New Theatre

New Theatre AMONG THE MAKERS OF THEATRICAL HISTORY in America during the thirties we are used to including playwrights, directors, acting companies , stars, designers, producers, and even a few critics. The names of writers like Odets, Green, Hellman, Saroyan, and Wilder shine out, and so do those of companies like the Group Theatre, the Theatre Union, the Mercury Theatre, and the protean Federal Theatre Project. Much less well known, if not generally forgotten, are organizations like the New Theatre League and New Theatre magazine. Who remembers that to a certain extent Clifford Odets was discovered by New Theatre? His Waiting for Lefty received the top prize-fifty dollars-in a contest that the magazine sponsored jointly with New Jl.iasses. Moreover, when the curtain rose for the first time on that play-at the Civic Repertory Theatre on Sunday evening, January 6, 1935-the performance, by members of the Group Theatre cast of Melvin Levy's Gold Eagle Guy, was for the benefit of New Theatre. The magazine did not last out the decade, but during its lifetime it played a significant role as instigator, discoverer, and critic of theater in America. Ben Blake, who had been its first editor, said of it in 1935 in a pamphlet called The Awakening of the American Theatre: "Today the New Theatre League is the powerhouse of the American social theatre.... New Theatre, official organ of the League, exerts great influence on the course of the theatre. Each month it reviews the important developments in every phase of the American stage, screen, and drama, from the League's social viewpoint ." (p. 57) Blake probably could not write about the magazine without some pride, just as the reviewer for the magazine (Odets) could not be expected to point this out. "The powerhouse" may overstate the case, yet "exerts great influence" does not. I shall trace the history of New Theatre, suggest its scope (except for its coverage of film and dance), and then examine its dramatic criticism, for I believe that, besides having had historical importance , the magazine raises some fundamental questions about dramatic art and society. I shall look mainly at New Theatre proper, but I shall have to look before and after, because the magazine had three lives. Like its various parent organizations, it lived by new affiliation and by metamorphosis . It began in April, 1931, as a mimeographed monthly 267 268 MODERN DRAMA December (sometimes bimonthly) called Workers Theatre, ventured into print for four issues, then after two months of silence resumed in mimeograph form through July-August, 1933. It was back in print in January, 1934, as New Theatre. With one bimonthly exception, it appeared under that title monthly through November, 1936, for a total of thirty-four issues. It is this phase that I shall stress. The third incarnation took place in March, 1937-as New Theatre 6- Film-but despite a somewhat glossier body, the magazine ceased permanently after the second, the April, issue. As might be supposed, some members of the editorial staff served the magazine for most of its three lives. Others came and went. Except for its last three issues, Workers Theatre seemed to be edited anonymously, or, at most, by initials, though some columns were fully signed. Ben Blake, it transpired, was editor, assisted by about fourteen others. When New Theatre appeared, its staff was divided into an editorial board (with Blake as editor), associates, and contributing editors, of whom over thirty were listed, some of them, like Rolland and Meyerhold, no doubt honorary. The categories and their members fluctuated bewilderingly. At one time or another the names of about one hundred people appeared. After the first three issues Herbert Kline was made editor. In August, 1935, George Redfield became managing editor and then, with the launching of New Theatre 6- Film, head of its editorial board and total staff of seven. The number of mimeographed copies of Workers Theatre was held to 1000, but during the printed phase a circulation of 5,000 was sought. New Theatre began with about 2,000 and by January, 1936, claimed 20,000. No figures are available for New Theatre 6- Film. From the beginning there were...