Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

Page 25 text:

SOMANEHLS EVEN TS 2 or Most of the large cities in the United States have some Little Theaters. We find them housed in everything imaginable from a stable to a well-fur- nished building used only for theatrical purposes. Most of the Little Theaters in the United States have litthe money to spend, but they realize that beauty and wonder do not come from the money spent on materials but that the thought and efforts put into the work produce the effect they desire. Europe has professional players in their Little Theaters while in the Unit- ed States most of the actors are amateurs who work without pay. The Harvard 47 Workshop was established in 1912. In 1916 a summer course was opened because so many teachers and students who wished to at- tend this course had to work during the winter months. Professor Baker, who is in charge of this workshop, teaches the students all about stage set- ting, management, scenic designs, and costume designs. ‘Lhe students write plays and have a chance to try them out at this theater to which admission is gained only by invitation. Many of the students become so interested in playwriting and in the Little Theater that they open one in their own home town. The Theater Workshop opened in New York in 1916. This theater gives all actors an opportunity for practice and tryouts and to perform in parts adapted to their talents. Here the producer has his chance to experiment with his plays and many times he finds out what the public wants so that he can re- arrange the play to suit them. In almost every college we find some kind of dramatics. Most colleges have their College Dramatic Club and other smaller organizations for the same purpose. Many of these clubs were brought about by the war. The men in training camps needed some sort of entertainment and many times one-act plays were given by these clubs to cheer the men. In some communities, where traveling to a large city to see a show is al- most impossible, the Little Theater has reached its height of success. The cost of the trip and the time spent in travel make the people of such communities rejoice at the prospects of the Little Theater. These people would rather pay a small admission price or a yearly subscription rate to the Little Theater and have the money stay in their community than to spend it in the city. The cost of the upkeep of the theater in such places is not much. We sel- dom find them spending over five hundred dollars a year for lights, rent and scenery. Many times the players borrow costumes from the neighboring company and in this way save a great deal of expense, Among those noted for their work in the Little Theater World are Max Reinhard, a German, who has done much to improve the color schemes in play productions; Gordon Craig and Robert Edmond Jones who have made wonderful settings for the Little Theater. Stuart Walker is noted in this world for his Little Theater known as the l’ortmanteau Theater. The idea for such a theater came to Walker in 1914. He told Mrs. Coon- ley about it and she was so pleased that she sent him on a Western trip to sce how the people would respond to such a theater, Walker found that his theater would please the public so he started to work. His lighting effects and several other ideas came to him when he thought of a toy theater that he had had as a boy. In speaking of the Portmanteau Theater, Hiram Kelly Moderwell, au- thor of “The Theater of Today”, says that it is a complete stage, smaller than the ordinary one but large enough for any play that does not make a special demand for bigness. It can be set up in any room sixteen and one-half feet high, twenty-five feet wide, and forty feet long. The walls support them- selves by interlocking. The complete theater can be boxed and made ready for shipment in one and one-half hours. When boxed the complete equipment weighs only three thousand pounds. ‘The light is obtained from movable spot lights which reflect color.

Page 24 text:

