209:, who had also grown up in Grinnell and was a year behind her at Grinnell College. It was this connection that would be instrumental in her later position in the WPA Federal Theatre Project. She graduated from Grinnell in 1911. It was during college that she met her husband, Murray Flanagan, who was also a member of the Grinnell Dramatic Club. After college, they married and had two sons, Jack and Frederick Flanagan. Murray was diagnosed with tuberculosis; the disease took his life in 1919. Soon after, in 1922, the elder son, Jack, died of spinal meningitis. Hallie and Frederick moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where she enrolled in
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or imitative nature, but only such plays as the
Government could stand behind in a program which is national in scope and regional in emphasis and democratic in American attitude." By 1936, Flanagan had hired 12,500 people across 28 states. In New York City alone, the Federal Theatre Project regularly played to weekly audiences of 350,000. Since the plays were federally funded, the Project could afford to sell tickets at drastically reduced prices, making the productions accessible and inclusive to a wider audience.
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368:'s offer to serve as Dean of the College, and as a professor in the Theater Department. She resigned from her position as Dean in 1946 so that she could focus on the Theater Department, of which she was the chair. She also wrote and directed productions put on at the college and director of productions put on at the college. She retired from Smith in 1955.
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plagued
Flanagan and the Theatre Project. On these qualms, Flanagan states, "The basis of the choice of plays is that we have always believed in the Federal Theatre Project that any theater supported by the Federal funds should do no plays of a subversive, or cheap, or shoddy, or vulgar, or outworn,
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plays, based on German director Erwin
Piscator's concepts, that would reach out to the culturally unaware. Though the Project enabled the creation of a number of works, conservatives took issue with the apparent political agendas being delivered by the plays. Concerns over works with messages deemed
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Flanagan's vision for the
Project was to bring cutting-edge, high-quality theatre to the great majority of the American public who had never witnessed it. The project paid salaries to struggling artists and crafts workers, and spread well-crafted, affordable programs across the nation. The Project
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techniques throughout the three acts. Over the years, she pushed the administration to start an independent major in drama, but it wasn't approved until after
Flanagan had left. Flanagan rose to national prominence after producing the theatrical adaptation she co-wrote,
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Flanagan, Hallie. "A Brief
Delivered by Hallie Flanagan, Director, Federal Theatre Project, Works Progress Administration, before the Committee on Patents, House of Representatives: Washington, DC February 8, 1938" (Works Progress Administration, 1938)
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When
Flanagan came to Vassar, there was no theater and all drama courses were taught in the English department. Flanagan's official title at the school was "Director of English Speech". In 1926, Flanagan became the first woman awarded a
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under suspicion of supporting a socialist agenda and subverting
American values through her work at the Federal Theatre Project. After just four years, the Federal Theatre Project was shut down, and Flanagan returned to Vassar.
221:. This class, one of the first of its kind at an American university, taught playwrighting. Baker was so impressed with her, he decided to make her the director of the workshop's actors' group in 1923. While at
267:(1928), based on her travels. After returning to Vassar, she began to institute many of her newly developed ideas with the Vassar Experimental Theatre, which she created. The first play she produced was
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Flanagan went on leave from Smith in 1953 and officially retired to
Poughkeepsie in 1955. She was recognized many times for her contributions to modern theater, including an honorary degree from
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in 1941 and the first
National Theater Conference Citation award in 1968. Flanagan spent the last few years of her life in nursing homes and died on July 23, 1969, in
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Moore, Angela Kristine. "Democratizing cultural production: a theory cultivated with Hallie Flanagan Davis." (PhD dissertation, Texas Christian University 2018)
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Flanagan's first husband, Murray Flanagan, died in 1918 from tuberculosis, they had two sons. In 1934, she married Philip Davis, a professor of Greek at Vassar.
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where she majored in Philosophy and German, and was an active member in the Literary and Dramatic Clubs. During her time at Grinnell she became friends with
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Williams, Kristin S., and Albert J. Mills. "Hallie Flanagan and the federal theater project: a critical undoing of management history."
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to study theatre around Europe for 14 months. While there, she met some of the most influential figures in theatre including
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Eckersley, M. 1997. Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director. University of Melbourne. Melbourne. p16.
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established the WPA to provide jobs for many of the unemployed. Among the many branches of this program was the
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Osborne, Elizabeth A. "A Democratic Legacy: Hallie Flanagan and the Vassar Experimental Theatre." in
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In 1962, the Studio Theater in Smith's new Center for the Performing Arts was named in her honor.
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Walker, Suzanne. "'Now I Know Love': Hallie Flanagan and Euripides' 'Hippolytus.'"
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producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the
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584:"Collection: Hallie Flanagan Davis Papers | Smith College Finding Aids"
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517:"Hallie Flanagan Davis - Vassar College Encyclopedia - Vassar College"
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229:, Flanagan began developing her own ideas for experimental theatre.
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Bio of Hallie Flanagan from a site on the Federal Theatre Project
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Federal Theatre, 1935-1939: Plays, Relief, and Politics
491:((first) ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p.
213:'s famous 47 Workshop dramatic production studio at
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Vassar Encyclopedia entry for Hallie Flanagan Davis
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Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance
351:In 1938, Flanagan was called to testify before the
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131:(August 27, 1889 – June 23, 1969) was an American
111:Theatrical producer, director, playwright, author
802:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
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702:New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
613:Hallie Flanagan: A Life in the American Theatre
487:Hallie Flanagan: A Life in the American Theatre
265:Shifting Scenes of the Modern European Theater
197:. When she was around 10, her family moved to
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399:She is also a minor character in the novel
642:(Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) pp. 67–80.
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812:American women dramatists and playwrights
161:for the Federal Theatre of the Air (1936)
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762:American theatre managers and producers
674:Arena: The Story of the Federal Theatre
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324:Shifting Scenes of the European Theatre
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732:Hallie Flanagan entry on WomenArts.org
353:House Un-American Activities Committee
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287:based on the short story written by
817:20th-century American women writers
718:– Can You Hear Their Voices? (1931)
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364:In 1942, Flanagan accepted
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615:(Alfred A. Knopf, 1988).
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253:Konstantin Stanislavsky
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588:findingaids.smith.edu
312:Franklin D. Roosevelt
245:Guggenheim Fellowship
129:Hallie Flanagan Davis
625:(Princeton UP 1967)
716:Library of Congress
678:online 1985 edition
257:Edward Gordon Craig
211:George Pierce Baker
672:Flanagan, Hallie.
332:children's theatre
330:involved creating
289:Whittaker Chambers
219:Harvard University
98:Harvard University
16:American dramatist
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384:Tim Robbins
345:socialistic
341:communistic
334:as well as
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459:References
295:New Masses
189:Background
133:theatrical
53:1889-08-27
526:April 22,
402:The Group
298:in 1931.
223:Radcliffe
159:CBS Radio
659:(2018).
593:July 22,
425:See also
392:(1999),
89:American
676:(1940)
545:Witness
178:Macbeth
143:(WPA).
685:online
661:online
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339:to be
233:Career
595:2022
555:ISBN
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