The National Theatre Conference took its
name and its formal inception in 1931 at a conference at
Northwestern University, and in 1932, at a second conference at
the University of Iowa, a constitution was adopted and officers
were elected to complete the formal construction of the NTC.
The impetus for such an organization had gown out of the
demise of theatre "road houses" after World War I,
when theatre retreated to New York, and most of the "road
houses" were converted to movie theatres. To fill
the vacuum, a number of amateur or community theatres were
organized. These theatres were paralleled by the development of
theatre programs in universities. Among the leaders of
such programs were George Pierce Baker at Yale, Thomas Wood
Stevens at Carnegie Tech and Frederick Koch at University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill. These leaders would soon be
joined by E.C. Mabie, University of Iowa, and Garrett
Leverston, Northwestern University. And it was this group
of educators who called the 1925 and 1927 conferences that
would lead to the 1931-32 formation of the National Theatre
Conference.
The NTC survived the Depression with the
aid of grants from the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations and
the provision of free office space first by Edith Isaacs,
editor of Theatre Arts Monthly, and later by Case Western Reserve University.
With such aid, NTC was able to publish of a series of
basic handbooks in acting, scenic design, and theatre
architecture. During World War II, NTC received a
$55,000.00 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to set up
amateur theatrical productions at every Army training camp.
There was also the War Bond Project at which performances
were given at community theatres across the country and
admission was the purchase of U.S. War Bonds. After the
war NTC helped to present non-professional shows at various
Army hospitals and also conducted a program in which veterans
were given advice on employment or educational opportunities in
theatre. The Rockefeller Foundation was sufficiently
impressed with NTC's war effort to present a $155,000.00 grant
for the years 1946-1951.
[Click on the links at left to see a list
of NTC presidents or to download a pdf copy of “The
National Theatre Conference: The First 75 Years.”]
