Federal Theatre Project (FTP) in Retrospect

“Dangerous Theatre” by George Kazacoff explains how the playwriting unit of the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) acquired, reviewed, presented new plays during the life of the project: 1935-1939.
 
The Federal Theatre Project was established to give work to unemployed theatre artists during the harsh days of the Depression. The Director of the project, Hallie Flanagan created the brave and ingenious enterprise hoping it would continue after the depression, eventually becoming a National Theatre. The FTP was plagued with controversy and opposition. It survived the attacks because Flanagan held that “Theatre, when it’s good, is always dangerous.”
 
The FTP without its draw-backs remains as a beacon of hope for what might become when the government sponsors the arts. Today apathy abounds as we witness the dismantling of the National Endowment for the arts.  Perhaps one day the climate will exist (but not in calamity) in which the hopes and dreams, big thinking will emerge again as was reflected in “Dangerous Theatre.”
 
 
“Dangerous Theatre: The Federal Theatre Project as a Forum for New Plays”
Written by George Kazacoff
Published by Xlibris, Corp
Published date March 22, 2011
Paperback Price $19.99
Kindle Price: $9.99
 

About the Author
George Kazacoff - a doctorate from New York University with a multi-faceted career as a playwright, director, actor, college teacher, and filmmaker. He is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of New York and was a visiting professor in drama at  Vassar College. He also taught expository writing and playwriting at New York University, and other theatre and speech course at University of Connecticut, Hunter and Baruch Colleges, St. John’s University, and at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.
 

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