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Show I Granville Barker May Give Ogden Lecture Date, February 21 ! Mrs. J. R. Morrcll visited Salt Lake ' fit yesterday for the express purpose pur-pose of hearing Granville Barker, playwright, play-wright, producer, author and lecturer of London, England, and arranging for a lecture date in Ogden. Mr. Barker was scheduled tc come to Ogden but I 'I his lecture here waB prevented by the placing of a ban on public gatheiings J of any kind. i In Salt Lake City yesterday Mr. Bar. kcr gave the lecture "The Only Possi-" Possi-" bits Theater," and his subject wan In-deed In-deed ap Interesting one. He was in ,' troduced to a largo gathering at the ; assembly hall Jn the tabernacle J' grounds by Maud May Babcock. Mr. i Barker placed great importance on the i necessity for training the public ho E i that It may be a "good audience" and Iiy ; said that only by practicing an art, do j :I people learn to understand and appre-I appre-I ! ciatc the difference between the good m i and tho bad. For this purpose the 9 j amateur clubs, community plays and M the little theater arc good things to B ; start with, he said. I Tho reason a little theater is a valu-Hj valu-Hj :J able organization is that through It the doctrine of repertoire drama is M if carried out, which maJces it a living II-iflj II-iflj I bran', a theater In which no piny .Is 1 given at more than two or three per- I are several different plays In a week, if Mr. Barker declare. The object Is to Jj! I keep good plays that ordinarily never 5 come off the book shelves alive. jtjj I Mr. Barker pictured the Ideal the- I;T ater of tomorrow in Salt Lake. He I said: "It will bo a big theater and k should be properly housed. It should i be used as a home by the actors who j play In it and whose lives are fncom- plete In this respect because of their $ !; profession. It should be controlled by pi ? a board of trustees, a third of the rep- 6 : resentatlon on which should be given $1 to tho city, a third to the donors of I, the funds and a third to young people, i , drawn from all classes of society. ; "A man or woman of genius and marked ability should be chosen as ! i manager and should have autocratic ' power. The actors might be a part of j the public school system and should teach not only dramatics and self-ex-' prcnslon, but deportment, for good manners as depicted on the stage play a most Important part in upholding democratic principles." Last night after a short introduction by Professor Levi Edgar Young, Mr. Barker spoke of "Tho Artist as a Vital Member of tho Community." Defining the term artist In its broader sense, he said that up to now this element of society that accomplished It3 work Indirectly by appealing to the hearts and imaginations had not been included includ-ed in tho big world work. He declared that life is divided into three worlds, that of knowledge acquired ac-quired in our youth, that of 'material Interest which conies later, and that of love for those with whom we are associated asso-ciated In dally life. The war h?,d revealed re-vealed the vast gulfs between these worlds of our existence, he said, and had thought to repair tho mistakes In a few years, but It was a work of centuries, cen-turies, Mr. Barker said, to bridge the differences. "The trouble with us today," he went on, "Is that we. do not care what happens to all these people we don't know." Mrs. Morrell was introduced to Mr. Barker and talked with him In regard to arranging a date later in the month wnon be could speak to Ogdcnltes. Mr. Barker goes to San Francisco from Salt Lako nnd then dlroct to St. Paul, I Minnesota, and he 'hopes that on the return trip he will bo able to annnge for a day In Ogden. If possible February Febru-ary 21 will be the day he wjll give to this city. Many Ogdenltes are interested in the Little Theatre movement in this city and in Salt Lako last evening Mr. Barker gave some very timely hints which Ogdon might take unto itself. Mr. Barker attributed the usual cause of failure in such a theater to uncertain uncer-tain ideas of organization. He advocated advo-cated a capitalization and a financial direction much ns a normal theater, minimizing ns much as possible the features that make the venture unusual, un-usual, and leaving the chief and moat precious unusualness the excellence of the production. |