| Show 1 HW THE It 1 PLAY t IN NEW YORK RK I k UV York Tork July IT Charles s I W IlIa 18 n O dominant IOn nt uro In iN N our American as Il tho tM nu thor lhor of Tho Mu lo Muster nil and j THO puse l 0 BI l successful UCO plays In this country within he hether America or foreign sources from fl m What do u think of our American drama lilt Klein I him the theother other tiny What or ot Its It future are Wa to III ot to tt lne lh drama of ot I Tho TM future of IC our ald jjr r Klein H It la IA to 0 bo tho th American piny by h of Americans for to Am Americans It H la l the tM marked tendency to 10 viril v rd this that th Is the strUt log Ine feature In hOI ot or today It i lit Mo wo may both bo OM proud of or Tho drama dramn of pt thin country it I Q to nt present In Its had d c tho drama In Inan an nation Is lh last form forin of lIt art to tolie toh lie h Influenced to Material a ind d In poetry literature these nil Jl como coniO first And then Ihen finally drama We h vo that the Is becoming better beller und and tho lift thought and manners of ot our I relieve In the American play both bothIn In Its urgent aspect and Its future futuro pos llos possibilities Mr Klein d it n la Is evident that this country 10 III rapidly be becoming b coming the center of ot the world Hinge Our life Is fu of dramatic material and here many young dramatists of handling It to advantage With limo ex experience X o they will become more potent It va not many year ng when bought practically nil their In hi th E markets There Thore was a decided d managerial l prejudice I against wares not I s reason for tor American plays ero Yero crud crudo In Ion con conception I and treatment as compared nth the technical of at the h French j To to compete with tho tM for Cor Cori i our own playwrights tio forced to copy tho plays from J abroad to copy op their style their set tin to Imitate their technique and lo 10 write of another nd world with which from experience eXl and w they were actually familiar familiarAn An Imitation being less virile an 1111 our preferred HIP Importations for these nt least were wu g pUys technically t It n Is hardly an to say that the tho i French succeeded because We had no S plays of ot our ourI I own onn That time Is If It It Is not past In Iii the last years 11 they must first bo bOCO convinced the ho public can benefit have learned l arn d that homo plays based on American Ideas life t cnn can succeed lucce l lI I a il a in large targe measure not only critically all but tut CUll can also please the tho man aS agI B god d the b x It Is quite truo that foreign plays do here Itero ov today paid Mr 1 lelu but bul ut least one reason r lson for tor this la Is that wo have JIve not yet built up a drama of ot oti i our cur o n to supply tha demand or to entirely tho foreign output And it Is also a n tact fact that a really good play piny nUb a broad and amI cosmopolitan appeal l will succeed j In any country but unfortunately Ila of this typo are not nol common Wo yo hall n have plays abroad too but I be beI I 0 that thal 10 years from now for ex eC example ample a 0 French success Jn New York Tork I will be as tare Jure as a II success i now Is In Purls Paris Wo aro ara willing to ac accept i foreign plays only when we have not Instead plays pl ot our own It Is a II fact that every nation has i Its own Ufa and ideas principles amI amIt t methods ud these naturally will be ex eC exploited consciously or unconsciously by bythe the dramatists on of that nation Coun Countries tries as all Tell cn an II persons have nn In a a narrow narrowness ness if you ou will and plays a vital story ot of human emotion will In details reflect tho nationality or orthe orthe the playwright Other nations accept accepting ing III the play of Us big basic may accept de do details tails characteristic of another nation not because they appreciate thorn thomb but butIn t tIn In spite of tho fact that they da not The rhe people the land of the play un understand both hoth tho vitality oC of tho play and its details There Thoro is a Il local ocul color colorIn hi In plays Tho English know we wo are a I notion nation of and l In iti the eUH perhaps they thoy know this to their cost coat hut but they do not lot with our OUI life lICe nor adopt its methods for their thell own No successful American busi busl business ness leSH min If occasion demands will think about doing without his dinner yet tho Englishman no matter how ho bu bUllY y he be or how Important are