Orson Welles

Humor me for a second, I’m feeling nostalgic already. Today marks a great day for theatre. Don’t you think? Yeah. All of theatre. A great day for race relations, for welfare. Today we opened our production of Macbe- oh, I mean The Scottish Play, here at the Lafayette Theatre, in Harlem. I am only twenty years old. Can you believe that? I’ve already made it. You know when I started my career with the Federal Theatre Project, I was skeptical at first. But as soon as I heard what they stood for, I fell right in love. They stood for young and aspiring artists who wanted to make a career out of their art. The Federal Theatre Project is creating so many jobs for people like me and for all artists, no matter their background. (cigar inhale) This is my first gig with them too Jack, and we crushed it. Look at us virtuosos! Many people were skeptical, and some didn’t believe we could pull it off. I hired 150 black actors, and only 4 of them had worked professionally before. Including you of course. Shakespeare purists thought it would ruin theatre traditions. I was worried, but I couldn’t show it. It was a hit! Thousands of people flooded the theatre, anybody who was somebody all wanted to see this masterpiece of a play. They had to close the streets down to accommodate the crowds, who then went so wild at the end of the show that they didn’t lower the curtains so the audience could come up onto the stage to congratulate the actors. It was a beautiful moment for theatre. It was magical. I didn’t expect this to happen. I am just so proud.