“In an age of terrific implications as to wealth and
poverty, as to the function of government, as to peace and war, as to the
relation of the artist to all these forces, the theatre must grow up. The
theatre must become conscious of the implications of the changing social order,
or the changing social order will ignore, and rightly, the implications of the
theatre.”
Hallie Flanagan, Arena, 1940
Nearly four years
after the Wall Street Crash in October 1929, Franklin D. Roosevelt sought an
end to a national economic depression that left one in four people
unemployed. Economic stimulation
programs included bank reform, the creation of Social Security, and even the
formulation of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). Hallie Flanagan, a professor at Vassar, was
appointed to run America’s first national theatre, which she hoped would rival
those of such countries as France, England, Italy, and Russia. However, Flanagan saw this opportunity as
more than a chance for international recognition. This was her chance to create “plays that
were not mere entertainments but artworks relevant to the social and political
problems of the day.”
The FTP was created
under the authority of the Works Progress Administration, and as such its
primary purpose was to create jobs for displaced workers in the 1930s. With the Living Newspapers project, the FTP
was able to employ large numbers of researchers, journalists, and writers to
compile data and reports on issues and events that were of concern or interest
to the American working class public.
This factual material was then inserted into a dramatic framework
designed to explain and present the issue to the audience, often incorporating
a call to action. This format allowed
for the facts and statistics to be updated to reflect the most recent news and
data or to be adapted for relevance to different performance locations. As a work of the Living Newspapers, One-Third of a Nation embodied Flanagan’s
mission.
The
play opens on a slum tenement in the 1920s.
The overcrowded building and subpar construction causes a small flame to
turn into a catastrophic, deadly fire. This
story was all too familiar for the era. Roosevelt’s Second Inaugural Address,
where the title of the play originated, states, “I see one-third of a nation
ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.” He
could not have been more right. Fire and disease, among other factors, had
created petri dishes for tragedy all over the country, and One-Third of a Nation delved into a question that Flanagan was
undoubtedly troubled by: Why had this national issue not been fixed?
Questioning
these horrifying living conditions is the “Little Man,” a working class
character living in tenement housing. He voices concerns and questions that the
audience, mostly working class, had already been wondering. However, the “Little Man” pushes the audience
to reject these circumstances and pursue a solution to these issues long after
the play’s end. Through this, the Federal
Theatre’s mission would transcend the walls of the theatre and actively
challenge the social and political problems of the day.
Further reading:
Resources that give a broad
overview of the Federal Theatre:
The Federal Theatre 1935-1939:
Plays, Relief, and Politics by
Jane Dehart Mathews
Resources on One-Third of a Nation:
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