By CAITLIN MORRIS
Published: Issue 1, Summer 2009

The Federal Theatre Project: A Case Study

(by Barry B. Witham)

The Pacific Northwest contextualizes Witham’s latest book about the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project, which was designed to bring theatre to the masses. Witham (Professor Emeritus of Theatre History at University of Washington) draws upon original documents from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and first-person interviews. His regional focus allows for richly-detailed portraits of local protagonists, such as Glenn Hughes, founder of the School of Drama at the University of Washington. The book also recounts controversial performances by the Seattle Negro Repertory Company of Stevedore and Lysistrata, and the Living Newspaper productions of Power and Spirochete. While the FTP was ultimately halted by anti-New Deal congressmen, its influence persists: Witham charts this legacy throughout the Pacific Northwest’s contemporary artistic, political, and social culture. (Cambridge University Press, 2009). TAP