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Creator
New Theatre League
Call number
*T-Mss 1944-003
Physical description
.75 linear feet (2 boxes)
Preferred Citation

New Theatre League Records, *T-Mss 1944-033, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The New Theatre League, a national non-profit federation of little theaters and amateur theatrical groups, was organized in 1935 to stimulate the writing and production of progressive social drama. The collection contains administrative files of the Play Department.

Biographical/historical information

The New Theatre League, a national non-profit federation of little theaters and amateur theatrical groups, was organized in 1935 to stimulate the writing and production of progressive social drama. It was both a publisher and a producer of plays promoting the aims of organized labor and peace and against racial discrimination and oppression. Its annual play contests led to the discovery and sponsorship of Clifford Odets who won for Waiting for Lefty in 1935, Irwin Shaw, 1936 winner, with Bury the Dead, Marc Blitzstein who won in 1937 with The Cradle Will Rock and Ben Bengal, 1938 winner, with Plant in the Sun. Through its schools across the United States, the League sought to train actors, directors, technicians, playwrights, teachers and theater organizers to build a people's theater.

Scope and arrangement

The collection contains administrative files of the Play Dept.: primarily correspondence, financial papers concerning royalty payments and publicity for its play contests; and manuscripts: scripts, songs and reports. There is a small amount of printed material, mostly from related organizations. The collection reflects the concerns and the workings of the New Theatre League.

The New Theatre League records are arranged in three series:

  • Series I: Administrative Files
    ca. 1935-1937
    11 folders

    This series consists of correspondence reflecting the workings of the Play Dept. including letters on its publication plans, invoices with accompanying correspondence concerning royalty payments, and publicity and correspondence concerning the play contests it sponsored. It also contains a small amount of minutes of meetings, general press releases and publicity, sample contracts and forms, lists of plays in their catalog, a notebook of titles borrowed, address lists of members and organizations, and miscellaneous notes.

  • Series II: Manuscripts
    ca. 1932-1942
    26 folders

    This series is predominately scripts and songs submitted to the New Theatre League, but also contains a few reports pertaining to the organization.

  • Series III: Printed Materials (mostly from related organizations)
    ca. 1933-1942
    2 folders

    This series contains programs, publicity and pamphlets from other political organizations including the American Peace Mobilization, the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, the International Workers Order and the National Negro Congress. Of interest is a reprint of a speech given by Theodore Ward at the opening of the Negro Playwrights' Theatre in Harlem in 1940. The series also contains a few miscellaneous clippings.

Administrative information

Custodial history

This small collection may have found its way to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in a transfer from the Manuscripts Division of the New York Public Library because the latter retains a much larger portion of the records of the New Theatre League. Their material was a gift of the Jefferson School Library in 1944.

Source of acquisition

Records: Transfer?, Manuscripts Division

Processing information

Processed by Elisabeth Elkind.

Separated material

A larger collection of New Theatre League Records (20 linear feet in 38 boxes) is held by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of 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.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.