This Month in Theatre History
The first production to use electric lighting, a tragic theatre fire, a Broadway landmark, an Asian American icon, and a James Baldwin musical adaptation.
Support American Theatre! A just and thriving theatre ecology begins with information for all. Make a fully tax-deductible donation today! Join TCG to ensure you get AT's return to print in your mailbox.
The first production to use electric lighting, a tragic theatre fire, a Broadway landmark, an Asian American icon, and a James Baldwin musical adaptation.
October saw Congress vote against theatre, Frederick Douglass inveighing against minstrelsy, a ‘Shuffle Along’ sequel, a gravity-defying musical, and the passing of a genre-defining playwright.
September looks back on theatre in the colonies, early playwright protections, Midwest theatre milestones, living newspapers, and two groundbreaking Broadway musicals.
August spotlights Black theatrical trailblazers, a theatre company that conquered all media, and a big theatre for little folks in the Lone Star state.
Though much talk has surrounded possible federal funding, let’s imagine a world based in repertory theatre and funding from the state level.
The soul-healing and community-building qualities of children’s theatre, a key part of the Federal Theatre Project, should be central to any new deal for the arts.
Growing calls for government arts support are welcome, even if the historical model of the 1930s is an imprecise analogy.
From the first staging of an English-language on U.S. soil to the founding of Arena Stage, August has been a hot month for theatre.
As we face another Depression, can we dream of a new Federal Theatre Project? Any such hope begins with political organizing onstage and off.
From a 19th-century play about the African-American experience to Pulitzer winners ‘Angels in America’ and ‘I Am My Own Wife,’ May was a memorable month for theatre.