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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
Every theatrical group which nerves itself to the effort of production has some goal which it hopes to achieve, but that of the Workers' Theatre was unique and the attempt to realize it resulted in unique organizations with unusual working methods. This goal was not cultural, but political—not art, but revolution. The production of a play was regarded as a means of organizing the workers of America into an army capable of winning the struggle for a classless society: “A theatrical performance becomes a communal rite, not unlike the primitive dances or religious ceremonies during which solo actors… tried to arouse the spectators… to participate in the rite, to take part in the struggle.” Because of this aim, each Workers' Theatre group in America between 1932 and 1942 attempted to be “an active political organization of… class conscious revolutionary workers” which would provide a model of effective revolutionary organization for its audience.
1 For a survey of the Workers' Theatre, see my article, “The Theatre Nobody Knows: Workers' Theatre in America, 1926–1942,” Theatre Survey, VI (May, 1965), 65–82.
2 Prentis, A., “Relationship between Content and Form,” Workers' Theatre, I (September, 1931), 10.Google Scholar
3 “A Voice from the Red Players,” Workers' Theatre, II (April, 1932), 32.
4 Carter, Jean and Ogden, Jess, Everyman's Drama (New York, 1938), p. 35.Google Scholar
5 Bonn, John E., “Dram Buro Report,” Workers’ Theatre, II (May, 1932), 10.Google Scholar
6 Bonn, John E., “Problems of Play-Directing,” Workers' Theatre, I (October, 1931), 8.Google Scholar
7 “German Revolutionary Theatre,” New Masses, VI (December, 1930), 20.
8 Pack, Richard, “Shock Troupe in Action,” New Theatre, I (November, 1934), 13.Google Scholar
9 Schmidt, Dorothy, “Guest Appearances,” New Theatre News, I (March, 1940), 10.Google Scholar
10 For details on Bonn, see my article, “The Odyssey of John Bonn: A Note on Germań Theatre in America,” The German Quarterly, XXXVIII (May, 1965), 325–334.
11 Pack, p. 13.
12 Schmidt, p. 10.
13 Pack, p. 13.
14 Ober, Harry, “The Workers' Laboratory Theatre,” Workers' Theatre, I (April, 1931), 10.Google Scholar
15 Bonn, , “Dram Buro Report,” pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
16 “Voice from the Red Players,” p. 32.
17 This paragraph is based on Haller, Marg, “The Organizational Structure of the Prolet-Buehne,” Workers' Theatre, I (September, 1931), 5–7.Google Scholar
18 Ober, pp. 9–11.
19 Speigel, Aaron, “Guest Appearances,” New Theatre News, I (August/September, 1940), 11–14.Google Scholar
20 Houghton, Norris, Advance from Broadway (New York, 1941), pp. 280–282.Google Scholar
21 This description is based on the following: Elion, H., “Experience in Collective Playwriting,” Workers' Theatre, I (September, 1931), 13–14Google Scholar; Thon, M., “The Artistic Life of the Prolet-Buhne,” Workers' Theatre, I (September, 1931), 8–9Google Scholar; and Reines, Bernard, “The Collective Method in the Workers' Theatre,” Workers' Theatre, I (May, 1931), 3–1.Google Scholar
22 Ober, pp. 9–11.
23 For a discussion of these schools, see my article, “New Theatre Schools, 1932–1942,” The Speech Teacher, XIV (November, 1965), 278–285.
24 “Extracts from Minutes of First Enlarged Plenum of the International Workers' Theatrical Union,” Workers' Theatre, I (November, 1931), 2.
25 Shapiro, H., “Training the Actor for the Proletarian Theatre,” Workers' Theatre, I (July, 1931), 4.Google Scholar
26 Buchwald, Nathaniel, “The Judges Award,” Workers' Theatre, II (May, 1932), II.Google Scholar
27 H. Shapiro, p. 3.
28 Bonn, , “Problems of Play-Directing,” [continued] Workers' Theatre, I (December, 1931), p. 8.Google Scholar
29 H. Shapiro, p. 3.
30 Ibid.
31 Karnot, Stephen, “From a Director's Notebook,” New Theatre, I (September, 1934), 13.Google Scholar
32 “New Theatre School,” New Theatre News, I (January/February, 1939), 6.
33 “Meet the Theatre Union,” New Theatre, I (February, 1934), 9–10.
34 Thacher, Molly Day, “Revolutionary Staging for Revolutionary Plays,” New Theatre, I (July/August, 1934), 26.Google Scholar
35 “;Meet the Theatre Union,” p. 10.
36 Lewis, Bob, “Exercises for Actors from the Theatre of Action,” New Theatre, III (March, 1936), 31Google Scholar; (April, 1936), 39; (June, 1936), 31.
37 Buchwald, p. 11.
38 Bonn, , “Problems of Play-Directing,” (October, 1931), p. 5.Google Scholar
39 Prentis, Albert, “Basic Principles,” Workers' Theatre, I (May, 1931), 2.Google Scholar
40 This paragraph is based on Saxe, Alfred, “Directing the Agitprop Play,” Workers' Theatre, III (May/June, 1933), 3–4.Google Scholar
41 Karnot, p. 12. His emphasis.
42 Saxe, Alfred, “Newsboy—from Script to Performance,” New Theatre, I (July/August, 1934), 12–13.Google Scholar
43 Prentis, , “Basic Principles,” p. 2.Google Scholar
44 Thon, p.9.
45 Porter, Esther, “Five Workers' Theatres and One Dance Group,” Workers' Theatre, II (April, 1932), 24.Google Scholar
46 Ibid.
47 Buchwald, Nathaniel, “The Prize-winners of the Spartakiad,” Workers' Theatre, II (June/July, 1932), 10.Google Scholar
48 Gorelik, Mordecai, “Scenery: the Visual Attack,” Workers' Theatre, I (March, 1932), 3.Google Scholar
49 Ibid., pp. 4–5.
50 Pack, pp. 12, 33.
51 Spitz, Lawrence, “Let Freedom Ring on Tour,” New Theatre, III (November, 1936), 24–25.Google Scholar
52 Houghton, p. 280; and Larkin, Margaret, “Letter to the Editor,” New Masses, XXX (February 14, 1939), 32.Google Scholar
53 This description is based on the following: Pack, p. 33; Martin, Peter, “A Day With the Shock Troupe of the Workers' Lab Theatre,” Daily Worker (May 23, 1934), p. 5Google Scholar; and Warren, James, “How Members of the W. L. T. Shock Troupe Live and Work,” Daily Worker (December 28, 1934), p. 5.Google Scholar
54 Warren, p: 5.
55 “News,” Workers' Theatre, I (November, 1931), 38.
56 “Typical Booking Schedule,” New Theatre News, I (December, 1938), 13.
57 “News and Notes,” Workers' Theatre, II (June/July, 1932), 22.
58 Blake, Ben, The Awakening of the American Theatre (New York, 1935), p. 17.Google Scholar
59 Spitz, p. 25.
60 Martin, p. 7.
