THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT
FRONT PAGE TABLEAU
Over the course of the semester, we examined the front pages of newspapers, looking at the current day headlines of 2025 and then the same date in history between 1935-1939. Students noted similarities and differences, discussed what is and was considered newsworthy, and then selected a front page news story to embody through a tableau (sometimes referred to as a living history or living statue). A close examination of the headlines exposed silent stories, which the students told through carefully crafted physical representations frozen in a single moment.
The New York Times, March 21, 1936.
Front Page Headline: “4 Powers to Form Alliance if Germany Rejects Terms; Hitler ‘Won’t Retire an Inch.’”
Virginia Tech Performing History Class
The New York Times, January 31, 1935
Front Page Headline: "One of London's 'Big Five' Grain Firms Fails; Official Ends Life in Disastrous Collapse"
Radford University Performing History Class
The New York Times, January 31, 1935
Front Page Headline: "Three Hauptmann Alibis Backed By Wife On Stand"
Radford University Performing History Class
Perry Bruskin • Martin Dies • Hallie Flanagan (1935) • Hallie Flanagan (1939) • Rosamond Gilder • Susan Glaspell • Hazel Huffman • Frida Kahlo • Mary Merrill • Virginia Nicholson • Elmer Rice • Eleanor Roosevelt (1935) • Eleanor Roosevelt (1939) • Franklin Delano Roosevelt • Olive Stanton • Helen Tamiris • Orson Welles • Artwork • Collaborators • Directors’ Note • Front Page Tableau • Music • Pen Pals • Research/Source Material • Share Your Thoughts • Special Thanks