Evening star., 1934-03-12

form his players around an entirely
new nucleus this season, inaSmuch as
his Donald Woods and certain of his
other players are now SO stuck thick
in Hollywood that they cannot return
to HIM. Therefore, with new direc-
tor Clifford Brooke's activities else
where putting him out of the rum
ning), new players and new plays
new scripts will be tried out-the
Spring, theatrically. should thrive
with good and stimulating things.
7 ATER in the Summer, when all is
quiet around the Potomac and
the National Players presumably have
packed up their art and Strolled away.
it would seem to us that some good
theater patron could do his COM
munity fat service if he would in
augurate an informal theater and
launch it in the now popular New
England manner. This would mean
a barn on some large estate. place
for the players to recite and recoupe,
place for them to sleep and eat, an
open-air pavilion, where heated people
between the acts might get smack"
and listen to three-String orchestra,
and a stage. scarcely larger than a
minute, where there would still be
room enough for the actor to muster
up his talent.
In New England such barns and
such players are in many respects
the cradle of our theater If, for in
stance, you wander down to Dennis,
Mass. or to some other not quite so
elaborately executed Summer group,
you are likely to find one of Rachel
Crother's new brain children getting
its first inning. If, further north,
you stop off at Skowhegan. you will
unquestionably unearth a new Owen
Davis play. and if you get even fur
ther north than that. the Bar Har-
Dor boys are probably presenting some
new play that New York will be seeing
later in the year.
* x x x
\ YET Washington has never had
anything like this A playhouse
within or miles of the city. COM
fortably situated on a hill with hay
in the of1ng, the air heavy with
flowers and Summer zephyrs, and that
one lone breeze from the river tickling
the tops of the trees. is something
that if heard of has yet been shame
fully neglected As soon as the town
pavements have cried "f1nis" to the
season. patrons have sneezed the the
ater out of their minds, and turned
to their Palm Beach suits and SWIM
ming pastimeS relegating the drama
to a cooler month.
No law, however, has ever pro-
claimed that the theater is good only
for the Winter. 1t is quite as pcs
sible to work yourself up into a dra-
matte frenzy in the Summer as it is
at another time of the year Shakes
peare is quite as good in thin linen
as in thick. And there is no ques-
tion but that if musical comedies are
on your mind, the chances for per-
Sonal exploitation are even more pos
sible when it is warm than otherwise.
Therefore, say we. why not keep the
drama alive this Summer? Won't
some landed estate turn itself over to
the needs of a professional group that
shall please its customers in pastoral
and say its little song
between draughts of beverages and
pretzels? Won't some enterprising
firm, conscious of the fact that enter
tainment has become more popular
in the past few weeks. uncork such an
idea to a perambulating philanthro-
pist, who while absent from his big
white home. would loan his barn or
some of his garage to such purposes?
Won't some one, in other words, take
up the cudgel for Summer troupe
that would play informally, in informal
surroundings, turning over new plays
and a new player week by week, and
yet be free at the same time from the
hot bricks of the city and the loneli-
ness that creeps into a great theater
after the thermometer reaches boil
ing point?
Won't some one come to the rescue
of Mr.. Cochran. who one day came to
this office and pleaded for all this?
D S.-We get the following reward,
anent a little Jolson scribbling
this department did last Friday:
Thanks lot. and it shows that I
read The Washington Star.
AL JOLSON"