A STUQY (3?? WE MEMEEfiSHIP MD LEADERJSHEP‘ O§ W'EEN {SEW LETTLE THEATRE Them; Eat? the Daqeoa 035 pk, D. MICELQAH S?ATE 3E§¥EE§ET? James Wiiiiam Barushok 1966 L- LIBRAR 1’ Michigan Snug University “A; THESIS This is to certify that the thesis entitled A STUDY OF THE MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE presented by James William Barushok has been accepted towards fulfillment K of the requirements for ~ \ Ph.D. degree in_S.p.e£_Ch_ if}, ,f /E-/(,—« /<«1/w{i 1/ Major Bye/5501' . / ,. - . 5 Date _QQ¢AL; / ’5 // ’ {/57 g The lources of data vere tern rwcnrfied interview: Ari at}! emulation“ laden. orgmtzntional docuunt: we .i‘ ‘ "13013.1 functions of con-.1” theatre-x -‘ ‘-\‘--| _ ID for ”loin-at nub." w prodding anar- A 5'" f; - 11.}. , _ \ L:g' he .1 ~‘§.;:r " .i i-ZA‘ ' >. L7 Q1. . L v6 ‘ . l H"18 ’1 a =* r E of A single v zWL"E‘ [ of nne fall y. a “no -srn ' ~ ; nine the pr an *¢~ l. for its presa; .i“‘n 4" ‘ expected to cunin.?u2¢ t\ #19 st , -\ l } 1n the future. I‘m: 11m, i...’—' wa‘ 1'1. gr= ‘ 5 - , ..: $.2- ! to onnble the 1r=~?tiguk ; Le . . lore depth than 33th has", i:-::-- w-r :. .'('»‘,:', ~:; - l involving more argnnizaa1fins. in wC"P'# ‘i . " ritréi. yidlr. the investigator played tne rule ~' 7- -,. 1A”'-3”HUTV”" afitn, during the first 311 months ef tvr «’wfi sum .nr'ie';au‘- ..i " Oillrvor during the last six months. ABSTRACT A STUDY OF THE MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE by James William Barushok i- This is a study of the membership and the leadership ‘i of a single community theatre organization over a period l of one full year. The purpose of the study was to deter- . mine the present function of the organization, the reasons for its present function, and the ways in which it may be expected to contribute to the community theatre movement '1‘ in the future. N, The limitation to one single organization was imposed to enable the investigator to study the organization in more depth than would have been possible in a broader study inyolving more organizations. To achieve the depth desired, .the investigator played the role of non-participant-observer during the first six months of the study and participant- chslrver during the last six months. 2 The sources of data were tape recorded interviews with organizational leaders, organizational documents and '12: records. observations of the organization in action which fig; \éhr; recorded in the form of field notes. and a question- éi'l finite given the entire membership. 8A review of literature on the community theatre re- .. ,three principal functions of community theatres: u- ,a' ,a... e.- 'f_. wood in. . VI 0'; s--. U:— Q‘ I i. A .‘a a l.‘ "‘A 9A. (I! I I; i i) ‘v 1 n‘. James W. Barushok tunities for them to act and to participate in the other theatre arts: (2) community service by bringing a variety of good quality live theatre to the community; and (3) Service to the art form through experimental production, the production of original scripts, and the promotion of community interest in the classics and the masterpieces of modern drama. Community theatre analysts have concen- trated their attention upon play selection and they gener— ally agree that community theatres tend to imitate Broad- way and by so doing, to diminish their cultural impact upon the community and their service to the art form. The data in this study reveal that the organization functions principally as a recreational organization, with community service as a secondary function. The community service function. however, is more accidental than delib- erate. There is no evidence that the organization contri- hates to the art form. At the present the organization's membership and leadership place a high value on organizational democracy. It is expected. therefore, that the will of the majority rill prevail in organizational policies and practices. The data reveal that the majority of the members have no reason for participation other than recreation and further, that those few members who claim community service as a low .0 He 9.- a. ('0 ‘I (‘1' '71 rn James W. Barushok ity service. The data also reveal that there is a lack of faith. on the part of the members and their leaders, in the probability that the community really wants their service and will support them adequately. Thus. there is concern for the financial solvency of the organization should it embark upon a program of more and better plays for public presentation than is called for by present policy. Still another reason for the emphasis upon recre- ation rather than community or theatre service is the organization's relatively weak identification with the community theatre nationally. Regarding the ufuture of the organization, it is doubtful that the organization will serve the art form. except by a major turnover in the membership or the appear- ance of an unusually strong leader with experimental inter- ests. It is possible. however. that community service can be improved in the near future. This can be achieved by improving the quality of plays selected for public presen- tation and by increasing the number of plays for public presentation each season. There is evidence that this is on its way to being achieved through the work of a small sub-group which is growing in power. Since most members ‘1 are recreationally oriented. however, any plan involving . regpanded community service must be developed within the A srunr or ran MEMBERSHIP AND '. LEADERSHIP or QUEEN CITY ,'V“ LITTLE THEATRE By James Uilliam Barushok » Copyright. 12'; v‘f‘J- Jixzu KTLLXKN c~.c : 1. A THESIS " libeitted to nehigen State University ‘°&l partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 30010! 0? 931L000!!! “I‘~ vestigfi" a,~ theatre L t1”. hi2 n"- .1 ‘ - €32:th by row: um were: phenomn.h h. fipflicns or : J f'l’.“ While "u ‘ eaten.“ y .M - '. zed th.: ‘ , » ..; -’._ encourage» fr 1‘ .‘ ' 7 ~... e... — the'threa no.:. if "c , n ,- JIMQO .r‘hu fihfi ’ . ' ”aw: i { lst‘to Un.?1feitg fiu‘u tsva !, . ,’ I u to tor for their 2' H0 ‘Z;h7 *‘eq, . 