THE SHOW MUST GO ON! AMERICAN THEATER IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

https://dp.la/exhibitions/the-show/theater-before-the-crash/

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) presents The Show Must Go On, an excellent online exhibition detailing theater in America during the Great Depression. Here, readers will find an exploration of the era's theatrical history accompanied by numerous contemporary photographs from the collections of the DPLA and its partner organizations. Beginning with the decade leading up to the stock market crash of 1929, the exhibition provides contextual explanations of the societal and cultural shifts at play before the Great Depression struck. Readers will learn about the Federal Theater Project, which began in 1935 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal, as well as the innovations American theaters developed during this time, such as the Living Newspaper genre which "directly engaged audiences with social issues of the moment" using newspaper headlines as inspiration. The exhibition also pays attention to African-American theater, particularly the 1936 production of Voodoo Macbeth directed by Orson Welles, who reimagined Shakespeare's Scottish play as a Haitian story and cast it entirely with black actors. The Show Must Go On offers a unique window into a fascinating piece of American history

via https://scout.wisc.edu/archives/r49988/the_show_must_go_on_american_theater_in_the_great_depression