The sun., 1909-02-11
THlRTY.FIVE ACTORS RESIGN
SENIOR CLASS At EDUCATIONAL
THEATRE UNHAPPY.
write a Letter TO Mark Twain Asking
HIm 10 Please Make Miss Herts Let
Mrs. Fry Do the Dramatic DIRECTING
Visions Of q Million and a Half,

HIm TO Please Make Miss Hsrts Let
Mrs. Fry Do the Dramatic Directins
visions OF = Million and q HaM
10 Mise Alice Minnie Herts, manager
and general all round head Of the Edu-
ostional Theatre, will come this morn
ing the reSgnations Of thirty y-five active
members Of the senior class on whose
talents they themselves say the produc-
tions of the theatre are more or less de-
pendent. The senior class, according
TO the insurgents. numbers about fifty
really active, live, hard working students,
of the stage and the remaining fifteen,
the disgruntled ones cay, will resign
as soon as the performance Of The Little
Princess" scheduled for Washington q
Birthday in Boston. is given this latter
unless there is a satisfactory result from
letter which was sent yesterday 10
Mark Twain, who is president Of the
association,
The board of directors of the theatre
Includes Mr. Clemens, the Rev. Percy
Stickney Grant. Robert J. Collier and
otto H. Kahn, But Miss Herts really
has charge of the theatre. and the leaders
Of the rebellion say they have been un-
able to appeal to the directors except
'hrcSgh her. Now, however. they have
sat right down and have written a letter
to Mr.. Twain.
The trouble started with the resig-
nation Of Mrs. Emma Sheridan Fry. who
has been the dramatic director five years
Mrs Fry resigned fortnight ago because
her place had been taken largely by
Jacob Heniger, stage manager. The
letter sent TO Mr.. Clemens follows:
DEAR MR. CLEMENS: We beg to present
for your consideration the unfortunate
condition Of affairs at the Educationa
Theatre for Children. in the hope that you,
who have taken so genuine and active an
interest in the work. may discover some
means of readjustment.
We are firmly convinced that Miss Herts,
the manager Of the work. has rendered Mrs.
fry's resignation quite inevitable Through
her desire to further the interests OF Mr..
Heniger. the stage manager. by officially
countenancing his presumptuous act in
trespassing upon Mrs. Fry 8 final authority
a. dramatic directory. and our feeling is one
Of a loss of confidence in a management
that so bunderingly loses the services of
one quite best qualified. by personality and
ability, to carry this work to ultimate sue
cess, and by feeling OF resentment at an
act Of grave injustice that renders void
through the channels OF this movement
the Jealous, whole souled and self-sacri-
fcing labors Of Mrs. Fry for the last five
years.
Miss Herts has worked hard for the work
in placing it before the public, but it was
Mrs Fry. and she alone. who made the work
worthy of comment through the wonderful
production of THE Prince and the Pauper"
and the other plays that had preceded it,
The good we have derived from the work
all We have learned from IL, has been
through the sole medium of Mrs. Fry. She
has earned our unstinted admiration as a
teacher and our deep. sincere affection "a a
friend In losing her the Educational
Theatre would be losing its most ardent
worker and the one We believe best fitted
for its developent. and our lack of conf
dence in the management, which has
brought about this condition OF affairs, is so
thorough that We have resigned from the
work.
We earnestly petition you, dear Mr..
Clemens. to use your great influence in hav-
ing Mrs. Fry restored TO her former position
as dramatic director as this act, and we be-
leve this act alone, could save the work
from being marred by an act OF grave per-
sonal injustice and one OF serious detrment
TO the 1inal achievement Of its aims Should
oHer our services for future cooperation.
With sincere appreciation of your
friendly. active interest in us. through the
medium Of the Childrens S Theatre. We rer
main. very respectfully yours
The letter was signed by a petition
committee" of eight, headed by Joseph
Ginsberg
Francis NJ. Verdi, one Of the insurgents,
who played Ingomdr and Little Lord
FnuntlerOg in the theatres productions.
said that the insurgents will organize
Club and continue the work Of the thea
tire, with the help Of Mrs. Fry. who as yet,
he said, had not been approached on the
subject.
The new club land it may as well be
stated frankly that there won't be any new
club i Mr. Clemens and the other direc--
tors do as the signers OF the letter want
them to do) hopes, II the worst comes, to
prove to the world that Il is the real or
Ranization and that IL ought TO receive
that prospective endowment OF a million
and half. 1t has not been decided yet
just who will give the million and a half, |
but the theatre hopes to have it by spring. |
II the boilers do not succeed in obtaining
control Of the Educational Theatre they
expect TO affiliate with the Peoples In |
stitute.
Miss Herts laughed when she read the |
letter 10 Mr.. Clemens. The Educational |
Theatre, she said, was in no trouble. IL |
some Of the students were in trouble
well, there you were! Mrs. Fry had in no |
sense been ousted from the organization,
Miss Herts said, and her resignation had |
not yet been accepted. The only diff
Guilty came, according TO Miss Herts, from
the failure Of Mrs. Fry to be satisfied with
the plan Of work as mapped out by Miss
Herts as the head Of the organization.
II these pupils got out. why, it would
make no difference to the work OF the
theatre not even with regard the
performance in Boston on the 22d. There
we're many departments in the organ
l1atlon, and Miss Herts had charge OF all
and had to map out the work for each
She was sorry IL any Of the teachers or
students was not satisfed-but really it
made no great difference. The theatre
since its incorporation had declined TO
exploit any individual, Miss Herts said.
even to the printing OF names of per-
CORNERS on the programmes Perhaps
ms fact might have something to do
with the dissatisfaction-if there we're
any dissatisfaction. But really the whole
hing was eptiralv hv ~ pofioa