American National Theatre and
Academy (ANTA)
In the early 1930s, a small group of
arts patrons from Philadephia and New York began to act upon their conviction
that Americans should have a national theater organization that would
serve the American public better than Broadway, with its high ticket
prices and limited touring policy. Under the leadership of Leopold Stokowski,
and with the help of several influential supporters, they persuaded
Congress to enact a federal charter for a national theater - a rare
and significant authorization but for very few organizations such as
the Smithsonian Institution, the Red Cross, and the Federal Reserve
Bank. Signed by Franklin Roosevelt on July 3, 1935, the charter of The
American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA) called for:
A people's project, organized and
conducted in their interest, free from commercialism, but with the
firm intent of being as far as possible self-supporting. A national
theatre should bring to the people throughout the country their heritage
of the great drama of the past and the best of the present, which
has been too frequently unavailable to them under existing conditions.
Action on the new charter stalled for nearly a decade, however,
with the creation of the WPA Federal Theatre Project, which provided
Depression relief to theater artists from 1935 until 1939, and then
the onset of World War II. Perhaps more to the point, the ANTA board,
comprised of prominent citizens and business leaders from outside the
theater community, could not agree on the goals of ANTA.
When the war ended, Robert Breen, a dynamic theater
director, actor, and producer fresh out of the Army Air Corps, saw
in ANTA the opportunity for his vision of a national theater. He persuaded
a fellow veteran, Robert Porterfield, founder of the Barter Theatre
in Abingdon, Virginia, to join him in his effort to devise and propose
to the ANTA board a plan for a national theater supported by a foundation.
In 1946 the ANTA board voted to accept
the Breen-Porterfield Foundation Plan and persuaded Robert Breen to
serve as executive secretary of ANTA. To provide the organization
with necessary expertise, the board was reconstituted to include prestigious
theater professionals such as Brooks Atkinson, Cheryl Crawford, Paul
Green, Moss Hart, Helen Hayes, Sam Jaffe, and Raymond Massey.
Robert Breen and a small, dedicated
team comprised mostly of volunteers set furiously to work in his own
living quarters above the Hudson Theater on 44th Street. At his side
was his co-worker and wife Wilva Davis Breen, who had been instrumental
in promoting and guiding the ANTA plan to completion. Together, the
two of them had established the Chicago unit of the Federal Theatre
Project, an experience which convinced Breen that theater in America
was in need of more than a temporary relief program.
Thus began a remarkable period in American theater
that, with the infusion of ANTA support and energy, saw the revival
of the Experimental Theatre in New York, the growth of regional and
university theater programs, the encouragement of playwrights and
performers, the broadcasting of quality dramatic presentations to
millions of Americans on television in its fledgling years, and groundbreaking
cultural exchanges that warmed a Cold War world.
Internationally, ANTA promoted artistic
exchanges between the U.S. and Europe and entertainment for American
troops serving abroad. It began in 1949 with a U.S. tour of Hamlet
throughout Europe, culminating in a performance at Elsinore Castle
in Denmark, the actual setting of the play. During the 1950s ANTA
sponsored such projects as the American National Ballet Theatre's
tour of Europe, and American participation in the Berlin Arts Festival
in 1951. Productions showing different sides of life in America were
played to European audiences. Among the many were the musicals Oklahoma
and Porgy and Bess.
Robert and Wilva Breen Theater
Collection
The Robert and Wilva Breen Theater
Collection is a primary source from which one may research the early
beginnings of government support for the performing arts and the people
responsible for them. It details the work of Robert Breen, the driving
force behind the reformation of ANTA in 1946 and a staunch supporter
of its eventual successor, the National Endowment for the Arts. The
Robert and Wilva Breen Theatre Collection aids in the gaining of a
better understanding of the early operations of ANTA.
Covering
the years 1933-1980, it consists of working papers, correspondence,
drafts, news clippings, scripts, photographs and other theatrical
materials which document the Breens' career with ANTA from 1944 to
1952. The Collection also reflects the Breens' personal interests
such as television, film, and political causes.
