Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-02-10
A BIG PROJECT FOR A SMALL
CITY.

CITY.
However the experiment may re-
suit, Northampton, Mass, will enjoy
the distinction of having established
the first municipal theater in the
United States This is one of the
smaller cities of the old Bay State
which has experienced much diff
Guilty in securing the appearance of
first-class theatrical attractions; and
having tired of this, the people deter
mined they would have theater and
a theatrical company of their own.
A report of the establishment and
conduct of this playhouse is present.
ed in the last number of the Munich
pal Engineer The details are mea-
ger, but the fact itself is interest
ing. 1t appears that the theater was
equipped under city supervision, and
that it is managed by an experienced
theatrical man who is employed by
the city. Individual citizens have
provided guaranty fund to be
drawn upon in the event the enter
prise is not a financial success. A
stock company has been engaged
which will remain permanently, it is
said, presenting new plays that can
be secured and the best of the old
ones. Arrangements have also been
made since the theater was opened to
play some of the best road attrac-
tions, the Sothern-Marlowe company
being among the number.
This is big enterprise for a small
community, comparatively speaking,
and in an unusual sense. 1t is a
bold experiment socially and artis-
tically that has been mooted about
among a number OF larger cities in
this country, but never tried by any
of them-quite to the contrary, it
has been held to be impracticable
by all authority on the subject, and
more impracticable in the small city
than in the larger one; it should,
therefore, make this little Massachu-
setts town the center of interest as
touching the possible solution of a
very interesting if not very impor-
tant problem.
And why should American cities,
either all of them. or any OF them
for that matter, feel bound eternally
to accept dramatic entertainment or
any other form OF artistic gratifica-
tion upon the judgment or the inter-
est of an alien junta with its head
quarters in New York? We are all
this, and most of us concede that as
applying to present conditions it is
more or less sufficient and reason
able; but must there be admission
that present conditions will always
persist? There is argument for the
organization OF the theatrical busi-
ness as it is now managed. We are
told that it is essential to bring to
| the front the best that offers in
American dramatic art. 1t may be
| difficult to deny that, but we have
to take so much chaff with the wheat
that it is not such a strong argu-
ment after all. Moreover, we are
wholly lacking in independence; we
are seeking to pour all dramatic
taste into the Broadway mold, and
sometimes the result is anything but
wholesome or satisfactory.
1t is rather a nice question to con-
slider if the maintenance of indepen-
dent theaters in different cities
would not finally bring freshness and
vigor to the native dramatic concep-
tion II there might not be some ad-
vantage In developing the American
theater so that all the country would
not be obliged to see it's drama
through Broadway glasses,