Z 2014.000 Little Theatre Players of Jackson Collection

Z 2014.000
LITTLE THEATRE PLAYERS OF JACKSON COLLECTION

The Little Theatre (1925-1978) of Jackson, Mississippi, was inspired by the American little-theatre movement. An outgrowth of a similar European theatre movement of the 1880s and 1890s, the little-theatre movement had its genesis in 1911 and 1912 with the formation of theatres in Boston, Chicago, and New York City. Fifty more little theatres had been organized across the country by 1917. This movement reached Jackson in 1924 in the person of Margaret P. Green, recent widow of Dr. S. Gordon Green. She organized the Little Theatre Players of Jackson in 1925. For many years, the mission statement of the Little Theatre was as follows: "a non-profit organization, the purpose of which is to cultivate, advance, and promote education in dramatic literature, dramatic expression, and dramatic art." The new theatre raised funds by advance ticket sales to a limited number of patrons, and to many of those, by invitation only. In the early years, most of the people joining the membership of the Little Theatre shared duties on the board of directors, behind the scenes and on the stage, and as directors of the plays. Casting auditions, however, were not limited to Little Theatre members.

Since the membership of the Little Theatre was by subscription only, the plays that were performed reflected the tastes of that membership. A list of proposed plays would be sent out to all members, and the final selections would be made by committee. Such practical considerations as availability of performance rights for more recent hits also determined the final play list. Most of the seasons were filled with light comedies (The Goose Hangs High by Lewis Beach) or suspense thrillers (Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton), but some experimental or controversial plays (Where the Cross Is Made by Eugene ONeill and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams) were also selected. The Little Theatre also encouraged playwrights from among their membership. In particular, the Little Theatre enjoyed a close relationship with writer Eudora Welty, who premiered her stage version of The Ponder Heart simultaneously at the Little Theatre and at Le Petite Theatre du Vieux Carre, in association with Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, between October 17 and 27 of 1956.

Until the Little Theatre built its own playhouse in 1932, plays were performed at different Jackson auditoriums, including the Blind Institute, the Century Theatre (an opera house also used as a motion-picture theatre), and Millsaps College. The group gave frequent benefit performances and staged "road shows" across the state. The name of the organization was shortened from the Little Theatre Players of Jackson to the Jackson Little Theatre in the 1940s. The Little Theatre launched the Mississippi Little Theatre Association in 1956, hosting an annual conference and play competition and publishing a newsletter. The Little Theatre playhouse burned in 1961. Once again, the Little Theatre players used auditoriums at local high schools and at Millsaps College while they began building a new playhouse on the site of the old one. The new brick playhouse was completed in 1963.

A breakaway group of Little Theatre members formed New Stage Theatre as Mississippis first regional professional theatre group in 1965. Across the South, similar groups had founded successful professional theatres: the Arena Theatre in Dallas, Texas; the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas; the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Anniston (later moved to Montgomery). While Little Theatre supporters faced rising production costs, even as they were paying off the mortgage of the new playhouse, New Stage supporters streamlined their shows and their production costs by leasing an abandoned church building. New Stage audiences began to grow, while Little Theatre audiences began to shrink. The Little Theatre sold its playhouse and property to New Stage Theatre in 1978, effectively ending a fifty-three-year run. New Stage earned its Actors Equity Association membership in 1980. New Stage became Jacksons link between the amateur little theatre and the regional professional theatre movements.

This collection contains a mounted, oversized photograph from Let Us Be Gay by Rachael Crothers, the first play performed in the newly constructed Little Theatre playhouse in 1932. There is also a scrapbook from the 1941-1942 season that includes newsclippings for the Little Theatre Players and the Childrens Theatre Group, as well as related photographs and programs.

This series consists of a photograph from the Little Theatre play, Let Us Be Gay, that is mounted on posterboard. The annotations on the photograph include a cast list.

This series consists of a Little Theatre scrapbook that includes autographs of members, a membership roster, newsclippings, photographs, postcards, programs, and tickets.