The Infinite Dividend: The WPA · Episode 7 of 13 · 36 min
Footlights and Symphonies: The Federal Theatre Project Congress Killed
The WPA put free theatre in forty states and symphony orchestras in every region, then Congress killed the theatre. Hallie Flanagan's Federal Theatre staged about 1,000 productions, including the Living Newspapers and Voodoo Macbeth, while the Federal Music Project drew some 35 million listeners. Topical, truth-telling theatre became the Dies Committee's target.
Who's who
- Hallie Flanagan+1 more episodeVassar drama professor and national director of the Federal Theatre Project
- Nikolai SokoloffConductor and first national director of the Federal Music Project
- Orson WellesYoung director of the 1936 Voodoo Macbeth
- John HousemanProducer who ran the Harlem Negro Theatre Unit with Welles
- Martin Dies Jr.+1 more episodeTexas congressman who chaired the House Un-American Activities investigation
- Harry Hopkins+10 more episodesWPA administrator who backed Federal One
- Marc BlitzsteinComposer of the pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock
Where it happens
- Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, New YorkWhere Voodoo Macbeth opened in 1936
Timeline
- August 1935Federal One launches the Federal Theatre and Federal Music Projects
- March 1936Welles and Houseman's Voodoo Macbeth opens in Harlem
- June 1937The Cradle Will Rock is locked out; Welles and Houseman march the audience elsewhere
- December 6, 1938Flanagan is the first witness before the Dies Committee
- June 30, 1939Congress terminates Federal Theatre Project funding
Still debated
Sources differ on how Communist the Federal Theatre was; some work was left-political, but the charge was broad and used against the whole New Deal. Historians also weigh ideology, racial backlash and opportunism in why theatre alone was ended.
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