Transcribed
FDR's Federal Theater Project: Art as a Weapon Against the Depression — Fexingo History
May 11, 2026 ·
3m 28s
Download and listen anywhere
Download your favorite episodes and enjoy them, wherever you are! Sign up or log in now to access offline listening.
FDR's Federal Theater Project: Art as a Weapon Against the Depression — Fexingo History
This automatic transcript is brought to you by
Sounder.AI
This is an automatically generated transcript. Please note that complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Description
During the Great Depression, the Federal Theater Project put thousands of unemployed theater professionals to work, staging everything from Shakespeare to living newspapers. This episode explores how Hallie Flanagan, a...
show more
During the Great Depression, the Federal Theater Project put thousands of unemployed theater professionals to work, staging everything from Shakespeare to living newspapers. This episode explores how Hallie Flanagan, a fiery Vassar professor, defied critics and created a national theater that brought controversial, socially conscious plays to millions. We dive into the Project's most daring production—the living newspaper 'Triple-A Plowed Under'—which dramatized the Supreme Court's striking down of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. We also cover the congressional backlash led by Martin Dies and the House Un-American Activities Committee, which eventually killed the program. Along the way, we meet Orson Welles, whose early career was shaped by the FTP, and discuss the legacy of a New Deal experiment that treated the arts as essential to democracy.
#FederalTheaterProject #HallieFlanagan #LivingNewspaper #OrsonWelles #WPA #FDR #NewDeal #GreatDepression #TripleAPlowedUnder #HUAC #MartinDies #TheCradleWillRock #Vassar #Theater #1930s #ArtsPolicy #History #FexingoHistory #FranklinRoosevelt #SocialSecurity
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/franklin-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal-explained-fexingo-history--6985379/support.
show less
#FederalTheaterProject #HallieFlanagan #LivingNewspaper #OrsonWelles #WPA #FDR #NewDeal #GreatDepression #TripleAPlowedUnder #HUAC #MartinDies #TheCradleWillRock #Vassar #Theater #1930s #ArtsPolicy #History #FexingoHistory #FranklinRoosevelt #SocialSecurity
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/franklin-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal-explained-fexingo-history--6985379/support.
Information
| Author | Fexingo |
| Organization | Fexingo |
| Website | - |
| Tags |
Copyright 2026 - Spreaker Inc. an iHeartMedia Company
Comments