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The Playbook
A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War
1 of 1 copy available
A brilliant and daring account of a culture war over the place of theater in American democracy in the 1930s, one that anticipates our current divide, by the acclaimed Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro
From 1935 to 1939, the Federal Theatre Project staged over a thousand productions in 29 states that were seen by thirty million (or nearly one in four) Americans, two thirds of whom had never seen a play before. At its helm was an unassuming theater professor, Hallie Flanagan. It employed, at its peak, over twelve thousand struggling artists, some of whom, like Orson Welles and Arthur Miller, would soon be famous, but most of whom were just ordinary people eager to work again at their craft. It was the product of a moment when the arts, no less than industry and agriculture, were thought to be vital to the health of the republic, bringing Shakespeare to the public, alongside modern plays that confronted the pressing issues of the day—from slum housing and public health to racism and the rising threat of fascism.
The Playbook takes us through some of its most remarkable productions, including a groundbreaking Black production of Macbeth in Harlem and an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s anti-fascist novel It Can’t Happen Here that opened simultaneously in 18 cities, underscoring the Federal Theatre’s incredible range and vitality. But this once thriving Works Progress Administration relief program did not survive and has left little trace. For the Federal Theatre was the first New Deal project to be attacked and ended on the grounds that it promoted “un-American” activity, sowing the seeds not only for the McCarthyism of the 1950s but also for our own era of merciless polarization. It was targeted by the first House un-American Affairs Committee, and its demise was a turning point in American cultural life—for, as Shapiro brilliantly argues, “the health of democracy and theater, twin born in ancient Greece, have always been mutually dependent.”
A defining legacy of this culture war was how the strategies used to undermine and ultimately destroy the Federal Theatre were assembled by a charismatic and cunning congressman from East Texas, the now largely forgotten Martin Dies, who in doing so pioneered the right-wing political playbook now so prevalent that it seems eternal.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 28, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593914281
- File size: 232086 KB
- Duration: 08:03:30
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from March 25, 2024
Columbia University literature professor Shapiro follows up Shakespeare in a Divided America with another captivating theater history in which politics and entertainment intersect. Established in 1935 under the New Deal, the Federal Theatre Project was a nationwide jobs program that quickly became a hotbed of idealism. Hallie Flanagan, a stagnating academic appointed to lead the program, seized the opportunity to produce challenging plays that tackled social problems (“God help me to be able to do something more vivid in life than adding to the number of Vassar girls in the world,” she wrote at the time). The program’s notable works include Orson Welles’s all-Black retelling of Macbeth set in Haiti and an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s antifascist novel It Can’t Happen Here that opened simultaneously in almost two dozen cities. Led by Texas Democrat Martin Dies, congressmen hoping to disrupt the New Deal targeted the Federal Theatre for its blatant progressivism, and in 1939 it became “the first New Deal project... terminated” for “promot un-American activity.” Shapiro’s shrewd narrative revels in absurdity; during congressional hearings, committee members kept reading Federal Theatre scripts aloud, as though yearning to be actors, while Dies, a natural performer, deployed his own warped brand of showmanship to pummel Flanagan from the dais. Shapiro’s exquisite backstage history also cannily reflects on present-day political implications. It’s a bravura performance. -
Versatile narrator Gabra Zackman maintains an even, judicious tone while tracing the rocky history of the Federal Theatre Project. From 1935 to 1939, that New Deal program employed thousands of out-of-work actors and reached millions of Americans who had never seen a live play before. It was eventually axed by conservative politicians for its allegedly Communist bias. Happily, the Federal Theatre fostered the next generation of playwrights and performers. Columbia professor Shapiro is himself a highly effective narrator, as evidenced by a production of Shakespeare's sonnets he recorded years ago. But his unvarnished style might have sounded harsh here, where the author's judgments are so frank and unsparing. Zackman effectively moderates and balances this powerful, incisive story--making the listener's own outrage all the stronger. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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