The Works Program Agency’s Works of Art

The Tri-Town libraries of Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester have banded together in an experiment that gives rise to opportunities to dig further into subject matter that has helped to shape our country in a program titled “One Book, Tri-Town.”

            Their first topic, the Great Depression, focuses on the epic back-to-work program launched during more troubling times – the Works Progress Administration, or the WPA, which was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

            The One Book program will unite the communities and their libraries as participants read The Muralist by Barbara Shapiro, a fictional account of artists employed by the WPA.

            Leading up to a May event that will highlight the collective reading of this novel are a series of programs hosted by the libraries that offer a glimpse into the most inspired employment program ever conceived by the country.

            On March 10, the Mattapoisett Public Library hosted author Susan Quinn, whose non-fiction book, Furious Improvisation – How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times, fits neatly into the theme.

            Quinn, a former newspaper reporter and highly respected non-fiction writer, spoke to a packed house, bringing to life the significance of the WPA arts program and the people whose talents brought joy to tens of thousands during a time of horrific suffering.

            Quinn said the WPA program created employment for the throngs of people whose lives were upended by the depression. She spoke of carpenters and laborers building roads and municipal buildings along with a multitude of others whose skills helped to shape the country while the government put food on their tables in an overall program – the New Deal.

            While the New Deal was considered a pretty wild scheme when Roosevelt proposed it, he understood that the people were eager for action – any kind of action that might improve their day-to-day existence, Quinn said. Yet, Roosevelt worried about simply throwing people into work programs, she explained. He wanted the programs to maximize the skills each individual had to share; otherwise, he mused, the program would be “a destroyer of the spirit.”

            As roads, airports, parks, bridges, and other infrastructure projects would provide employment for some 8 million people, another 8,000 artists and actors were brought into the WPA. It is this group that Quinn introduced to the audience.

            The WPA program was comprised of writers, musicians, painters, and other visual artists, as well as actors. Quinn reminded all that, today, many murals that still grace the walls of post offices and other government structures across the country were painted by artists employed by the WPA – murals created, for the most part, by anonymous craftsmen.

            Of the theater, Quinn painted her own picture that featured the vibrant Hallie Flanagan, director of the Federal Theatre Project. Under Flanagan’s direction, new works for the performing arts were created, as well as the re-imagining of well-known pieces such as Macbethand Pinocchio.

            Flanagan received negative pushback for creating what some members of Congress felt was a progressive, socially-conscious agenda that bordered on socialism, or even communism. And adding to their opposition to Flanagan, she believed in integration – at least in the theater. For that, some shows had to be cancelled.

            From her exposure to avant garde performances in Europe, she developed a series of “Living Newspapers” performances. These pieces would delve into topics of the day, including events taking place globally during a time when the U.S. Congress had a hands-off policy regarding the politics of other countries, including the rise of fascism. Flanagan’s “It Can’t Happen Here” was provocative as she explored the threat of fascism in the US.

             At its height, the Federal Theater Project attracted the participation of such notable figures as Orson Wells and Sinclair Lewis. Quinn said that Flanagan and her network of thespians brought theater to the masses in tiny towns and big cities across the US. According to Quinn, the troupes performed for 260 weeks over five years for over 200,000 audience members.

            Quinn said she believes the demise of the Federal Theater Program was due more to the issue of integration versus any themes of socialism or communism. But the final curtain really fell when federal resources were redeployed in support of WWII.

            As Quinn wrapped up her presentation, she left the assembled with one final thought, albeit bittersweet: “For a brief time, people had a wonderful federal theater program.”

By Marilou Newell

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