Grieving the Federal Theatre: Youth Programs and Performance from the Project that Tried to Heal the United States

Abstract

In the American 1930s, the federal government subsidized programming that helped thousands of artists get back to work by mounting original plays and crafting innovative arts programs that served the children of the United States. Amidst the social turmoils of the Great Depression, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) is remembered for charting new modalities of theatre making, generating storied productions, and underscoring the political tensions of the era. This dissertation seeks to amend narratives of the Federal Theatre by illuminating the undertold stories of how the Federal Theatre also supported children’s resilience and learning during the FTP’s four year tenure, stewarding young people’s capacity for hope during their most pivotal years, amidst one of the nation’s most trying times. How did the Federal Theatre offer American youth the gifts, tools, and power of theatre through changemaking pedagogical interventions? Counter to histories solely decrying the stoppage of the FTP by Congress in 1939, what should we celebrate about the Federal Theatre’s nurturing of children during the epoch of its impact? This dissertation extends to the field of Theatre and Performance Studies, the American public, and children of the United States the opportunity to grieve the loss of the Federal Theatre’s mission and commitment to children’s welfare. Using rich archival documentation of the Federal Theatre’s youth programs and performances to triangulate the theatrical, educational, and citizen-making aims of the FTP’s labor, a history is unraveled alongside the words of Hallie Flanagan (the project’s National Director) as she laments the loss of specific programs during the Federal Theatre’s stoppage—many of which operated in direct service to children and youth. Investigating classical plays performed for schools across the country, the use of puppet theatre in hospitals to support psychoanalytic therapy for children, the emergence of queer identities for youth in state-operated wilderness camps through social performance, and dual coded instruction on racial identity with folk tales on stage, Grieving the Federal Theatre asks for expansion of how we remember the Federal Theatre Project—and how we care for children through the arts.