24 SOMANHIS EVENTS times happiness and labor have been disassociated by man. Shakespeare says, “Tf all the vear were playing holidays To sport would be as tedious as to work.” Live with the thought that God has put us in this world to fulfill a cer- tain mission, and when we have discovered just what this task is, we should realize the responsibility and fulfill it happily for His sake. Hope is another essential, for if we have hope we have practically every- thing. lope in other words inspires us, gives us strength to go onward, and is it not true that the time we spend looking forward to something is often pleasanter than the thing itself? Friendship, sympathy, and sacrifice are still other assets of happiness, for how much a true friend’s sympathy soothes the soul in the time of grief. A friend who deems your troubles his troubles, and your joys his joys, is a true one. Music, art, literature, sports, good conversation, humor, and money all add to our happiness, but we must be careful that they are not overdone so that they become monotonous or a source of worship, for the rich man who idolizes his gold or ceases to wish for anything else in life is indeed to be pit- ied, Then, too, we think we can be happy and content when we have every- thing our own way, or are being amused, but the man worth while is he who can smile when the storm clouds are hanging the lowest. We are always on the lookout for happiness but so many of us travel far and wide in search of it, when if we did but know, it is waiting for us in all the simple joys and duties of our own homes. You older people may think that we are still very young, that we have not tried the hardships of this world and therefore, we have not felt the pangs of unhappiness. Now we are about to take, probably the first decisive step on this crusade of Life. We realize that there will be many obstacles, and we expect to stumble but—we are not going to FALL. We are going the truly optimistic way, for if we lead a clean, straight life, living up to the Golden Rule, with faith and hope, with sympathy and kindness for others, we will find that our Quest has not been in vain. Ruth Holmes ’24. THE LITTLE THEATER “What is a Little Theater?” is the question that has filled the newspap- ers. The Little Theater is a place where the players and audience are brought. together and where unusual non-commercial plays are given. It was estab- lished for love of drama and not love of gain. This movement started in Europe and was brought over to the United States as a protest against the Commercial Theater. Among one of the first theaters to be established as a protest against the current theatrical practices was the Irish National Theater. This theater was developed by office and shop workers who could not give much time to the work but practiced in their spare moments. Among the advisers for this thea- ter are Lady Gregory, a writer of one-act plays, and William Butler Yeats, who is a well-known figure in the Little Theater World. The Welsh National Theater, which is not a Little Theater, gives prizes every year for the best one-act play dealing with Welsh life. The Glasgow Literary Theater is national. It is used for the production of national char- acter plays written by Scotch men and women.

Page 26 text:

26 SOMA NETS: EV BIN'ES Mr. Walker considers his audience and players as one. He makes the audience take part in the play. “Memory” walks down the aisle and some- times a child in the audience answers the questions asked by “Prologue.” Every actor in Mr. Walker's company must understand the play and its mean- ing. He treats these people as his friends and in this way they are willing to do more and better work for him than they would for another employer. The setting in this theater is so realistic that the audience enters into the spirit of the play and enjoys it more than they do other plays that they do not understand. Because this theater has proved such a success a great deal of profit is made from it and the cost of running the theater is small. We find the importance of a Little Theater to a community in a state- ment that a noted critic made. He said that he could tell whether the art life of a city was a reality by inquiring whether or not it supported a Little Thea- ter. If this critic came to South Manchester, would he sav that we had any art life here? Of course the High School gives plays but why couldn't a group of young people get together and form a Little Theater? Let us hope they will and I am sure the people of the town will be willing to support the venture, Loretta M. Gleason ‘24. HOPE AND YOUTH “Hope” is aterm that most people use without realizing its significance. Spontaneously a girl says, “Oh, | hope Vil be a great singer some day.” In this one word she voices the greatest ambition of her heart. “Tlope” has be- come almost synonymous with “wish.” Webster defines “hope” as an ab- stract term meaning “the expectation of something desired”: that is, we desire something, and this desire so possesses our mind that we work and strive and really expect to obtain that desire. This quality is dominant more often in youth than in older people. Per- haps it is because the older folks realize more deeply the troubles of the world and, therefore, cannot or will not look forward to a brightly painted future. But hope exists before experience. Everywhere vou hear “The Youth of To- day are the Hope of the World of Tomorrow.” In order to understand clearly this phrase we must analyze the mind of hopeful vouth. The mind of a normal boy or girl is imaginative. He lives in a world peopled with goblins, or knights in armor, or princes, or even trolley- car conductors, where he is the chief character. Furthermore his mind is dreamy. A mother once took her son to a doctor and said, “My son sits and dreams all the time. He reads and reads. T am so worried. © What is the matter with him?” The doctor smiled sympathetically, “This boy is perfect- ly normal, He is merely ‘a weaver of dreams, a spinner in the sun’ who will some dav be a poet or an inventor, perhaps. You must wait and watch for the unfolding of a genius.” A hopeful boy creates a future in his mind. — Longfellow has said, “A boy's thoughts are long, long thoughts.” He picks out his ideal character and all his aspirations are to be as great as or even greater than those of this hero. A hopeful boy looks forward to his future. He rarely thinks of the past. He leaps from beginning to finality. He sees the dawn and the noon-dav in close touch with each other. When as a young man Lincoln had his first glimpse of a slave auction, he said, “If T ever get a chance to hit that thing, Tl hit it hard.” He carried this determination with him throughout his en- tire life and when the opportunity came, he brought about the liberation of the slaves.