{"id":446,"date":"2025-05-12T08:15:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/?page_id=446"},"modified":"2025-05-22T12:46:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:46:43","slug":"susan-glaspell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/susan-glaspell\/","title":{"rendered":"Susan Glaspell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p>Lorem Ipsum has been the industry&#8217;s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.<\/p>\n<p>Lorem Ipsum has been the industry&#8217;s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.<\/p>\n\n\n<span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><p class=\"p1\" style=\"font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; max-width: none; color: rgb(20, 20, 19);\"><span style=\"font-family: Raleway, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><strong>THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT<\/strong><br><\/span><font color=\"#141413\" face=\"Helvetica\" size=\"2\"><strong style=\"color: rgb(82, 101, 168); text-transform: uppercase; font-size: large;\">SUSAN GLASPELL<\/strong><\/font><\/p><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><p>Susan Keating Glaspell<\/p><p>1876- 1948<br>Playwright and Novelist. Director Midwest New Play Bureau, 1936-1938<\/p><\/span><p> <\/p>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><p>Written and performed by: Nicole Friess-Schilling&nbsp;<\/p><p>Setting: Glaspell\u2019s Chicago office, October 1938<\/p><\/span><p> <\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Susan Glaspell welcomes Federal Theatre Project Director Hallie Flanagan to her office. Despite numerous successes, Susan has decided to officially resign from her position as the director of the Midwest New Play Bureau.&nbsp;<\/p>\n{&#8220;title&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;content&#8221;:&#8221;<iframe width=\\\"100%\\\" height=\\\"300\\\" scrolling=\\\"no\\\" frameborder=\\\"no\\\" allow=\\\"autoplay\\\" src=\\\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/2077198036%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-Ig9r711s14s&#038;color=%2300aabb&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\\\"><\/iframe><div style=\\\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\\\"><a href=\\\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-17135768\\\" title=\\\"Performing History\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" style=\\\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\\\">Performing History<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\\\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-17135768\/susan-glaspell-recording-final\/s-Ig9r711s14s\\\" title=\\\"Susan Glaspell Monologue\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" style=\\\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\\\">Susan Glaspell Monologue<\/a><\/div>&#8220;}\n\n\n\n\n<span style=\"color:#888888;\"><p>Oh, Hallie, it is so nice to see you. I do appreciate you taking the time to travel to Chicago to meet with me in person. I hope the train ride was pleasant enough? I know you are busy, so I will get straight to the point. Hallie, you know that I support you and that I support the ideals of the Federal Theatre Project. You also know me to be a woman of conviction and principles driven by a desire to support the work of theatre artists in creating new and exciting plays. Despite the intolerable Chicago critics and their conspiratorial nature to sabotage any work associated with the FTP, we have succeeded here in winning the hearts of our audiences and bringing to the stage some of the most important work of this project. It\u2019s absolutely ridiculous, that any seemingly positive review in the press is punctuated with \u201cconsidering the source.\u201d Utterly absurd, and you know that I offered on more than one occasion to go to war with these critics in the press, using my most effective weapon \u2013 my pen. When you invited me to Chicago, to take the leadership role in the Midwest New Play Bureau, I was so excited. Perhaps by the prospect of rekindling some of the joy I once found working in the Little Theatre with my dear Jig. But, when I arrived here in Chicago, the office was an utter mess \u2013 just shy of disaster.<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>You had 283 vaudevillians on the pay role, doing very few actual performances; leased theatres sitting empty to the tune of several thousands of dollars each month, and bureaucrats insisting on my first arrival that I dramatize \u201cGone With the Wind.\u201d The fools were only interested in auditioning plays with Broadway appeal. Well, Chicago is not Broadway, nor should it wish to be. I worked to seek out Midwest plays that dealt with Midwestern interests, written by Midwest playwrights. By all accounts my tenure has been a success. But it isn\u2019t enough.<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>Hallie, between my health and the numerous obstacles I keep encountering, I simply do not have the strength to keep fighting. Fighting for the playwrights, the directors, the very individuals who are at the heart of the important works we are creating. I realize fully the financial circumstances and constraints that you are working with, but these folks are spending many more hours of their lives than they are being fairly compensated for. Is it too much to ask that they maintain the rights to their own work? These artists have given so much, why is it out of the question to allow them their own words? Writing is a profession, and if we are not going to stage the plays that are written, why shouldn\u2019t the playwright be afforded the opportunity to have their work produced or printed elsewhere? I simply cannot understand this matter and I have addressed it to you on multiple occasions. I\u2019m tired. I don\u2019t have the spirit to continue fighting. These two years have been difficult, inspiring, wonderful, challenging, lifesaving for me. It is time for me to move on. Hallie, I am resigning from my post.<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>When I began this journey, it was with the heart of an idealist. I still believe in the promise of a strong National Theatre and so it is my deepest hope that this dream will be realized. In \u201835, Uncle Sam went into the show business because people were hungry. He stayed in the business because it has been discovered that people were not only hungry for food, Hallie \u2013 they were hungry for theatre.<\/p><div><\/div><\/span><div><br><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/perry-bruskin\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Perry Bruskin\n<\/a>&nbsp;<span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/martin-dies\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Martin Dies\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hallie-flanagan-1935\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hallie Flanagan (1935)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hallie-flanagan-1939\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hallie Flanagan (1939)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/rosamond-gilder\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Rosamond Gilder\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/susan-glaspell\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Susan Glaspell\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hazel-huffman\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hazel Huffman\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/frida-kahlo\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Frida Kahlo\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/mary-merrill\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Mary Merrill\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/virginia-nicholson\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Virginia Nicholson\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/elmer-rice\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Elmer Rice\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/eleanor-roosevelt-1935\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Eleanor Roosevelt (1935)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/eleanor-roosevelt-1939\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Eleanor Roosevelt (1939)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/franklin-delano-roosevelt\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Franklin Delano Roosevelt\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/olive-stanton\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Olive Stanton\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/helen-tamiris\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Helen Tamiris\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/orson-welles\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Orson Welles\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/artwork\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Artwork\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/collaborators\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Collaborators\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/directors-note\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Directors\u2019 Note\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/front-page-tableau\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Front Page Tableau\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/music\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Music\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/pen-pals\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Pen Pals\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/research-source-material\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Research\/Source Material\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/share-your-thoughts\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Share Your Thoughts\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/special-thanks\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Special Thanks\n    <\/a>\n  <\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-446","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/446\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}