THE DRAMA LEAGUE.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20835, 20 April 1933, Page 5

THE DRAMA LEAGUE.

. . OPEN FESTIVALS TO BE HELD. Rapid development has followed the establishment of the New Zealand branch of the British Drama League, and at a meeting of the national council yesterday the affiliation of big area groups and of Women's Institutes was considered Miss A. Kane (Wellington) presided, and there were also present—Dr. Unwin (president of the Timaru and South Canterbury branch), Mrs A. Kelso (general secretary of the Women's Institute). Miss Elizabeth Blake (organising secretary for the league). Professor J. Shelley, and other members of the council. As well as the area festivals which are held every year, it was decided to hold two open festivals, one in the North Island and the other in the South Island, for * which winning teams, from each centre will compete in one-act plays. This development has grown to big proportions in Great Britain, and at the last British festival there were 600 teams. Festivals have already been carried out with considerable success in Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Timaru. The report for the last six months described the strenuous activities of the league's organisers, who had visited many centres and enrolled many new members. It had been the policy of the league to encourage the growth of community drama in the country districts. and this had been done mainly through the Women's Institutes. Through the splendid efforts of Mrs Kelso, the folder of the producers' school had been enclosed in an issue of "Home and Country," the magazine of the institute, and arrangements had been made to publish a four-page supplement dealing with the work of the league.