Identifier: arttheatrediscus00chen (find matches)
Title: The art theatre; a discussion of its ideals
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Cheney, Sheldon, 1886-1980
Subjects: Detroit Little theater movement
Publisher: New York, A. A. Knopf
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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sisting upon good business management I have
tried to make clear the reservation that this does
not necessarily mean complete self-support.
Business efficiency means merely elimination of
waste, and when one has it, one may still need to
lean upon a subsidy. It is certain that a theatre
searching for the highest ideal must have aid in
the beginning; and even in its maturity an en-
dowment is likely to make it a real art institution
instead of a compromise.
In Europe the best theatres are seldom expected
to succeed as speculative business ventures. The
most important theatres in France and Germany,
with a few exceptions, are to be found in the list
of those receiving state, municipal, or private sub-
sidies. When one thinks of the playhouses in
which greatest progress has been made toward the
new synthetic ideal of production, one remembers
that the Moscow Art Theatre, now a profitable
affair, was able to get through its early years only
by the generosity of a wealthy amateur; and the
Irish Players survived their early struggles by

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A DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF

Organization and Management

grace of Miss Hornimans subsidy. In this
country the Arts and Crafts Theatre is endowed
to the extent of being freed from the rent burden,
and the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York
operates under the same advantage. The Chi-
cago Little Theatre, on the other hand, staggered
for years under the rent charge. But it recently
created for itself a sort of endowment after-the-
fact by going through bankruptcy proceedings.
But America has yet to see a properly subsidized
playhouse.
When a writer or artist says that he wants en-
dowed theatres, people begin to talk about the
New Theatre, or others made in its image. I
have already pointed out that that institution was
not really endowed; and even if it had been, it
would have had to go through many radical
changes to become a true art theatre. We do not
want institutions of that sort, and we especially
do not want theatres similarly unrelated to their
communities. What I wish to see is wise sub-
sidizing of the really progressive little theatres
that have their roots in native soil, with a grow-
ing endowment as they progress toward art
theatre stature.

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