The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-01-10
Players Who Rent Workshop in
v Street Alley Are Seri-
ousIy Affected.
LEAGUE HAS HARD TIME
One Background Is Soon To Be
Tried for Three Widely Diff
ferent Periods Of Scenery.

The price Of drama, for arts sake,
Is going up.
Producers who aim merely to hit
upon what the public wants" have
had hard times, but those who earn
estly try to give the public what it
ought to have, also have met their
troubles.
In brief the price of unbleached
muslin jumped from cents to 10 cents
the latter being the quotation on "The
Tragedy of Man." recently given by
the Drama League Players, and for
Suppressed Desires" 1t is going to
be 1871 cents.
Wherefore, II might be guessed that
even II Sophocles and Racine and
George NJ. Conan do know a whole lot
about play producing, the Drama
League Players might give them some
pointers.
Cost Troubled Them.
Recently the players, about ninety
OF them, rented a studio on an alley
back of v street near Fourteenth
just the sort OF alternating place for
big ideas by hard working, serious
folk, and right then the cost Of things
began to trouble them.
Up in this workshop, as 1t is official
Iy known, the scenery for the plays
the league has been giving, the COS
tunes. and the properties have been
assembled.
Now, in Masefeld's Tragedy Of
Nan" the scenery harmonized in, true
Graneille Barker fashion, and the
costumes fitted. the picture so well,
and the artistic effect was pronounc-
ed so good. that ii might be hard
for those who sat down in front to
realize that the scenery and the
women's COSTUMES were made of I'M
bIeached muslin, at 10 cents per
yard.
Scenery L. F1reprOofed.
As long as borax and vinegar stay
where they, are, II Will help some, be-
cause the muslin scenery was fire-
PROCEED with a compound OF those
commodities.
The mechanical stan of the players
first made a model OF the stage set
tings, then they freproofed the mus
lin in the manner described, backed
it up with old newspapers, and paint
ed II. They took more muslin lat 10
cents per yard), dyed IL. and made 1t
into the costumes. for the women of
the play. Mrs. Mary. Louise futile
designed both the setting and the
costumes. thereby producing a har-
mony in the general effect not SO
easily obtainable. she believes, when
two persons supervise these two
tasks =
Must Produce Three Effects.
For a group of three plays TO be
presented this month. an interesting
experiment is to be tried. The same
background is to be used. though, one
of the plays calls for a rural Irish
country interior, another. for a mid
Victorian setting, and a third for an
ultra-modern drawing room. The
three effects will be produced by
changing the hangings. the curtains,
the pictures, and the furniture.
The reason the price Of this muslin
Is so strongly emphasized in a. nom
commercial adventure is because the
players do not mind admitting they are
poverty stricken. One man Is paying
rent for the historic little studio they
use, another angel OF modest wings is
helping with the lights and heat. and
others are contributing furnishings.
The studio is that once occupied by
Miss Frances BENJAMIN johnson. an art
photographer patronized extensively by