk Play

Cinderella 34 1

by Rose Carlyn

Class of '29 1936 35 1

by Orrie Lashin and Milo Hastings

Class of '29 1936 36 1

by Orrie Lashin and Milo Hastings

The Common Glory 37 1

by Paul Green; Music by Kurt Weill; A Legend of American Life

The Constitution 0 2

by A. Callen, M. Worthington, and I. Reuben

The Constitutional Convention March 1938 1 2

by Oliver Haserodt

The Cradle Will Rock June 15, 1937 2 2

by Marc Blitzstein

Created Equal 3 2

by John Hunter Booth; An American Chronicle

Created Equal 4 2

by John Hunter Booth; An American Chronicle

The Danites in the Sierras 5 2

by Joaquin Miller

Dark Harvest 6 2

by Arnold Sundgaard; A History

Day in Darkness 1936 7 2

by George Foss

Death Comes Creepin' in the Room 8 2

by Grant Moss

The Devil Passes 9 2

by Benn W. Levy; A Religious Comedy

Dirt 1937 10 2

by Don Farran and Ruth Stewart; A Living Newspaper Play

Double Door 11 2

by Elizabeth McFadden

Down in Egypt's land 1933 12 2

by Charlotte Kohler

Dramatist Guild Contest Play #523 13 2 Ethiopia [?] 14 2 Ethiopia March 1968 15 2

by Arthur Arent; Th First "Living Newspaper"; from Educational Theatre Journal, v. 10, # 1; Introduction by Dan Isaac

Everyman 16 2 Everywhere I Roam 17 2

by Will T. Goodwin; Working Script

The Flexible Stage 18 2

by Emmet Lavery; "This book is a postscript to the history of Federal Theatre as recorded by Hallie Flanagan in Arena, published in December, 1940 by Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York. It carries on where Arena leaves off and should, consequently, be read as a companion volume to Mrs. Flanagan's book."

Frederick Douglass 19 2

by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Frederick Douglass 20 2

by Georgia Douglas Johnson

G.A.R. of the W.P.A. 21 2 The Girl of the Golden West 22 2 Go Down Moses 23 2

by Theodore Browne; Based on the Life and Times of Harriet Tubman

Granny Maumee 24 2

by Ridgely Torrence; A Play for the Negro Theatre

The Grasshopper 25 2

by Howard Koch; A Comedy of Recent Times

A Great American 26 2

by Anna Friedman; A Roosevelt Play

The Great American 27 2

by Gertrude Worthington Jeffries

The Great American Drama 28 2 Haiti 29 2 Haiti March 2, 1938 30 2 Hell's Half Acre 1938 1 3

by Abram Hill

Hymn to the Rising Sun 2 3

by Paul Green

If Ye Break Faith November 16, 1938 3 3

by Maria M. Coxe

Injunction Granted 1938 4 3

by the Editorial Staff of the Living Newspaper

Injunction Granted 1938 5 3

by the Editorial Staff of the Living Newspaper

Injunction Granted 1938 6 3

by the Editorial Staff of the Living Newspaper

Israel in the Kitchen July 1934 7 3

by Noah Elstein

It Can't Happen Here September 18, 1936 8 3

by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis; From the novel by Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here September 18, 1936 9 3

by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis; From the novel by Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here September 18, 1936 10 3

by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis; From the novel by Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here September 18, 1936 11 3

by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis; From the novel by Sinclair Lewis; #1 Script

Jefferson Davis 12 3

by John McGee

Jericho 1936 13 3

by H. L. Fishel

Jericho 1936 14 3

by H. L. Fishel

John Henry: Steel Driving Man 15 3

by Frank B. Wells; Tracking Down a Negro Legend, a Saga

Juba 16 3

by Warren Coleman; A Negro Comedy

Juba 17 3

by Warren Coleman; A Negro Comedy

King Cotton 18 3

The Living Newspaper Presents

King Cotton 19 3

The Living Newspaper Presents

Land Grant 1939 20 3

by T. C. Robinson and Rena M. Vale

Land Grant 1939 21 3

by T. C. Robinson and Rena M. Vale

Liberty Deferred 22 3 Liberty Deferred 1 4 Liberty Deferred 2 4 Life and Death of an American 3 4

by George Sklar

Little Black Sambo 4 4

by C. B. Chorpenning

Living Newspaper Follies 5 4

by Lawrence and Sylvia Martin

Living Newspaper Follies 6 4

by Lawrence and Sylvia Martin

Lucy Stone 7 4

by Maud Wood Park

Lysistrata of Aristophanes 8 4

by Theodore Browne; An "African Version"

