NATIONAL THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 11

NATIONAL THEATRE.

AMERICAN WOMAN'S IDEA. It is said that three-fourths of the audiences at all theatrical performances in America are women, states a writer in the New York "Evening News." Woman are actresses, playwrights, producers; theatrical agents, play-brolcers, theatrical managers, and dramatic critics. . They have even been credited by students of psychology with more dramatic instinct and natural tendency to act than men; but nover till very recently, havo they come to realise their importance and tho scope of their influences in tho dramatic world, and . those who now head a daring new movement, which they believe is one of the greatest projects which women have ever undertaken, are pioneers in their line. The establishment of a Woman's National Theatre is tho aim of this group or women, who are gaining in numbers every day, having about five hundred members now, and hoping to double that number by April 1. Women's clubs are taking up the idea. Women all over the country are becoming, interested, and branches aro being founded in other large cities. \ Tho woman is at the head of the movement is' Mrs. R. V. Martinson,sen. In tellinc of how the idea came to her, 6ho said:— The Theatre In Germany. "I am above all tilings a loyal American. Perhaps I am even more patriotic than I might have been, because of the ten years which I spent in Germany. Living abroad gives one a perspective •which ono cannot get by staying too closely at _ home. Among the "many things which impressed'me in Germany was the part which the theatre played in tho lives of the people. "They are devoted to their own actors and actresses, and to their Germanplaywrights. The German theatre is one! of tli© most sacrcd_ institutions in the Empire, and the influence which it exerts on the lives of the people is inestimable. I wriuld come home from a performance wishing that we Americans gave tho theatre, the place in our coun- : try which it lifts in Germany; that we bestowed more encouragement on our oww playwrights, and, above all, we're more appreciative of the talent of our native actors and actresses. "Suppose} for instance, that some

one from Europe asked you to take him to a theatro in New York where he might see a real American play— written and acted by Americans. . Wiiali would you take him to see? "Wouldn't it ho rather hard to find a play, which was typically American and which satisfied your idea of what such a play should be, if-a foreigner was to get from it some idea of what American life is? And it isn't that we haven't material for such a production, or. lack the talent to assuro an all-American cast, hut that we havo the habit of thinking that the great actors come to us from abroad, and that the playwrights must be foreigners, and our own talented ones are pushed to the ,wall because of this. " ' '"If we are ever to havo a great national art, or great national theatre, wo must get away from the idea that we are dependent upon Europe, and encourage our own.artists. This is what the Woman's National Theatre aims to do. That is one of its aims. Others are to bring back to the ranks of theatre patrons the very largo class of citizens who havo abandoned the playhouse as a luxury beyond their means, to give to the 'awakened desire of the public, at a minimum scale of prices, at nightly and daily performances, the truest interpretation of American life, through tho most human of all arts —that of the'stage; to meet the desire of the church and the schools, that the stage may, through its far-reaching power,_ become a co-worker for good in civic life and education, 1 to encourago and stimulate tho American actor,, actress, and playwright to open a training school for tho development of future artists; to profit by the example of European countries, endeavouring to implant a loyo and an understanding of the theatro in tho hearts and minds of

the young people, by giving a matinee monthly, free of charge, to school children unable otherwise to avail themselves of this education advantngo. The Problem of Leisure. "How to occupy, profitably and pleasurably the leisure of tho people is one of the. most serious civic problems of the day, and as an aid in the solution of it women interested in this movement for a national theatre havo organised to operate theatrical companies, productions, and theatres within the city of New York and other cities." One year ago in February .a meeting of about one hundred and "fifty women was called by Mrs. Martinsen to consider the project of starting such- a movement. And, if any person thinks that tho leaders are visionary and impractical, they may be reassured by looking into the subsequent events. They not only talked about the aesthetic and social benefits to be" gained from such a theatre, but they sjt to work at once and organised a corporation. Stock may be bought outright on the instalment- plan, individually or in groups. Jhere is nothing dreamy or impractically idealistic about the working <u 'ttte Easiness and of tho proposition. Ono of the well-known theatre managers of this city, on being told of the project, said: "You women have ono of the greatest schemes on foot that could be devised." It is because many experts of this typo have .welcomed the idea of the Women's National Theatre with such enthusiasm that the leaders of the movement are confident of the success of their undertaking.