The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, d. C.
LITTLE THEATERs.

washington, ID. c., May 15.--Ihe
Little theater idea has reached the
capital. Ono of these miniature stages
has recently held its first performance
here with unusual success.
The Little theater movement began
about 10 years ago in this country.
Mr.. David Belasco started it in life
with the prediction that Little theaters
could not possibly survive in this
country. There are now $50 of them
living, and thriving more or less, in
American towns, cities and rural COM
munities.
A Little theater is a purely local
theater. relying wholly or in part upon
local talent, charging a lower fee for
admission than the commercial the
aters, and devoting itself to what its
promoters consider really good drama,
rather than to what they think will
make money.
Little theaters, like so many other
art-f or-art' s-sake enterprises in this
country, have often had a rather pale
pink complexion. They have been
associated with afternoon tea and
femininity and flowing neckties. The
virile business man, with red blood in
his veins, and bone in his head, has
chosen to hold himself. above such
things. What he likes in the way of
theater is a good girl show with plenty
of jazz. Hence the cultivation of fine
arts, properly so called, has been left
largely to women, and has acquired
a feminine atmosphere.
But this no longer is true as it has
been in the past. Since the war there
has been something of an esthetic
awakening in this country The sue
iF11i Of T 10
Theaters are evidence of this. The
time may come when the Little Thea
ter will be what it is supposed to be
a neighborhood theater in which every
one will have an interest-rather than
Ia preca~ious enterprise supported by a
few and ignored by the many.
How They Are Run.
In some places the Little Theater
sells some of its tickets for SO cents
or lower. In other cities seats can
be had only by subscription, which
means buying a season ticket, gener-
ally at a dollar or more a perform
ance. This difference in price means
a big difference in audiences. The
first theater plays to people who want
artistic drama, especially those who
have not the funds to buy expensive
tickets. The second type picks more
of it's audience from among those who
have money and thirst for culture.
The Little Theaters have varied as
much in all of their details. One is
beautifully housed with luxurious fit
tings. Others play in renovated sa-
looms or even in stables. One gives
only one act plays; another only
American plays; still anC her clings to
European drama.
These differences have made the
history of the Little Theater movement
| f19G a =
ter project is started by artists of va
rfous kinds who feel that something is
wrong with the commercial drama.
Some times the group of players is jus
titled in its assumption that it knew
what its audiences wanted, and the
Little Theater flourishes. If they are
not able to attract enough people who
are interested in what they have to
offer, the project fails promptly.
The Washington Little Theater, in
many ways typical of the average ven
ture of this sort. has certain points
of distinction. notably its dancing
Mrs. Glenna Smith Tinnin, who has
long been an advocate of interpre-
tative and dramatic dancing, is one
of the producers, and her students are
among the players. Mrs. Tinnin holds
that dancing is a valuable medium of
expressing emotions and ideas.
The Washington Little Theater is
further different from most others of
its kind in that it is especially inter-
ested in children. 1t is not primarily
a children's theater producing So
called children's plays. 1t is special
to young people of all ages"-that
is. such plays as "A Midsummer
Nights Dream "Prunella," Treasure
Island" some of Hans Andersen's
fairy tales. 1.-The Yellow Jacket" and
Maeterlinck's The Miracle of st. An
thony."
Plays for Children.
These plays are not being adapted
for children. The producers say
that children are as easily bored by
insipid, undramatic plays as grown
people are. They think that children
are interested by virile plays, artis-
tically presented. no less than the
adults to whom the Little Theaters ca
ter. Consequently this Little Theater
| makes special bid TO child audiences
at Friday and Saturday matinees.
Some things of this sort are accent
ed by every Little Theater. One feels
| 1t mas special mission in sweeping
| from the stage the clutter of heavy
realism-dining tables complete from
| center piece to finger bowls; New
York hotel rooms with the Woolworth
building painted on a drop showing
thru the window. Let us get back
or go on-they say, to the place where
the lines of a play are more impor-
tant than the furniture.
| Another Little Theater wants to
| give American playWrights chance
of a hearing. Still another stages a
revolt against the star system. Rarely
| will professional star trifle with the
affections of her audience to play a
character part And therein lies the
reason for a good deal of the banality
| of modern successful drama. In a
Little Theater groupsthere are no stars
and every member is character
actor.
The strength of the Little Theaters
| lies in their ability to produce what
ever they please regardless of the gen.
eral public. The prices they charge
are for the most part lower than those
| of the commercial theaters, and this
| too is an advantage.
! Amateurishness is sometimes point
| ed out as the weakness of the Little
Theater by critics who say that its
players are devotees of art, but often