![]() ![]() ![]() Burton James fought to bend rules requiring that members be professional actors, since his group of talented African American amateurs would normally not have fit project hiring restrictions.įederal Theatre Project director Hallie Flanagan believed Seattle's Negro unit to be among the best in the country. These actors had participated in the James's production of In Abraham's Bosom at the Seattle Repertory Playhouse in 1933, and formed the basis for the Negro Repertory Company when Federal Theatre Project funding made the unit possible in January 1936. Seattle's company was one of the few black units that lasted for the entire span of the Federal Theatre Project.įlorence and Burton James had long been interested in the work of the black amateur actors who mounted productions at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. Negro Repertory Company actors mounted 15 productions and also collaborated with other Seattle units in racially integrated productions. Historian Quintard Taylor estimates that in Seattle as many as 200 persons or about 5 percent of the black population in 1940 Seattle worked on various Negro Repertory Company productions during its existence. Performers played to racially mixed audiences under almost exclusively white directors, who were considered to have better access to the power structure of what was largely a segregated American theater industry. Negro units both exploded and reinforced racial stereotypes long present in American theater. They served to raise the cultural consciousness of blacks and whites alike. These troupes of African American performers were at once informed by their own communities and dictated to by Flanagan's national policies. The African American units of the Federal Theatre Project were part of national Director Hallie Flanagan's vision to create a pervasive and uniquely American theater. It was initially housed in the James's Seattle Repertory Playhouse at 4041 University Way. The company was one of four Seattle units. Burton James (1888-1951) and Florence James (1892-1988) of the Seattle Repertory Playhouse founded the Negro Repertory Company in January 1936, in cooperation with the Seattle Urban League. ![]() Congress had created the Federal Theatre Project in 1935, under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to provide work for theater professionals during the Great Depression. The Negro Repertory Company served as the African American unit of Seattle's Federal Theatre Project. ![]()
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