New-York tribune., 1910-02-20
LAUD NEW THEATRE
SPONSORS PRAISED.
Diners Sag Stool. Company Is
GrO1cn, Not Bought.

good sized gathering of actor folk and
others who help to make the mare go
In stageland was present yesterday after
Hooh at q luncheon In the City CluD 10
near Inc New Theatre and its active rep
FeSshtatlFes eXtolled The subject for dis
cossion announced was THE Theatre. To
Ilo speakers this could only mean one
plaSiouse, and the diners had a sense or
huinor sufficient, apparently. not to expect
too broad an application.
All the addresses were most optimistic
with regard to the present and future OF
me New Theatre; vet each OF the speak
ers pointed out where room for improve
nlent existed in. the plays produced. In the
acung and in the attitude of the puohc
toward the institution. Miss Jessie Busley.
OF the New Theatre company. expresseo
herself on this last point by relating an
experience of her own as actress
I was once playing a love scene-on the
stage said she with a very unenthusl-
astic lover, When I came off the stage
said to n1y maid 4 wish that man would
make love to me- properly And my maid
consoled me, saying:
Never mind. Perhaps he will. miss,
when he knows you better.
She said The New Theatre was trying
to live up TO the best traditions Of the
stage, a difficult thing nowadays.
Winthrop Anes its director. thought
The New Theatre was a long way yet
from producing the acting that was to be
seen at the Cornedie FRANCHISE or the Burg
Theatre but he said he had never seen
such willing sacrifices or such willingness
to play "for art as among the players
under his charge.
"A stock company cannot be bought" he
continued. 1T must grow by natural Sc
lection But The New Theatre has been
going only fourteen weeks and We are get
ting along pretty well so far. Next year
we shall not have the opera there We
have found that drama is able to stand on
its own feet.
We have had an extraordinary public
support since the day We opened After
the first week the receipts increased stead
lily, instead OF diminishing. We are now
playing to more people than any other
theatre in this town devoted to drama and
our receipts are one and q half times
greater that at any such theatre
Norman Hapgood, who presided, said he
estimated that there were five hundred
thousand playwrights in greater New York
John Corbin, literary director Of The New
Theatre, said that in the fourteen weeks
of its existence he had rejected the plays
of over two thousand. He then touched
upon The New Theatres opposition to the
star" system and the disadvantages this
policy imposed. But he said he had never
seen such genuine response from the pub
lie to Shakespearian drama as had greeted
1t at that playhous This he considered a
sufficient vindication for the time being OF
their refusal to emphasize. the player by
distorting the play.
I'VE are building more soundly, more
truly more permanently said he, "by not
building on the actor, but on the play. by
building on Shakespeare and Sheridan
rather than on the personality of star
Wallace Irwin told the diners that in
response to an advertisement of a great
cut in the English classics he had visited
a department store recently and found
Shakespeare greatly reduced, Shelley
cut in half and "Dante's Inferno" down
lower than ever before.
Miss Rachel Crothers. author Of A Man s
World" also addressed the diners
At the speakers table, besides the speak
ers were Edward D. Sheldon, author OF
The Niger: Miss Edith Wynne Mathi-
SON of The New Theatre company, and
Edward Knoblauch. Mrs. Patrick Campbell
said about ten words to the diners at the
beginning of the meal and then was
obliged 10 depart to keep an engagement.