The Washington Theater Club: the Management of a Resident Professional Theater (Washington, D.C.).

Abstract

This study is an examination of the operation of the Washington Theater Club, a resident professional theater in Washington, D.C. from 1960 to 1974. Founded as a summer company, this organization developed into a successful regional theater dedicated to the production of new and unknown plays. During its most successful years, under the leadership of Davey Marlin-Jones, this theater produced the early works of Lanford Wilson, Oliver Hailey, and Arthur Laurents, and won the Margo Jones award for its contributions to the American theater. The study analyzes the theater's principal management areas in order to determine the reasons for its success and failure in the hope that potential entrepreneurs will profit from the experience and successfully undertake the operation of theaters which are committed to the professional production of new plays. An introductory chapter and a detailed historical overview of the organization is followed in succeeding chapters by an analysis of the theater's philosophy, its work, and its artistic successes and failures; the composition and effectiveness of the Board of Directors and the principal operating officers; and the formulation and implementation of the annual budgets. The research for the study utilizes the extant records of the organization; newspaper reviews and feature articles concerning its operation; and interviews with many of the former actors, principal operating officers, and members of the Board of Directors. The study concludes that while there were financial and operational difficulties which contributed to the theater's demise, the dominant reason for the failure was the inability of the Board of Directors to remain committed to the ideals of the theater, which in turn led to an undermining of the effectiveness of the principal operating officer. The implication of this conclusion is that under the right circumstances, it is possible for resident professional theaters to dedicate themselves to the development of American playwrights.