The Group Theater

A detailed Summary of The Group Theater

The Group Theatre began as a small company that provided actors and actresses with a means and a location to practice plays. Three people, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford formed The Group Theatre. The Group Theatre escalated in 1931 and ended abruptly in 1941 - prevailing through the years there were hits, periods of flops, financial straits, depressing inactivity, and spiraling to as glittering of a success as any on Broadway. This story however is also the story of growth and development throughout American cultural life in the thirties.

The year is 1928, and the tedious beginning of The Group Theatre began when Harold Clurman answered the call of a real estate man, Sidney Ross, who was thinking of going into theatrical production and was seeking an aide of some kind. Clurman then contacted his friend, Strasberg, and the two of them outlined their ideas. The proposal was quite simple, they wanted to work on a play that had no formal production plans, but the work would be instructive to the actors, and a new theatre might be born of their modest efforts. After many weeks of rehearsals their play was viewed by an exclusive audience, and Waldo Frank, who had written the play advised Ross that the play

Ohio State University Press, 1995

Their first production opening took place on the evening of September 23, 1931, at the Martin Beck Theatre, New York City. By two am there were reviews already appearing, and they were qualified raves. Later, Clurman came to realize that their first production was not all that well produced. The actors could have been louder, the larger roles could have been performed better, the set and lighting could have been better - etc. In December The Group Theatre performed their second production, 1931, and after rehearsing for eight weeks, the play closed in nine days. The next play performed was Night over Taos, what closed The Group Theatre's first season. After the end of their first season, some actors dropped out of The Group Theatre. One of their first successes was Men in White, which was performed in The Group Theatre's third season - after struggles and struggles; they were beginning to get somewhere. Other hits included Awake and Sing, and Waiting for Lefty, which came later in their active years.

The Group Theatre began to meet hardships, after several flops, the loss of actors, the small reception for the actors, and the loss of funding. Actors were being asked to take pay cuts, and they in turn were leaving The Group. While performing Waiting for Lefty, there was a line in the play which offended some viewers, The Group Theatre then had to backtrack, and write a letter saying that that was the line of the playwright not them, and that they were not responsible for what the playwright says. When adding up the problems and failures that The Group Theatre faced it was amazing that they were still open.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Clurman Clurman, Waiting Lefty, Theatre Theatre, Franchot Tone, Sidney Ross, Waldo Frank, Meisner Theatre, Center Connecticut, Night Taos, Stella Adler, golden boy, stella adler, cheryl crawford, brookfield center connecticut, theatre theatre, company actors, waiting lefty, theatre money, left york, five hundred dollars, center connecticut, brookfield center,

Approximate Word count = 1645
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts