their freedom, and to add the greatest possible measure of professional technique and excellence. The Age and Importance of Amateur Dramatics Historically, in the countries of modern Europe, the amateur play producer is the original one, and the professional is a newcomer in the field, who can trace his ancestry back a mere three centuries. But it was more than a thousand years ago that the priests of some unnamed medieval cathedral decided to vivify the reading of the Bible for some particular service by taking parts and reading them dramatically. From this simple beginning grew the elaborate structure of medieval miracle plays, which for many generations engrossed the energies and satisfied the dramatic longings of our ancestors. It is difficult for us, at this distance, to gain an adequate idea of what the miracle plays meant in the life of the people. The energy and the devotion that the peasants of Oberammergau put into the production of their Passion Play once a decade is an illustration of what occurred yearly in many villages and towns throughout Europe. 2 And out of this great folk art grew the first, and perhaps the greatest, flowering of dramatic art. Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan playwrights in England, Molière in France, de la Vega and Calderón in Spain-these great artists were among the first generations of professional men of the theater. They 2 There are many interesting studies of this subject. See the Cambridge History of English Literature, for an excellent discussion and an extensive bibliography. could never have existed but by virtue of the thousands of amateur playwrights, actors, and producers from whom they and their fellows learned their art. The amateur play producer may take pride in his ancestry. He traces it back to the dawn of history. Modern Amateur Dramatics With the rise of the professional theater, three centuries ago, the amateur theater became less and less important; but within our own generation, indeed mostly within the last ten years in the United States, there has been a rebirth of interest in the nonprofessional theater. The giving of plays has become a "movement," dignified by the name of the Little Theater. In schools and colleges play production is taken up more and more seriously as a worth-while art. Few schools and few communities in the United States are now without amateur play-producing groups of one sort or another. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that we have seen the birth, or rather the rebirth, of a great folk art. Partly as a result of this activity, there have been radical and important changes in the professional stage. And it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that we, or our descendants, may see a newer and more glorious flowering of dramatic art than that which made the Elizabethan era the golden age of English literature. A nation of amateurs are sure to pro 8 Books on this subject are: Sheldon Cheney, The New Movement in the Theater (Mitchell Kennerley, New York, 1914) and The Art Theater (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1925); Constance D'Arcy Mackay, The Little Theater in the United States (Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1917). duce a high professional art. Music-loving Italy and Germany, where every citizen is an amateur musician, have produced the greatest modern musical artists. Already the modern nonprofessional theater has contributed much. Many of our most promising professional playwrights first saw their plays performed by amateur groups. The professional stage workers who had their first experience in amateur groups are too numerous to mention. If the movement had done nothing but produce the few great professional theaters that have grown out of amateur organizations, such groups as The Theater Guild and The Neighborhood Playhouse of New York City, it would have had a notable influence on the American stage. The action and reaction between the amateur and professional practice of an art must always be a close and important relationship. But this widening circle of interest in nonprofessional play production has not been caused by any widespread desire to "uplift the drama." Its basis is much truer and more fundamental. Like all other true arts, the dramatic art is based on delight in creation and in self-expression. And it has the advantage that it can be practiced by a small group, or by a whole countryside, just as it used to be in medieval Europe. It requires and coördinates a multitude of activities— activities as diversified as directing, managing, designing, acting, writing, carpentry, painting, stage lighting, costuming, and so on. This is the point of view from which dramatic art has been approached in the following pages. After a discussion of the value and necessity of a permanent organization, if dramatics are really to be practiced as an art, the various activities are described in detail. These activities fall under three heads, and may be described as (1) acting, (2) stagecraft, and (3) business. Naturally the organization suitable for play production should show this threefold division (see pages 16 seq.). The chapters dealing with the choice of players and the conduct of rehearsals (Chapters IV and V) deal mainly with the first division. The second element, stagecraft, is discussed in the chapters devoted to the technical aspects of play production (Chapters VI-XIII). The business department is then considered (Chapter XIV). But the divisions are by no means mutually exclusive. It cannot be too often repeated that the dramatic art is a unified subject, and so it must be considered if it is to be a true art. This book is by no means a complete inquiry into the dramatic art. But the attempt has been made to describe all the necessary processes with such fullness that a clear idea may be gained of them. It is hoped that the workers will be able, with the aid of the table of contents and the index, to find specific aid in any branch-from such general processes as how to control rehearsals to such specific details as how to tack canvas on to flats, or how to make frames for gelatines. And if, for the sake of brevity or clearness, the author has sometimes been too dogmatic, he hereby denies all intention of being so. There can be no absolute rules for any art process. And dramatic art, or so it seems to some of us, is the art that covers the |