A Short History of The National Theatre Conference
George Pierce Baker
The Beginning
Following World War I, the American touring theatre retreated to New York City, and many of the “roadhouses” that had served it were converted to movie theatres. To fill the vacuum, a number of amateur or community theatres were organized. This movement was paralleled by the development of theatre programs in universities.
In 1925 a group of leaders of such university programs including George Pierce Baker at Yale, Thomas Wood Stevens at Carnegie Tech, Frederick Koch at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. E.C. Mabie, at the University of Iowa, and Garrett Leverston, at Northwestern University called a series of conferences that led to the founding of the National Theatre Conference. The NTC was initially organized and adopted its name in 1931 at a conference at Northwestern University. In 1932, at a second conference at the University of Iowa, a constitution was adopted and officers were first elected.
’30s and ’40s
The NTC was helped through the Depression with grants from the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations and free office space was provided first by Edith Isaacs, editor of Theatre Arts Monthly, and later by Case Western Reserve University. With such aid, NTC was able to publish 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 produce amateur theatrical productions at every Army training camp. NTC was also involved in a War Bond Project for which performances were given at community theatres across the country and the sole 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. In 1945 the NTC was formally incorporated as a 501 (c) (3).
Post-War
In a major post-war project NTC made a grant to Stanford University to create an attached professional company. A second project made grants available to emerging playwrights including Barrie Stavis. NTC also provided a grant to Lee Norvelle at Indiana University to create a touring company, which after two successful years was followed by the creation of the Brown County Playhouse, still successfully producing today. The final Rockefeller project was the overseeing of six regional theatre conferences throughout the U.S. After the Rockefeller grant ended, President Lee Norvelle was able to reinvigorate the organization and in the late 50′s NTC had a series of distinguished theatre professionals including John Gassner and Harold Clurman as featured conference speakers. When not listening to invited speakers, the tradition was for NTC members to meet and discuss their activities during the past year.
60's and Beyond
During the 1960′s, meetings were held in late November in New York at the Barbizon Plaza. Under the guidance of Presidents Vieham, Canfield, Gillette, and Houghton, the NTC published Balch, Gard, and Temkin’s influential work, Theatre in America: Appraisal and Challenge, and also made the decision to limit NTC membership to 100 of the most influential leaders in commercial, non-commercial and educational theatre. Another significant decision in the 60′s was the creation of the Person of the Year award. It was usual for NTC to spend an entire day in which the Person of the Year gave a talk, lunched with, and had a long discussion with NTC members.
During the early 70′s, NTC gained increasing strength, and in 1975 changed the location of the annual meeting from the Barbizon Plaza to The Players Club in New York, where with only two exceptions it has remained. In 1987, NTC created the Paul Green Foundation Award, the recipient of which, named by the Person of the Year, receives a $1,000.00 award. A decision was made in 1988 to increase the membership limit to 120, and in 1989 an important new award was created: the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award for an emerging playwright.
In 1996, two additional awards were established: The Outstanding Theatre Award and the NTC Scholarship (now Emerging Professional) Award. The Outstanding Theatre Award is presented to a non-profit professional theatre that has achieved a high degree of excellence. The winner of the award names the recipient of the NTC Emerging Professional Award. This $1,000.00 award is given to a young person In recognition of the excellence of their service and their potential for a successful career in the theatre. As the century turned, NTC also instituted the staged reading of a play by the winner of the Stavis Award. In 2006, the Cindy L. HavensAward was created to honor those who aided the NTC presidents in conducting the events of the annual conference. In 2010 membership was increased to a maximum of 150.
NTC member and well-known academic leader, scholar, and theatre artist Dr. August W. Staub was commissioned to write a history of the National Theatre Conference through its first 75 years. A link to his book is found below.
Click on the link below to download August W. Staub's The National Theatre Conference: The First Seventy-Five Years 1931-2006 (PDF File, 600KB)
“Gus Staub died in the spring of 2008. Although he had finished the manuscript, Gus never saw his History of the National Theatre Conference in its published form. If he had, he would have undoubtedly accepted well-deserved congratulations and compliments with the kind of warmth and graciousness that was his style. Gus was a very generous man and this history is but one of the many gifts he gave to the theatre in general and the National Theatre Conference in particular. Would that we who are members of the NTC could have offered our profound thanks to Gus Staub in person.”
