www.newcitystage.com: The Living Newspaper, pioneered by the Federal Theater Project under the helm of Hallie Flanagan in the 1930s, was a project of the Works Progress Administration, part of a push to employ artists in the wake of the Great Depression. This revolutionary theatrical form has made it to 2026 with the help of Jackalope Theatre, who presented their Seventeenth Annual Living Newspaper Festival at their home in Edgewater’s Broadway Armory Park this past weekend.
2 comments:
This concept of reenacting news stories in the form of short plays is really interesting to me, especially with the context that it dates back to the great depression. I understand that a lot of the new deal programs were created for the sole purpose of giving artisans work but it does make me wonder what was the greater purpose of having a living newspaper created instead of simply funding more traditional theatre? My theory would be that it was to hopefully inspire theatremakers to take more direct influence from the events around them, and move away from the works of the past. I don’t know enough specifics about the theatrical trends of the great depression to back that up though. It's really cool that this tradition has survived in this time when the arts are in great peril with funding, and I hope it keeps going, maybe even expanding to other theatres.
Before reading this article I was not familiar with the Living Newspaper festival, but I am actually really inspired by their concept. I love to see theaters and programs that have been around for a long time and now this festival is nearing 100 years. Since every year the shows produced changed, based on current newspaper articles, I am curious how those stories get chosen. Is it by the directors, popular vote, or a random pick by the company heads? With political theater you can never please anyone so I am curious what stance the festival decides to pick and how that has changed over the many years of performance. Another aspect of the performance is the two news anchors, or narrators, who guide the audience between each performance. I am assuming this section is scripted as well so their representation of real world people and their reactions is another form of commentary. They could either try convincing the audience or reacting with the audience.
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