Bre tho matter in hand wilt will feol it he cannot censo from troubling enjoy this Jils eup of ot after afternoon noon tell tea In fact ho wont do with without without out it business may temporarily BO to tho dogs dOgA To most of Us tho aristocracy with Its lis dukes una unil peers Is a II matter r ot knowledge of no consequence How can a play about whoso whose prototypes I wo know only by hearsay hel to us vitally rind how can nn American l of ot mil our people bo genuinely d dand and understood on the Strand To tho 1 tho eternal l GIlIc triangle ot or tho husband the lover thi wife Is III an all affair to 10 UH UA It Is es cs essentially llly repugnant These facts only generally lightly suggested 1 hun lead mo me to bo b o that the American people to a medium American play pIR which comes homo to them rather than l n IY good rOlel n drama which has hilA no appeal to tho national idea I think our me out In I this tor or When one fino reflects on successful Ameri American can plays playa very r cry few of them ap In technical construction tho fin On magnificently built plays ot thi Ih best tor playwrights Hut our mn arc American and Hint Is III what Americans Am want When they cant get American things they th will abroad but this as a rule rUlo abt long Americans get t U to making the things for tor themselves bet better better ter for tr Ir own purpose find and than can foreigners To n a purely material of what I mean let Iet mo mention the automobile aut In Its III Amei J I development The Thc themes hemes ot our American today clenn and Mr Klein continued wo 10 are uro a IL young lung nation TherE Thoro is ho de degeneracy 1 here ns liS them Is s for does not como with rog l SIl und and but only utter oon achievement of i in n nation always s begins lins at nl the top among tho ps Hero In tha United States wo 10 scarcely have leisure classes they aro too new at It II ItIn In consequence lIce our there Is ISas ns I said s a 1 healthy tendency with an abandonment among Arn Playwrights ot n thought Ideas Themes for charac characteristic I sIle ale all around us Amer America nM ica hUB has established her hel social Independence dence from Europe EuroPI and tho reali realization zillion of ot our national isolation se sc security has como an un g not n l only along tho lines line of ot our mechanical In n and nit resources which nur very ory onn llYn but as us regards the tho drama dramaliS as liS well wellI My I for tho American play its future aro alO not so much for or what It has hns accomplished Jut but for fOI what hut it Is accomplishing nc In relation to what It can and will 10 in tho future Tech Technically we 10 crude out faults aro the faults of at youth No ono Is BO so as us the tho college senior r but as us we grow gro older wo we shall grow In tho knowledge kl of technique The Tho American play playwright wright must avoid his tendency to youthful cocksureness for tor it Is a I fact that tho drama Is the most art artIn In the world No Nt man mall can bo a full horn born oven the most vital story tho best material so go for little unless they nio cast In tho proper dra dramaturgic mn lines and obey essentially the rule of an art Into Inlo which admission is hI hIr gained r only by ability great love loy ex experience ext t und much pains The Tho young oung dramatist too must not forget that l Intellect is l the tho keynote ot qt nn an American life lite warned Mr Klein This is an Intellectual age Every Everything thing shows It II Our arts becoming more mOlo Intellectual our sciences show tho trend Telegraphy Is becom ing wireless engineering Is becoming bt more effective because be clever hands busy In n d shorter outs success s sti today ti moro more than ithaC over before literature betrays tho Jho constant application of ot moro more Intellect ns do tho other arts The Tho drama must of or necessity and by precedent follow tollow tho other arts Our drama now nfl and In Inthe Inthe the future must bo bared b red In truth Mr Klein concluded There can bo ho bono no disputing that assertion Unless a play pla has embodied In Its heart some something thing big vital it Is spon lost by bytho bytho tho wayside for tor no play can gain lasting success success And granted that tho playwright appreciates this follows the rules of his art and realizes tho wealth ot of dramatic material in our there cnn can be no sane doubt as Il to thu future of ot tho American drama by Americans of at Americans for Ameri Americans cans o |
