The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-25

lind two weary sWtdt-Shop "o'S' discussing on their doorstep some par ticular Shakespearean play: or TUT ther on see a group of ragged little children acting "As You Like It. 10 an enthusiastic audience of little mothers" ans their charges seated on the curb stone: or further still down the street find a bright-eyed little girl relating in voluble Yiddish all she could recall of Snow White. wouldn't you be surprised? Well. you needn't be, for that Is an everyday was built under the auspices or the Educational Alliance. in a packed dis trict of lower New York.
 The theater was opened five years ago and in that time has given diver sion and inspiration to over 1SO.o0o children, and has seen an even greater number turned away from the doors because there was no room inside. Prince and Pauper," Little Lord Fauntleroy." Snow White" The Tempest" Sara Crewe," "As You Like It." and '"The Forest King" have been given here to enthusiastic and ap- preciative audiences. Those of the reading world who have known Of these plays have not yet ceased won- dering that they should have been chosen for children of the city slums, for street gamins. for factory work CTS, for people of the score or more section of New York. Like most of the world. they have reckoned things from the popular hypothesis that poverty Is synonymous with ignor- ance. low ideals and lack of imagina- tion. The founder of the Children's Theater thought otherwise and she has proved her point.
 The Educational Alliance exists for the purpose of bettering the condition of Jewish immigrants and new resi- dents of New York. It had an enter tainment committee that. like the usual department of that nature in any club, offered meaningless amuse- ment to the people. Its miscellaneous programs. even if less vulgar. were certainly less clever than the Bowery shows, consisting mostly of meaning less playlets and self-conscious de- clamations by the children. Miss Min nie Alice Herts. a woman of means and of social and intellectual prominence in New York. was asked to take charge of the department. She agreed under condition that she be allowed to develop the entertainments after her own ideas. Believing in her ability the Alliance gave her full permission to do as she pleased.
 Then Miss Herts began to do radical things. She chose plays that had ideals usually considered far above the heads of the East Side folks. She chose her players, not because they had been taught to declaim, because someone said they had talent. or be- cause they happened to have a bit of prominence in their small world. She chose them from the rank and file of the neighborhood. She let 1t be known that each worker. whether shifting scenery or playing the part of the star was contributing something to the entertainment, and that each in turn should have a chance at the bigger things. She allowed several people to learn the same part, and chose from among them the one she thought had best interpreted 1t. and she let the in- depreciation be that persons own, never a gesture or attitude being sug- gested. There are over 500 members of Miss Hert's classes, and nearly every one has acted some part
 When the play was all learned and the costumes-donated by more af- fluent folk-had been finally donned evenings for the old and young, and again on Sundays. especially for the children of the city. Each child present had ticket given him by some school. and this he had turned in with five cents as the price of his admission. The people of the Ghetto, Little Italy and other homes of New York's polyglot people. saw these plays with pleasure and with under standing.
 The first impulse of all childhood is to make believe. to pretend. to people the workaday world with wonderful things that do not exist to the naked eye. In congested New York there is little for the imagination to feed on. yet to the children of the more con- gested places Miss Herts opened up a new world. For these children who had perhaps never seen a tree or flower that did not grow in Washington Square, she chose "As You Like It." and as the parts were learned and the play progressed, the fertile child-mind turned the tiny stage into a real forest of Arden. For the while the din and dust of the streets outside wore lost to ear and eye. and hand in hand with Rosalind the tired little children wan dered far in a new world.
 Educators and social workers claim that the children of the slums. the street grown ones. are keenest and quickest when 1t comes to learning a new thing. The officials of the library near lHe tucdtcl tOohAiiOu AoeSA eh@S there had never been such a demand for Shakespeare in the history of the institution and when "As You Like It." very cheaply bound, was brought to the theater and put on sale for the convenience of the players and the audience, the copies disappeared with a flattering rapidity never known to the blood and thunder novel. usually believed to be the favorite On the East Side.
 Neighborliness is characteristic of the poor As soon as the theater was being remodelled under Miss Herts management--a new stage being put in and some scenery added-everybody wanted to be of use. Older members of the family. came to help with the scenery or the sewing of the costumes while the younger ones were rehears- ing their parts. Others came to ask to be allowed to do something and the whole neighborhood was aroused to personal interest in the theater and it's plays. The first play ever pro- duced there was little Lord Fauntle- roy" and the children of the tenements liked it. They liked the manly little fellow and learned from his thought fulness and respect for all about him. a lesson that had never been taught them before, either by precept or example. To those who know and understand children best 1t has been revealed that in every child there is frankness, courage, strength and love of the beautiful fin all things. and that these traits only await the proper opportunity for their development. The Children's Theater had given this opportunity to many.
 As each actor is not only allowed. but encouraged to interpret the part