Living Newspaper
Historically, Living Newspapers have also urged social action (both implicitly and explicitly) and reacted against naturalistic and realistic theatrical conventions in favor of the more direct, experimental techniques of agitprop theatre, including the extensive use of multimedia.
[4] ... the [Living Newspaper] seeks to dramatize a new struggle – the search of the average American today for knowledge about his country and his world; to dramatize his struggle to turn the great natural and economic forces of our time toward a better life for more people.The Living Newspaper program began very shortly after the establishment of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP).
[12] Left with no script and the pressing need to provide its performers with a play, the Unit drew up another Living Newspaper, Triple-A Plowed Under, within a matter of weeks.
Morale had dropped after the cancellation of Ethiopia, and the original director of Triple-A Plowed Under left in frustration; Joseph Losey, known for his support of the Communist Party and recently returned from a visit to Moscow, replaced him.
[15] Like other Living Newspapers to follow, it employed the "Voice of the Living Newspaper," a disembodied voice which commented on and narrated the action; shadows; image projections; elaborate sound design, with sound effects and music; abrupt blackouts and scene changes; and other non-realistic devices to keep the audiences' attention and support the message of the play.
Injunction Granted, which opened four months after the close of Triple-A,[17] lampooned big business men such as H. J. Heinz and newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst[18] and called for unions to join the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a major, militant workers' association.
[17] It aroused government concern during rehearsal; and Hallie Flanagan urged Losey to re-write parts of the script, but the play made it to the stage largely unaltered.
[19] The piece ran on over-the-top satire and explicit bias: Heinz was introduced holding a giant pickle; Dean Jennings of the Newspaper Guild trounced Hearst in a boxing match; and a clown (played by actor Norman Lloyd[20]) served as master-of-ceremonies for the entire production, according to Cosgrove.
Established in this year, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation of the FTP, focusing on its alleged Communist sympathies and anti-American propagandism.
[35] Washington's unit planned Timber; Iowa's Dirt;[36] and Connecticut's Stars and Bars; however, none of these regional Living Newspapers ever made it to full production.
First, a Living Newspaper's content always centered on some current event or issue affecting the United States working class at large – whether it be the spread of syphilis, slum housing conditions, or the search for affordable electrical power.
Living-Newspaper-like performances appeared in Bolshevik Russia as early as 1919, using a variety of devices (such as lantern slides, songs, newspaper readings, and film segments) to present news and propaganda to the illiterate.
[42] As the form matured in Russia, workers' groups put on highly regionalized Living Newspapers, treating issues of public interest and concern.
[43] Zhivaya Gazeta (the Russian term for "Living Newspaper") reached its peak from 1923 to 1928;[44] Hallie Flanagan visited the country and witnessed workers' performances during this period, in 1926.
[45] The Blue Blouse theatre groups, which employed satire and demanding acrobatics to bring news to the public, particularly captured Flanagan's attention.
