Seattle Repertory Playhouse founders Florence and Burton James left the theater scene in New York in 1923 for teaching positions at Cornish College of the Arts. Outspoken proponents of theater's social mission, the Jameses were critical to establishing the contemporary "art theatre" scene in Seattle. The couple resigned from Cornish in 1928, when their artistic decisions and political commitments clashed with its conservative Board of Directors, and formed their own theater company, the Seattle Repertory Theater. The Seattle Repertory Playhouse staged its last production in 1950, when the building was acquired by the University of Washington. As of 2018, the building at University Way and 41th St. NE is the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse of the University of Washington.
In 1931, the couple staged Ibsen's "poetic fantasy" Peer Gynt. With a streamlined script, live chamber music, and choreography by local dance teacher Mary Ann Wells, the play was a huge success. This program for the production of Peer Gynt at the Seattle Repertory Playhouse includes notes on the play, and a description of the adaptation by Albert M. Ottenheimer.
Caption information source: "Florence and Burton James and the Seattle Repertory Playhouse" by Sarah Guthu, The Great Depression in Washington State Project at http://depts.washington.edu/depress/copyright.shtml Caption information source: "John Public Goes to the Art Theatre" by Betty Stewart, Seattle Times, February 22, 1931, p. 69.
Physical Description: 1 program ; 6 x 9 in., folded
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
