Federal Theatre

James Stuart Morcom (b. 1906)
Stage Design
Gouache, colored pencil, and
wash on illustration board
Design 2
Music Division
WPA Transfer

Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Costume design, Cardinal of Lorraine
for The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Textile swatches and mixed
media drawing, 1937
Music Division

Nat Karson (1908-1954)
Costume design for Mugglethorpe
in Horse Eats Hat
Textile swatches and mixed
media drawing, 1936
Music Division

Artist Unknown
WPA Federal Theatre Presents
Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
Silkscreen poster, 1937
Prints and Photographs Division

Established in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was part of the Works Progress Administration and was active from 1935 to 1939. It was administered entirely by, and was wholly a function of, the Federal government and was intended to provide employment for theater professionals during the Great Depression. FTP productions included plays, musical revues, vaudeville, dance, children's theater, puppetry and circus performance. There were also black theater, and Yiddish, French, German, Italian, and Spanish language presentations. There has been nothing comparable to it since.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) was only twenty-one when he directed, designed costumes for, and appeared in the title role of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. The 1937 FTP production of Christopher Marlowe's rarely staged Elizabethan play was, artistically, one of the most notable productions in the history of the American theater. Welles's highly innovative use of costumes, lighting, and a series of trapdoors resulted in a production in which the sense of black magic and damnation was all-pervasive.

Although the set design was very simple, the production was given intense visual effect through powerfully dramatic lighting and splendid costume coloring. The cardinal's vivid costume with its luxurious folds was designed to stand out against an essentially black thrust stage that was punctuated from the sides and above with a complex arrangement of lights. Welles also designed the costume for Faustus's assistant Wagner.

Doctor Faustus is thought to be the only instance in which Welles designed costumes for the theater. It is also an early instance of racially integrated casting. Jack Carter, whose elegant and austere Mephistopheles contrasted mightily with the explosive Faustus of Welles, had appeared as Macbeth in the 1936 all-black production of Shakespeare's play, often known as the "Voodoo Macbeth" (also directed by Welles for the FTP in New York City).

In another FTP production, Welles directed and appeared as Mugglethorpe in Horse Eats Hat adapted by Welles and Edwin Denby from the 1850s French farce Un chapeau de paille d'Italie.

The Library's Federal Theatre Project Archives consist of a wide variety of materials documenting the stage productions actually mounted or considered by FTP companies. The archives include scripts, often elaborately marked to function as production guides, costume and set designs, posters, photographs, playbills, and publicity materials.

Some of the designs are thought to have come from vaudeville presentations, and are attributed to James Stewart Morcom. Like many FTP professionals, he had a successful later career. Morcom designed for the New York City Ballet and was with the Radio City Music Hall for many years.

One of the highly regarded writers whose work was seen often in FTP theaters was Eugene O'Neill, who allowed FTP a special royalty rate. The FTP produced O'Neill's The Emperor Jones in several cities, including a production with marionettes in Los Angeles in 1938.

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953)
The Emperor Jones
Avery Memorial
Hartford, Connecticut 1938
Production notebook
Music Division
WPA Transfer (62.3)