Macbeth 9 4

by William Shakespeare; arranged and staged by Orson Welles; Complete Working Script

Macbeth April 14, 1936 10 4

by William Shakespeare; arranged and staged by Orson Welles; Complete Working Script

Medicine Show May 11, 1939 11 4 Medicine Show 1986 12 4

by Oscar Saul

Men at Work 13 4

A Pageant of the New Deal

The Mikado 14 4

by W. S. Gilbert; The Town of Titifu

Miles Gloriosus 15 4

by Plautus; translated by Clarence P. Bill

Milk 16 4 Miracle at Verdun 17 4

by Hans Chlumberg

Mrs Lincoln 18 4

by Ramon Romero; An Historical Play

My Country Right or Left 1937 19 4

by Muriel Fox, Marie Reed, Suzette Telenga, and Jane Whitbread; A Musical Satire

The Natural Man 20 4

by Theodore Brown; Based on the Legend of John Henry

The New Deal 21 4 New Deal Prospectors 22 4 Ninety-Seven Cents December 15, 1937 23 4

by students of Commonwealth College; Commonwealth College Fortnightly

Ohio Doom 24 4

by Harold Igo.

One Third of a Nation July 29, 1938 25 4

by Arthur Arent; A Living Newspsper about Housing

Pan America 26 4

by Grace H. Swift; A Pageant

Panyared March 14, 1939 1 5

by Hughes Allison

Pinocchio 2 5

adapted by Yasha Frank

Poor Little Consumer 3 5

by Robert Russell

Power 4 5

Living Newspaper

Precious Land 5 5

by Robert Whitehand

Private Hicks 6 5

by Albert Maltz; Anti-Fascist Play

Processional 7 5

by John Howard Lawson

Professor Mamlock 8 5

by Friedrich Wolf

The Prompter November 1936 9 5 The Prophecy 1933 10 5

by Claudia Hatch

The Red Land 11 5

by Robert Sturgis

Return to Death 12 5

by P. Washington Porter; A Tragedy of Negro Life

The Revolt of the Beavers 13 5 The Rise of Silas Lapham 14 5 Rivers Flood 15 5

by Richard Oliver; A Living Newspaper Play

The Rubber Gods 16 5

by Margaret Lesueur and Momodu Johnson; a Drama of Native Africa

Run Little Chillun 17 5

by Hall Johnson; Across the River

Run Little Chillun 18 5

by Hall Johnson; Across the River

Russia 19 5

Living Newspaper

Saleslady 20 5

by Upton Sinclair; A Little Play for the White Collar Folks

Scenes from our Times 21 5

by Christobel Morley Cordell

See America First 22 5

by Phyllis Clare Flannery; A Farce Satire

See How They Run 23 5

Dramatist Guild Contest Play #60

See How They Run 24 5

by George Savage

She Canna Perish 1933 25 5

by Florence Clothier; A Play of the Labrador Coast

She Stoops to Conquer 26 5

by Oliver Goldsmith; The Mistakes of a Night

Sing for Your Supper 27 5 Sit Down Sister! June 1937 28 5

by Fall River

The Sky Will Be Lit Up 1933 29 5

by Janet Hartman and Hallie Flanagan

Snickering Horses 30 5

by Jo Basshe

So It Didn't Work 31 5

Joseph Lawrence; A Comedy

The Song Story of Our Nation 32 5

by Grace Welsh Lutgen

The South 1 6 The South 2 6 Spanish Grant November 1938 3 6

by Eugene Deaderick, Cyrilla P. Lindner, Max Mansbach, Lorin Raker; A Living Newspaper

