The New Theatre League was a group of theatre professionals working in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. A successor to the League of Workers' Theatres (of the U.S.A.), the New Theatre League existed between 1935 and 1942. It published ''New Theatre'', which was renamed ''Theatre and Film'' and then ''New Theatre News''.

History

The New Theatre League had its genesis in the workers' theatre movement, whose umbrella organisation was in the mid-1930s the League of Workers' Theatres (of U.S.A.). The New Theatre League was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

federation of

little theatre Little Theatre or Little Theater may refer to: Australia *Little Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia * Little Theatre, Sydney, former name of the Royal Standard Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales *Melbourne Little Theatre, an amateur theatre company ...

s and amateur theatrical groups, whose productions were aimed at addressing political issues of the day. It ran the New Theatre School and Theatre Workshop, a training school that used the

Stanislavsky Method Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the "art of experiencing" ...

for educating actors, theatre directors,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

s, and

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

s. New Theatre League productions included Irwin Shaw's ''

Bury the Dead ''Bury the Dead'' (1936) is an Expressionism, expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to ...

'', and

Marc Blitzstein Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Wo ...

's ''

The Cradle Will Rock ''The Cradle Will Rock'' is a 1937 play in music by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman. A Brechtian allegory of corruption and corporate greed, it ...

''.

Artists

Theatre professionals who worked with the League included: *

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

* Clifford Odets * Albert Maltz *

John Garfield John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...

* Lee Strasberg

Publications

'' Workers Theatre'' had been published irregularly since April 1931, originally by the International Workers Dramatic Union and the League of Workers Theatres of the U.S.A., until around 1933. Its history is complicated, but ''New Theatre'' began in 1934, was then published by the New Theatre League. It was renamed ''Theatre and Film'' to reflect a broadened focus, effective with the start of volume 4 in March 1937. Sometime before November 1939 it became ''New Theatre News''. ''New Theatre'' was also the official organ of the Workers Dance League and Workers Film and Photo League for at least some of its life.

References

External links

"Theatre Thursday: New Theatre Magazine and the Workers’ Theatre Movement"
by Zachary Grewe
Workers' Theatre Movement: USSR, Germany, Britain
(Encyclopedia.com) 1935 establishments in New York City 1942 disestablishments in New York (state) Theatre in New York City Political theatre

History

Artists

Publications

References

Further reading

External links