Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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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.

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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.

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SOMANEHITS. EVE NES 27 - It has been said that the young people are the concrete expression of Hope. Why? What does Hope do for youth? In the first place Hope cre- ates energy for achievement. Thomas Edison’s childhood ambition was to be an inventor. He concentrated every faculty on this one idea. He worked sixteen hours at a stretch without taking time for food and recreation in or- der that he might realize some of his hopes. Hope of success sometimes is a guarantee of success. Florence Nightin- gale was possessed with the desire to become a nurse. Her parents flatly re- fused to allow her to become one. However, the young girl carried the hope in her heart, and went about caring for sick friends and sick animals, and em- bracing every opportunity to visit hospitals. Her parents, realizing that she was determined to become a nurse, finally consented. Florence Nightingale later founded the nursing profession, Hope will steady the nerves and strengthen the soul. Chatterton, that young English poet, lacked hopefulness. He could not sell his poetry. He became morbid and disheartened ; he committed suicide. He had lost all hope for the future. It has been said that had Chatterton lived, he might have be- come the greatest poet of his century. Hope overcomes all difficulties. No matter what disadvantages appear in the present, hope looks above and beyond them and sees only — possible success. Elihu Burritt was in his youth a blacksmith. His ambition, how- ever, was to study languages. He did study while working at the forge. He became a very noted interpreter and scholar. George Frederick Watts, an English painter, has pictured Hope and Youth very effectively. He paints Hope as a young blindfolded woman, seated on the globe. In her hand she holds a lyre with all the strings broken except one, the string of “Hope.” In the dim twilight her robe of pale green seems almost white, and the coloring and delicate outlines of the drapery in- vest the figure with a dream-like aspect. It is doubtful if there ever was a sadder person, one so near the brink of Despair. But leaning over her lyre she strives to get all the melody possible out of the one remaining string. As long as she has this string left, she can find her way to happiness and success. In the sky there shines a single star prophetic of brightness to come. In other words, if we let hope, tempered by reason, be our guide in Life we shall be more successful, and the world will be just a little brighter. Ethvle Lyttle ’24. THE IDEAL STENOGRAPHER Women are becoming more and more obvious in the business world. Nev- er was there a larger demand for stenographers but never was the standard for the ideal stenographer set higher. The ideal stenographer is master of many qualities. These qualities can be summed up under three main headings: ability, appearance, and character and personality. Ability is first because, of course, that is the first requirement of any em- plover of his employees. The ideal stenographer is able to write shorthand rapidly and transcribe her notes accurately. She can use every time and lab- or-saving device on the typewriter; thus she is able to write quickly and cor- rectly. A knowledge of these two subjects is the most important tool of her business career, but she also uses the less important tools of her profession. She has a thorough understanding of business English and knows when and where to use it. She is a good speller and is able to use the dictionary for those words with which she is unfamiliar. She is acquainted with the opera- tion of the most common office appliances, such as the mimeograph, duplica-