THCSC - Theatre in a Historical, Cultural, and Societal Context: Living Newspaper (Lesson)

Theatre in a Historical, Cultural, and Societal Context (Living Newspaper)

Federal Theatre Project Overview 

WPA Federal Theatre Project is a national theatre project sponsored and funded by the U.S. government as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Founded in 1935, it was the first federally supported theatre in the United States. Its purpose was to create jobs for unemployed theatrical people during the Great Depression, and its director was the educator and playwright Hallie Flanagan.

The Federal Theatre Project employed some 10,000 professionals in all facets of the theatre, and Flanagan oversaw the organization of about 1,000 productions that were mounted in four years in 40 states, often presented free to the public. These productions included classical and modern drama, children’s plays, puppet shows, musical comedies, and documentary theatre known as Living Newspaper. Other projects included producing plays by young, unknown American playwrights, establishing black American theatre, and presenting radio broadcasts of dramatic works. The early careers of Orson Welles, John Houseman, and Elmer Rice were all associated with the Federal Theatre Project.  SOURCE Links to an external site.

Federal Theatre Project Performances

The Voodoo Macbeth is a common nickname for the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Orson Welles adapted and directed the production, moved the play's setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island, recruited an entirely Black cast, and earned the nickname for his production from the Haitian Vodou that fulfilled the role of Scottish witchcraft. A box office sensation, the production is regarded as a landmark theatrical event for several reasons: its innovative interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theatre, and its role in securing the reputation of its 20-year-old director. SOURCE Links to an external site.

Please watch the Harlem Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth below:

The Federal Theatre Project 

Please watch the presentation below to learn more about the Federal Theatre Project. 

Click HERE Links to an external site. to download a copy of the Federal Theatre Project presentation guide. 

The Living Newspaper

Each play identified a social problem and called for specific solutions. According to Brooks Atkinson, a New York Times drama critic, writers were "to shake the living daylights out of a thousand books, reports, newspaper and magazine articles to create documentaries based on current news stories.” 

Living Newspapers were collective efforts in many ways. The project involved a staff similar to that of a large city newspaper, with editors, reporters, and copyreaders. The factual material gathered by reporters and researchers was given to dramatists, directors, stage technicians, and actors who would create dramatic material for presentation to an audience. Dialogue in each of the plays came from actual interviews or articles, and often footnoted newspaper and magazine articles to lend authenticity to the script.

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