Evening star., 1935-10-20
By Margery Rice.

mentS ana the ring OF voices IN ScnOOl
auditoriums as a small army Of nom
professional technicians and actors
start work on the amateur theatrical
season.
Washington has been reviled from
time to time by various writer's who
believe the city does not appreciate
good theater and who deplore the
fact that 1t will not support even
one legitimate theater" Whether
their criticism was merited is doubt
full, however. in the face of the very
keen and widespread interest in the
drama evidenced by the several hum
dred persons who put their time and
money into the amateur productions.
A year or two ago count showed
that there were no less than 200 dif-
ferent producing groups, including
church and fraternal organizations.
presenting plays in the city during
the Winter. and since that time the
number probably has increased. The
membership varies between the dif-
ferent groups. but everywhere the
tendency is upward The Blackfriars
Guild, one of the largest organiza-
tions boasts a membership Of 80.
The Columbia Players have about 10
active members. The Drama Guild
has producing group of 40 to so,
as does the Washington Community
Players. The Montgomery Players,
the Pierce Hall Players, the Mount
Pleasant Players and others have
large memberships, and there are
many smaller groups which produce
regularly
Some OF these organizations play
to well-flled halls as rule, though
most of them run their shows for only
two nights. Others have small sub
scription lists, but can count on
large audience for particularly pop
ular play. All of them are self-sup-
porting; there seem to be no theatri-
cal angels in Washington.
Not only are Washingtonians join
ing the producing groups in large
numbers, but they are paying out
good money for formal training in
acting and stagecraft. The Clifford
Brooke Academy, started several years
ago by the then director Of the Ma
tional Theater Players, has prospered.
The Anne Tillery Renshaw School of
Speech reports an increased enroll
ment, as do other such institutions.
And last year saw the founding OF
still another type Of educational in
stitution when Constance Connor
Brown opened the Studio of Theater
Arts.
The amateur theater got its big
start in Washington during the war,
when a number Of producing groups
made practice of presenting plays
at nearby Army camps for the amuse-
ment of the soldiers. Shortly after
the war public school buildings were
opened for the use of dramatics Or
ganizations and other community type
projects. and then the players clubs
sprang up like mushrooms. OF the
groups organized during that period,
only the Columbia Players and the
Drama Section of the Arts Club sur
vive. AS old groups disbanded, how
ever new ones arose to take their
places. in most cases utilizing as q
nucleus players and technicianS who
had already got their preliminary ex-
perience in the defunct organizations.
At the same time dramatic groups
we're being organized in the high
schools and colleges of the city, and
q constant stream of theater- minded
young people has come out Of school
and into the players clubs of the city.
"A m ppECENT tbe ecbooI oro,,ns ora
very active. The high schools
produce regularly. American Univer-
sity has an active theatrical organi-
zation. George Washington Univer-
sity's Cue and Curtain Club has been
presenting three plays year since it
was organized in 1881 by Constance
Connor Brown, who was then an asso-
ciate in the Department of Public
Speaking at the university.
Even though the various groups are
able to make expenses ana can, within
certain limits, get the rights to the
plays they want to present. so many
difficulties lie in their way as to make
producing real struggle. Chief Of
these IS the lack of suitable stages and
auditoriums.
There is, of course, the attractive
Wardman Park Theater, which was
built for the old Rams Head Players
when that organization was the towns
foremost producing group back in the
early 20's. When Bobby" Bell, their
sponsor. left the city, the Rams Head
Players broke up, and since then the
Wardman Park Theater has been used
by score of acting groups.
Church halls and school auditoriums
are also available during the Winter,
and for many reasons such houses are
never ideal for theatrical productions.
In the church halls the stages are
small and the audience must be seated
in chairs placed in rows on a fiat
floor with the result that only few
of the seats are really good from al
audience point of view. Church Or
ganizations meet, of course, in and
near these halls, and it is frequently
impossible to select dates for plays so
that they do not conflict with some
other gathering in a nearby room.
The clatter of knives and forks as
church supper was coming to con-
clusion next door mas ruined many an
otherwise good first act.
School auditoriunls, on the other
hand, are likely to be so large that
both players and audience are lost in
their vastness. The chairs in school
auditoriums are not as comfortable
as theater seats should be.
MOT the least of the difficulties en-
countered in using these impro.
vised theaters have to do with staging.
It Is impossible in most cases to have
the use of the auditorium for more
than one or two days before the first
performance, and oftentimes the show
must be rehearsed elsewhere than the
stage on which it is to be played right
up to the final dress rehearsal. Some
times the sets must be built elsewhere
and moved to the building where the