The Washington times., 1923-02-11
DRIVEN PLAY FROM
MRS. BARNEY'S PEN
EVENT OF INTEREST
To BE Presented I'm
der Auspices of
WOman's Party


A LII Washington seems suddenly
stage struck. The Hams Head
Players are contributing some.
thing genuinely important at their
little playhouse in Eighteenth
street. Mrs. C. c. Calhoun took
q flyer in vaudeville. Now enters
Mrs. Alice Barney. whose dra-
matte activities are always TO be
viewed with respect and awaited
with interest, with her Driven"
q one-act play which is to be
presented at the Shubert- Belasco
Theater for a week, beginning to-
morrow night.
And in the realm of amateur
production one finds a group Of
young people working over three
playlets to be produced on March
Is and Is at the Playhouse for
the benefit of the Child Welfare
Society. Miss Louise Ross Todd,
niece and guest Of Nine. Hauge,
Is to have the leading role in
one play. 1.-THE Clod." Miss Eliza.
Beth Hanna will be leading lady
in Food" the second of the
productions, and in the third,
which is yet to be chosen, the
principal part is to be in the
capable hands of Miss .Olyve
Graef.
While most of Mrs. Barney's
productions have been given for
the benefit of charity and put on
for amateurs, she has had pre-
vious experience in writing for
the professional stage. She did
q ballet, remember, which Pew
Iowa made part Of her repertoire
and presented here one time when
she was dancing with the Boston
Opera. Company. And About
Thebes," a spectacular production
which she put on at the Belasco
Theater a dozen years ago, was
rewritten last year for profess
siona1 presentation and made into
O delicious musical comedy.
"DRIvEN." which is being
produced under the auspices
Of the National woman's Party
and sets forth In a vivid and
dramatic way. an instance of the
age-old prejudice and discrimina-
ton against women. is, Of course,
entirely different from about
Thebes.' or 'Egeria.' or the
Dream of Queen Elizabeth" or
'The Opium Pipe" spectacular
dramas written and produced by
Mrs. Barney and long remem-
bered in Washington. Or even
from "Some Years Hence" and
Woman" the first a satire on
modern conditions, the other an
allegory. which Mrs. Barney
then Mrs. Christian Hemmick-
put on at the National Theater
in 1913 for the benefit of the
Congressional Union for Woman
Suffrage, now the Woman's Party.
It's a bit out Of life, dramati-
ration Of the tragedy growing ont
OF some Of the legal inequalities
which the Woman's Party is seek
ing to have removed. Mrs. Barney
has selected Mrs. Maud Howell
Smith for the part of the mother
in the story and Miss Pauline
Graft to play the daughter. while
the two mems roles will be done
by John Hoffman and Walter
Perry.
IT'S been six years since Mrs.
Barney, who has been staying
out at Wardman Park Hotel for
several weeks, has been in Wash.
ington for more than flying
visit-too long entirely to be de-
prived of her stimulating per-
sonality-and her return to the
ranks of theatrical producers will
be welcomed with enthusiasm.
Mrs. Barney is a dreamer-but
a practical dreamer. It was she
who suggested to the Government
the scheme which resulted in the
erection of the charming Sylvan
Theater near the Monument,
which has proved a useful ad.
junct to Washington's civic life.