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Creator
Playwrights' Company
Call number
*T-Mss 2012-014
Physical description
17.84 linear feet (54 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Playwrights' Company records, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The Playwrights' Company was a New York City based theater production company that operated from 1938 until 1960. This collection contains material created by the company's publicity department, such as company history files, play files, photographs, posters, and scrapbooks for many of the company's plays.

Biographical/historical information

The Playwrights' Company, also known as the Playwrights' Production Company, was a New York City theater company formed by a group of playwrights to produce and promote their plays. Founding contributors included Maxwell Anderson, S.N. Behrman, Sidney Howard, Elmer Rice, and Robert Sherwood. Robert W. Anderson, Roger L. Stevens, and Kurt Weil later became contributing members. William Fields was the company's press representative and John R. Wharton provided legal and financial advice.

In the early years, the company only produced plays written by its members. By the 1950s, however, the bulk of the productions were by outside playwrights. Many of the shows ran on Broadway and the most successful of these had regional and national tours. Of the Playwright Company's 68 productions, some of the most notable include Abe Lincoln of Illinois (1938), There Shall Be No Night (1940), The Patriots (1943), Miss Liberty (1949) Tea and Sympathy (1953), and The Gazebo (1958). The Company disbanded in 1960.

Scope and arrangement

This collection is primarily composed of material created by the Playwrights' Company's publicity department, such as company history files, play files, photographs, posters, and scrapbooks for many of the company's plays. Also present are some letters and contracts relating to the management of the company.

The Playwrights' Company records are arranged in five series:

  • Series I: Company Files

    This series contains publicity material related to the company, as well as a small number of contracts and communications with the company. Press material includes articles about the company, press announcements commemorating the company's 10th, 15th, and 20th anniversaries, photographs of the company's founding members, lists of affiliated cast members and contributors, and political speeches and statements given by members concerning the Nazi atrocities before and during World War II and racial segregation in theaters. Among the letters are items to and from Walter Alford and Charles L. Swift, among others.

  • Series II: Play Files

    These files consist of publicity materials created for most of the shows that the company produced. Included in the files are cast and contributor biographies; biographical questionnaires filled out by the actor; cast lists; drafts of press releases; rehearsal, opening, and closing announcements; printed fliers and notices; programs; and clippings. Occasionally these files also contain material documenting the management of the play, such as communications with actors' agents, receipts for printing and photography orders, and hotel lists for touring shows.

  • Series III: Photographs

    This series contains photograph files kept by the Playwrights' Company's publicity department and is organized by individuals and productions. The Individuals Files consist of publicity shots of actors, playwrights, and other theater contributors, as well as several half-tone metal printing plates used for creating promotional material. Some of the Individuals Files include images from Playwright Company plays. The Productions Files document plays produced by the company.

  • Series IV: Posters

    This series contains posters of many of the productions represented in the collection. The General section has various sizes of posters from small fliers to 14 by 22 inch posters on card stock, which were mostly printed by Artcraft Litho. and Printing Company, Inc. Also present are several 3 by 7 foot posters for The Ballet Theatre, Lost in the Stars, A Quiet Place, and The Ponder Heart.

  • Series V: Scrapbooks

    This series is comprised of three types of scrapbooks: general scrapbooks documenting the company's activities, actor scrapbooks for prominent affiliated performers, and production scrapbooks for many of their most successful plays. The books contain various types of clippings from newspapers and magazines, including play reviews; actor, director, and producer interviews; and advertisements and announcements. The volumes also contain programs and flyers, and occasionally photographs, letters, and press statements.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by the Playwrights' Company, 1961

Processing information

The records arrived in no discernible order. Play files were arranged alphabetically. Photograph files were organized by person or production and ordered alphabetically. Eleven of the scrapbooks were disbound and boxed.

Compiled by Philip Heslip.

Related Material

Playwrights' Company records. Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.. Playwrights' Producing Company records, 1930s-1960. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. S. N. Behrman papers, 1912-1987. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.