The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-26

1CIA0p0 AL WOA ' OO WOANSA JNoe that way, but that's the gist of the scheme. The government has pro- vided $2S,000 for the production of twelve plays, which will pro- vide brief employment for 15O ac- tors and actresses and a number of stage hands. There'll be no ex- pense for theater rent, because the shows are to be staged in pub lie schools, hospitals, museums and the like. Technical assistance and scripts will be free too. George Kelly, author of "The Show-Oh which was rather suc- cessful on Broadway some years ago, has started donations by of fering the play and his personal direction.
 If successful in New York, it's expected that the movement will become nationwide, and that the governments free theaters event. ually will provide jobs for thou- sands of performers now idle . :. But there is a lot of skepticism even among the actors and ac- tresses, juveniues, ingenues and veterans who now are registering at Equity headquarters in the hope of getting parts.
 Problem of Casting
 For one thing, there's the mat ter of casting. Naturally the worst hams are the people who need help most desperately. How much art will be sacrificed in the cause of charity? Then about the no-admission plan. You never can get a New Yorker to believe that the best things in life are free. For example, the smallest audiences at 'The Ladder" some years ago were the ones which attended when the stubborn packer began giving away tickets at the box office And there is no more narrowing experi- ence for an actor than to emote before a forest of empty seats while the few spectators present are self-consciously sitting on their hands.
 Finally there is the question of play selection. Will the United States Government be sporting enough to lampoon itself if offered the. royalty-free use of "Of Thee l Sing" or "Both Your Houses" ? Surely 1t won't dare put on a paci- fist play, or an anti-Hitler play And what in the world will the United States Government do about SIX? It seems next to i'm possible to write play nowadays without an element of SIX in it, yet the government never has defined it's official position on the subject. Is it pro or is 1t anti? And if the government decides 1t is opposed to SIX, does 1t stand ready to hire unemployed audiences to attend it's plays? Those are some of the questions which are bothering Broadway.
 Artists and Poets, Too
 Greenwich Village has been com- ing in for share of Federal aid too. Many artists, by nature ab- horrent of the very principle ot subsidy, have succumbed to the crisp cracklings of 60-cent dollars and have emerged from their attics to paint pictures for the public l.. They're not finding much free dom of expression, though. Ons fellow planning some hospital mur- ais was told he couldn't do a panel of souls in torment. Others. work ing in public schools, were for. bidden to produce nightmarish studies of the big. bad wolf.
 irgne&1WSo, ,-radm1.AW
 Still other brush -wielders
 have been advised that the
 United States government has
 taken an unofficial stand on
 the question of draperies 0n
 female figures. It Is in favor of
 drapeFies.
 Writers also are receiving sue. cor from the New Deal. The "New Yorker" magazine has discovered that Q pcet named J. Alvin Kugei. mass is. on the CWA payroll, and that his job is actually writing poetry. Ills verses are printed ir the newspaper of tho Modern Ian. guage Service Bureau, h CWA pro. jeet.