THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT
MARTIN DIES
Martin Dies, Jr.
1900 - 1972
Congressman, Chair of House Un-American Activities Committee
Written and Performed by: Noah Zirk
Setting: A House Un-American Activities Committee meeting in December of 1938
*Clears throat* Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I, Martin Dies, Chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, will now take my time to respond to Mrs. Flanagan's testimony. As a red-blooded American, I care deeply about this nation that I hold so dear. This is the very reason why I established this committee, to protect this beautiful nation we call home- Mrs. Flanagan. Her, and her little theatre project have injected their communist venom into the lifeblood of our nation! Listen to some of these play titles! "A New Kind of Love" that smacks of the Soviet to me! "Voodoo MacBeth" these comrades in arms are trying to curse this nation with dark magic! You communists are the enemy within. You poison the blood of America with ideas of unions and miscegenation. You poison! All over the world these communists are coming into our nation - from the USSR, from Germany. They are pouring into my- OUR - nation. The poison that you spew is country changing - its country threatening - it's country wrecking! These animals have destroyed our once peaceful nation, and I'm the man to fix it. Mrs. Flanagan, you look offended! I use the word animal, because that is what you and your fellow communists are, animals. I will do whatever it takes to get the government out of show business. As chairman, I call on Congress to defund Mr. Roosevelt's Federal Theatre Project. *Gavel*
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