Hull-House Highlights

"Theater Programs at
Hull-House"
Greek Play

Theater programs at Hull-House were an important component of both the artistic and social goals of the settlement. Jane Addams's approach to drama clubs reflected her general interest in developing a neighborhood interest in entertainment that had moral and ethical outcomes for the participant and the spectator and, also, was a form of theater that upheld the literary and artistic standards educated elites and professional critics endorsed. Drama clubs were established in accordance with the general approach to providing associations for different age groups and ethnic groups. They were open to all regardless of talent.

In 1897 when Walter Pietsch, then head of drama at Hull-House, decided to improve the overall quality of Hull-House theater productions, he persuaded Jane Addams that the creation of a special group of Hull-House players who were selected on the basis of talent and artistic standards fit the goals of the settlement. Stuart Hecht, who has written about the Hull-House Theatre and the Hull-House Players, says that this was the first instance of a conflict between artistic standards and the purely social objectives of the settlement.

Pietsch selected a star cast from the two hundred young people of both sexes who made up the eight to ten drama clubs that were part of the settlement's diverse drama groups. At the same time, however, social club dramatics continued to flourish at Hull-House alongside the separate, formal dramatics club. This club continued to be run by Pietsch until 1900 when Laura Daity Pelham replaced him and reorganized the dramatics club into an ensemble of actors who, in time, became a troupe recognized nationally and internationally. Pelham directed the Hull-House Players until 1925, when she died. The company continued until 1941. Maurice J. Cooney became director in 1924.

Edith de Nancrede supervised the "social drama clubs" which also flourished. A visual artist by training, Nancrede became a Hull-House resident in 1897; her first responsibilities at the settlement were to initiate programs for the Boys' Club. Nancrede inovated in developing social clubs that made use of drama and other arts to encourage group cooperation, to acquaint young people with the works of "high culture," and to draw on the children's immigrant culture for theatrical inspiration. Nancrede was also responsible for the interdisciplinary approach of Hull-House productions, a good example of which is The Trolls' Holiday (1905), written by poet Harriet Monroe (a short-term HH resident), set to music by Eleanor Smith, and with a set designed by Enella Benedict, which was constructed in the Hull-House shops. The production was accomplished through the cooperation of the settlement's art school, music school, shops, dramatic clubs, and the movement and gymnastic classes of Mary Hinman and Rose Marie Gyles.

Hull-House Players were the one drama club of the many groups that did plays at the settlement that required auditions to screen for new members. This was somewhat controversial in its inception since Jane Addams's reasons for encouraging drama had less to do with theatrical excellence than with the potential for socialization and moral uplift that engagement with good theater offered. The Hull-House Players remained amateurs; yet critics held them to professional standards.

by Dr. Rima Lunin Schultz, Director and Editor, Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull-House and Its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963.

Previous Hull-House Highlights