Armina Marshall (1895-1991) was a playwright and actress, and the first co-director of New York's

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of th ...

. Marshall's New York acting debut was in 1922 in Paul Claudel's ''The Tidings Brought to Mary''. She shifted to producing once she was married, and was the co-author of seven plays, three on Broadway, including the 1933 hit ''Pursuit of Happiness'' produced by The Federal Theatre Division of the of

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(written under the pseudonym Isabelle Louden). Marshall was instrumental in bringing the Theatre Guild to new audiences, directing "Theater Guild of the Air" for eight years on the radio, as well as "

The U.S. Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation (U. S. ...

" for eight years on television. Marshall and her co-producers won a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Play in 1958 for the production of ''

Sunrise At Campobello ''Sunrise at Campobello'' is a 1960 Warner Bros. biographical film telling the story of the struggles of future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when Roosevelt was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 ...

''. She later went on to be a producer at the Theater Guild. The Theater Guild's production of ''Oklahoma'' in 1943 was said to have "transformed the face of American musical theater." Along with her husband, Marshall founded and operated the

Westport Country Playhouse Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality ...

in 1930 which did "New York plays" for a Connecticut audience. Marshall and Langer converted an old cow barn into a venue with a Broadway-sized stage. They operated the theater continuously, except for a small break during WWII, until 1959.

Early life and education

Marshall was born in Oklahoma in the narrow border between Oklahoma and Kansas known as

Cherokee Outlet The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a 60-mile-wide (97 km) parcel of land south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border between 96 and 100°W. The Cherokee Outlet wa ...

. Her father was a sheriff. The family moved to California and she attended the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and was a school teacher in

Brawley, California Brawley (formerly, Braly) is a city in the Imperial Valley and within Imperial County, southern California, United States. The population was 24,953 at the 2010 census, up from 22,052 in 2000. The town has a significant cattle and feed indust ...

. She married Lawrence Langner in 1925. He died in 1962. The couple had one son and two granddaughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Armina 1895 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American theatre directors Women theatre directors