Spirochete 1938 4 6

by Arnold Sundgaard; A History

Star Spangled 5 6

by Robert Ardrey; A Comedy

Stars and Bars 6 6

by Ward Courtney; a Living Newspaper Play

Stars and Bars 7 6

by Ward Courtney; a Living Newspaper Play

Stars and Bars 8 6

by Ward Courtney; a Living Newspaper Play

St. Louis Woman 9 6

by Countee Cullen and Arna Bontempa

Steel 10 6 Straphanger 11 6

by Otis Chatfield-Taylor

Sweet Land 12 6 Sweet Land 13 6 Tapestry in Linen July 1937 14 6

by Shotwell Callvert; a Musical Drama

Tapestry in Linen July 1937 15 6

by Shotwell Callvert; a Musical Drama

The Tailor Becomes a Storekeeper 16 6

by David Pinsky; A Grotesque Comedy

The Ten Million 17 6

by William dorsey Blake; A Living Newspaper Play

Theodore Roosevelt 18 6

by Florine Schwartz; A Play for Children

Theodore Roosevelt - A Great Soldier 19 6

by Anna M. Lutkenhaus

They Too Arise 20 6

by Arthur A. Miller

They Too Arise 21 6

by Arthur A. Miller

They Too Arise 22 6

by Arthur A. Miller

Three-Cornered Moon 23 6

by Gertrude Tonkonogy

Timber! 24 6

by Myrtly Mary Moss and Burke Ormsby; A play on deforestation and reforestation

A Time to Remember 1937 25 6

by marie Baumer; from the novel by Leane Zugsmith

The Torch 26 6

by John Broome

The Tower Beyond Tragedy 27 6

by Robinson Jeffers; A Play in Poetic Form

Townsend Goes to Town 1939 28 6

by george Murray and David Pelts; A Living Newspaper on Pensions

Treasure island 29 6

by Jules Eckert Goodman

The Trial of Dr. Beck December 1938 1 7

by Hughes Allison

Trilogy in Black 2 7

by Ward Courtney; The Moon is Steel; Carnival for Bolt; North

Triple A Plowed Under 3 7 Trojan Incident 4 7

Based on homer and Euripides

Troll Hill 1933 5 7

by Eleanor Phelps

Troubled Island 6 7

by Langston Hughes

Turpentine 1935 7 7

by J. A. Smith and P. Morell; A folk drama of the Florida Pine woods

Uncle Tom's Cabin 8 7

Life Among the Lowly

Unto Such Glory 9 7 Utopia, Ltd. 1935 10 7

by Eden White; A Rollicking Comedy

Waiting for Lefty 11 7 Waiting for Lefty 12 7

Play Reader Report

War 13 7 War and Taxes 14 7

Living Newspaper

War and Taxes 15 7

Living Newspaper

Water and Wine 1933 16 7

by Frances Gordon Strunsky

We Live and Laugh Revue 1937 17 7

translated from the Yiddish by Julius Schmerler and Isidore Edelman

We the people 18 7

by Elmer Rice

Will Shakespeare 19 7

by Clemence Dane

The Women of Destiny 1933 20 7

by Samuel Jesse Warshawsky

The Wreck 1933 21 7

by Molly Day Thacher

Radioscripts 13 - 15 Minute Plays March 1939 1 8 American Troubadour hour 2 8 The Banshee August 24, 1938 3 8

by maxine Schiel; Mystery Dramas

The Case of the Girl with the Dark Eyes October 18, 1938 4 8

by John Fleming; Mystery Dramas

The Case of the Skeleton Hands August 10, 1938 5 8

by John Fleming; Mystery Dramas

Caves of Aladdin September 20, 1938 6 8

by John Fleming; Mystery Dramas

Clock on the Mantel September 27, 1938 7 8

by Jack Barefield; Mystery Dramas

The Duchess of Padua November 9, 1937 8 8

by Oscar Wilde; adapted by Donald Macfarlane; Oscar Wilde Cycle

An Enemy of the People July 13, 1937 9 8

by Hendrik Ibsen; adapted by Harry Goldsmith; Ibsen Cycle

Ghosts September 21, 1937 10 8

by Hendrik Ibsen; Ibsen Cycle

The Importance of Being Earnest October 5, 1937 11 8

by Oscar Wilde; adapted by Donald Macfarlane; Oscar Wilde Cycle

John Gabriel Borkman July 27, 1937 12 8

by Henrik Ibsen; adapted by Harry Goldsmith; Ibsen Cycle

Lefty Peroni August 3, 1938 13 8

by Georgia Backus; Mystery Dramas

Little Eyolf August 31, 1937 14 8

by Henrik Ibsen; adapted by Donald Macfarlane; Ibsen Cycle

The Living Dead Man September 13, 1938 15 8

by Maxine Schiel; Mystery Dramas

The Lonely Man January 19, 1939 16 8

by Howard Koch; adapted by Lawrence Levey; Federal Theatre of the Air

A Matter of Mirrors October 11, 1938 17 8

by Ben Hawthorne; Mystery Dramas

A Mystery of Mountain Manor October 25, 1938 18 8

by John Fleming; Mystery Dramas

Pillars of Society August 17, 1937 19 8

by Henrik Ibsen; adapted by Charles Crumpton; Ibsen Cycle

Salome November 23, 1937 20 8

adapted by Lewis W. Moyer; Oscar Wilde Cycle

Treasure Island of 1939 1939 21 8

Audition Program

Who Shall Deny It April 16, 1938 22 8

by Benet Costa

The Wild Duck July 6, 1937 23 8

by Henrik Ibsen; adapted by Georgia Fawcett; Ibsen Cycle

The Women of the Day 24 8

by Leo Fontaine; A Radio Series