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WI'LMETTE LIFE July 13, 1928 I Story of a Playshop Play that Made Good Out in the Big World By Alice C. D. Riley This is the story of how a one-acter made good and "got over." Everyone who knows anything about plays knows that back in the days of Rosina Vokes one-act plays were popul~r as curtain-raisers. Then, for some thirty years, so far as America was concerned, there was no place professionally for the one-acter. The birth of the Little Theater movement again caused this form of drama to come into its own on the amateur stage, the vaudeville theaters adopting now and then a successful one for their own uses. However, vaudeville managers and players have been hypersensitive about types of plays. With a mental picture of the "hoofers," the trained animals and whatnot which sweep across their stages they have been afraid that any sincere picture of real life, especially if a little sordid, would not be tolerated by an audience which frankly adores the broadest of low comedy. This kept mQ_st of the really good one-act plays off the vaudeville stage. It was only when Ethel Barrymore chose Barry's "The Ten Pound Look" that they made an exception. Th~n comes a manager with vision and courage like Mr. Singer of the Palace theater, Chicago, and all the fears are proved groundless; as witnes·s the success of Fay Ehlert's play, "The Undercurrent," which has only rt!cently completed a successful week there and now goes to the Palace ;n Milwauk~_e, to return later to the State and Lake. Mrs. Ehlert's play had its first hearing before an audience just a year ago, when it had a "walking reading" at the field day of the playwriting class of Northwestern university. A "walking re_~ding" means that the characters read the lines from manuscript while walking through their stage positions. It giv:es no chance for acting nor for production. The play stood this test well. It had criticism and wa·s re-written, as is Playshop custom. The follo~g-_fall__it_ was _ given_ a AT ALL RVI; fl-iOPf 'THIS SEASON OUQ. SALE .ASSOR-TMENT Of RUB\' AND IJEDEMOOE FOOTWEAR FOR WOMEN ,-.·CHILDREN I I! UNUSUALY LAR.GE' INCLUDING SPORT SHOEJ'o EVENING SUPPERS SVII!.f J'ANDAU o AFTEP.NOON JliPPERJ' AND GOLF J'HOEJ' VALUES $12..~ . real production at the Playshop and gaine<! acclaim by the LittJ~ Theater audience. At this .ti!.De Mr. Small, Miss Allyn and Mr. White played The the · same roles they play now. other roles were in other hands. Now this is precisely the point at which most good one-acters stop. They may, if fortunate, get publication and be used by other little theaters, but that is usually all. "The Undercurrent" did not stop-it went on. Its author and the Playshop entered it in the play contest instituted by the National Drama League of America at the Goodman theater in May and, against ·sixteeen other oneacters (most of them published and well established), it won first place. This meant that it had won, for the Playshop, on the points of playwriting, production and acting, the handsome silver cup ~riven as a prize by Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick and recognition for its playwright. The Playshop sounded the trumpet. But more was to follow. Then came Mr. Singer and offered to give the play a tryout on his lead· ing vaudeville stage. Everyone said, "Oh, it won't go in vaudeville. It's too somber. It has no comic relief. It's too balanced. There's no star role. It isn't a bit like the things that are done in vaudeville. And then-amateur actors t Well, of course-" coura~e. $8~ ·10~·111J AttRu ~ ~u 13\' 1\()UDd TO ~ 26.~ .:NOW. IN THRI~ 8ROUDI ""' SALE PRICES ON ALL Ofll~ENS SHoES · HOSIERY· HANDBAGS,.. BOCKLES S FECI AL . AT ALL FIVE SHOPS INCLUDING ..___LCDP SHOP 1fi EAST MADISON .ST.R~-.... PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS tf,fJ · t:~UISE Empress of Auswcdi4 urld .... '~ 20 20 NEW 7 7· COTTAGES BEAUTIFUL HOMESITES Sunday, July 15th. 1 P. M. AUCTION However. Mr. Singer had plenty of He gave lt a fair position on the blll and on It went, amateur cast and all. How breathless that first playIng! · Acrobats, "hoofers," son~ and dance teams preceeded lt. We felt our courage ooze from our toes as we heard the applause for these frothy things. That audience, which packed the magnificent palace-:.what would they do to our little Pl~yshop play? .. We hadn't · long to walt to find out. See! The lantern Is throwing Its Information on the !diver screen. "The Undercurrent"-by Fay Ehlert. Our memory raceA back to that .. walking reading" in the Jtttle drawing-room at the Riley's a year agone-such a dUTerent audience !can It make Its etTE>ct here? See! There goes the name of the Playshop-and Northwestern university! Could anything seem farther from this great laughIng, shouting audience? We broke Into a <'Old sweat. There goes the curtain ! The same little, shabby set-for the milieu of the play Is a tenement-janitor's room-a redclothed dinner-table, a shabby lounge, a ff"w chairs. Nothing gay to help the eye. Listen ! Ma Fischer (Harriette Allyn) has only spoken a line or two and a hush has fallen on this great audience. The pltful story unfolds. simply, lnevit&bly, true to Ufe. We see Pa Fischer's theory of spare the rod and spoil the child working out to its logical etrect in a son made almost imbecile, a daughter gone wrong, a broken-hearted wife and mother. Feel what is happenIng to the audience. How still they are, how tense. How they gasp when they fear Pa ls about to beat the daughter, how they breath relief when she Is rescued by the social worker! Are they criticising "amateur acttn~?" Are they longing for "comic relief"? They are not. They are weepln~ real tears into their hankies. The curtain falls. A mom<·nt's pause-thE-n a great burst of applause. Up goE>s the curtain. Our little PJayshop cast is making Its bow. Canadian Pcldfit: ~ World'· Greateat Travel System 7l E. laekiOD BITd., Clalearo, IlL ~ Tel. ·~balta lfM, or an)" loeal S&eamslalp Agent ~ "Mrs. R .··~ and I have been on 1everal C1fliset and around the world many times, but never had so enjoyable a time as on the Emtweu." That's an expert's advice. Take the cruise with Its own oraanhadon and oftic:ial connections in stran1e lands- the reputation for food and hospitality u wonderful the 136tb day u the 6nt- feature events: Christ. m.u In its birth-place, New Year's Eve at ita peak In Cairo, India, Siam, etc., in cool. eeuon, plum·bloSIOm time in Japan. Let ua tell you about it, now, while you can sdllaet preferred rooms oo the dream-ship, Empreu of Autralia. Pbooe or write. R. S. ELWORTHY, Steamship Geaeral ACtmt from New York, Dec. 1 Boulevard Park Slocum Lake, Ill. Turn west off Rand Road at Wauconda, then z% miles to Slocum Lake Vacation Luggage YOUR PRICE IS OUR PRICE AT THIS SALE W.ardrobe Traab "" $ZS.II-$35.M $50.10 ap FREE REFRESHMENTS R. E. Gross & Co. Realty Auctioneers 139 N. Clark St., Chicago, Ill. J