The story of the Federal Theatre Project is quite the epic tale. It was a product of
the Great Depression, born under the Works Progress Administration, part of the New
Deal, to create jobs for unemployed theatre artists. The Federal Theatre Project (FTP)
created jobs for actors, designers, stagehands, and directors. It provided theatrical
productions across the United States for people at low or no cost to the theatergoer, many
of who could no longer afford to attend theatre due to the economic climate of the time. It
also created theatre in areas that had not actually had theatre. It provided jobs for people
of all colors. It started careers of people who would go down as some of the most lauded
names in theatrical and film history. It even created new forms of theatre.
It seems a prudent idea to start with a bit of history to put the era and events
therein into context. Largely due to the aftereffects of World War I, the 1920s was a
decade "at once wildly creative,......
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