The Federal Theater Project
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: The Federal Theater Project
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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Millions of people across the country roamed the streets in search of jobs, hoping to find some way to get the
money they needed to feed their families. The Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s affected not
only those who worked in jobs requiring physical labor, but those involved with theatre and the arts as well. The
Federal Theatre Project was one of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s projects that was created to help
deal with the economic turmoil caused by the Great Depression. Thousands of artists, whether it was in the form
of writing, music, or performing arts, were put out of work. The Federal Arts projects were created to reinstate jobs
for unemployed artists as well as create displays of art for the public. "The Federal Theatre Project, directed by the
former head of the Vassar College Experimental Theatre, Hallie Flanagan, was the most important, the most
controversial, and hence, the shortest-lived of the Federal One Projects" (Gerdes, 155). Though the Federal Theatre
Project caused a large amount of controversy among people in America, it was very important because during its
short life it supplied jobs for many people working in the arts and it brought free theatre to America.
By 1935, there were almost fifteen million unemployed people in the United States, about forty thousand of those
being people who were formerly employed in theatre. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps was created to give
urban men jobs doing hard physical labor such as building roads or buildings. The WPA created the Federal One
Projects, or Federal Arts Projects, in order to create job opportunities for those involved with art instead of
physical work. The Federal Theatre Project was one of the larger of the pro...