Connecting the dots : an analysis of the living stage's archival holdings

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dc.contributor.authorMcNerney, Sheilaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-14T22:46:53Z
dc.date.available2024-08-14T22:46:53Z
dc.date.copyright1995en_US
dc.date.issued1995
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Theatreen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThose who spearheaded the regional theatre movement fought a revolution and emerged victorious, and their revolutionary spirit seems to live on in a generation of reformers. Many regional theatres and their associate artists have continued the effort to redefine the role of theatre in the United States. One result of this search for meaning has been the formation of community outreach programs which first appeared in the 1960s. It is through these programs that the next revolution, or rather reformation of American theatre will occur. The work of the Living Stage, the outreach arm of Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, seems to have anticipated this imminent reformation. Under the direction of Robert Alexander, this company is one of the first and most significant outreach programs in the history of American regional theatre. However, its work has been virtually ignored in print both by theatre scholars and the company's colleagues in the professional community. Instead, the recording of its history has been left primarily to journalists and freelance writers. Consequently, the documentation of the Living Stage's development, work and achievements is incomplete, inconsistent, and steeped in hidden agendas and unstated biases. Since 1967 the Living Stage has maintained a clipping file, an amalgamation of the written reception of its work, which consists primarily of newspaper clippings (many of which are unidentified). It includes articles from journals, newsletters, magazines, theatre trade publications, and the Arena Stage's and the Living Stage's in-house publications, as well as transcripts of radio broadcasts, audition notices, and grant conferral announcements. An analysis of these archival holdings (225 in total) illustrates what can happen when the documentation of a theatre company's history is left entirely to the press, and how this problematic documentation can ultimately serve theatre scholarship.
dc.format.extent82 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/18969
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleConnecting the dots : an analysis of the living stage's archival holdingsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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