1'; or g. _t_ ,fin,euggeiting recourse rate ;a? ::_5- I 1 9! the University of Knive on; .‘v "we we 1 Ian! I ‘5‘ the a... IV. {,9 V... ":I b. e l". N oi .3“ Av. PREFACE This study has sought to strengthen the relationship between two academic disciplines. the art of theatre and the science of sociology. It is believed by the investiga- -‘ tor that the two disciplines, with their common concern ,i for human behavior, have an excellent field of study in the community theatre movement. Designed principally as a theatre study. this in- vestigation begins with a review of the general community theatre movement. The vital substance of the investiga- ticn, however. is that of a single organization. In this respect the interest of the investigator is in group . phenomena which might be termed the sociological impli- v' cations of the study. . While the investigator assumes the reSponsibility for whatever weaknesses exist in the study. it must be _reecgnized that there are others who deserve credit for Itheir encouragement. their assistance. and their patience 1L; during the three years of the research and writing. 3.;R- . Dr. James McKee and hr. Frederick Alexander of -. l , liohigen State University have been an inspiration to I;;_: :‘ Exp investigator for their excellent teaching and for fifihsir help in suggesting resource material. Professor 11 .e‘: 1‘ 0": vuy .4.” '§-.- eisn of worth. There are no words which can adequately describe the help extended by Dr. Kenneth G. Rance of Michigan State University in the preparation of this study. His patience cannot be measured and his kindness and understanding are an inspiration to anyone whose life his life touches. Of the persons who gave direction to the investigator's sometimes disorganized thoughts, Dr. Elwin C. Reynolds of Michigan State University deserves the highest acknowledgment. His willingness to give time and attention to the study is much appreciated. . It would be unfair to neglect the cooperation ex- tended to the investigator by the Queen City Little Thea- ter. Access to their group documents and their willing- ness to allow the investigator to pry into their private 7 affairs was the first requisite to the completion of the study. Finally. for their extended patience and for their .1ove the investigator wishes to thank his family: Fern, Jean. Bob. and Betty. \ :4 , iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PRERACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 LIST OF TABLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1v LIST OF FIGURES.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G I. REVIEW OF LITERATURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Introduction. 0 C C C C O O O C . I U 0 I I 6 W- What Is a Community Theatre . . . . . . . . 6 Scope of the Community Theatre. . . . . . . l7 Contributtons and Criticism of the Community Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 _ Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #1 V II. NETHODOLOGI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #4 3 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #4 The Basic Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . #5 Methodology Employed. . . . . . . . . . . . #8 Chronology of the Study . . . . . . . . . . 51 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 THE FORMALITIES OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE "'AFD ACTUAL GROUP PRACTICES. . . . . . . . . 76 ggganizational Purposes . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . &?ERS?‘h1P and Participation. . . . . . . . ‘ 8# A it; I TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Chapter Page Formal Leadership Structure. . . . . . . . 90 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9? IV. THE MEMBERSHIP OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE TmTRE O O O I O I O O O O C O O O I I O I 1 00 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Membership Longevity, Membership Depart- ure, and Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . 101 Make Up 0 e a e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 111 smry a e o e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 119 V. HEMBERS' STATED REASONS FOR PARTICIPATING IN QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE . . . . . . . 121 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 conclusions 0 O O O I O O l O O I I O O O O 128 VI. MEMBERS' OPINIONS CONCERNING KEY GROUP PRAC- TIC O O O I O O O O O O I O O O I I I O O 130 Number of Productions Per Season . . . . . 132 Types of Plays for Major and workshops . . 1&0 The Play Selection Committee and Cast- ing committee 0 O 0 I O O O O I O O O O 0 11‘6 Payment of Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . 15a ‘Conolusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 2.3;!II. INFORMAL SUB-GROUP STRUCTURE AND THE FUNCTION “ ‘ , ‘ OF MESHIP O . C I C I O C C O I O . O I 160 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 ~H. Overall Sub-Group Structure. . . . . . . . 160 or.-- ‘O.. . at TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Chapter ‘ I The Middle Group C I O I O O O O O O The Liberal Group . . . . . . . . . The Conservative Group. . . . . . . Summary of Leadership . . . . . . . Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . OF COMMUNITY THEATRE. . . . . . . . Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . Testimony of Leaders. . . . . . . . Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . 11. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . in 5 ' Description of Queen City Little . Theatre C . . O . . . . . . . . . The Function of Queen City Little Theatre 0 O I I O O O O I O 0 O O ‘11- Why Does Queen City Little Theatre Function as it Does?. . . . . . . Prospects for the Future. . . . . . Suggestions fer Further Research. . v1 VIII. LEADERS' OPINIONS CONCERNING THE FUNCTION Page . 164 . 177 . 186' . 197 . 202‘ . 20h . 20G . 208 . 221 . 223 . 2230. . 225 . 229 . 232 . 236 . 2G2 all. IJST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Longevity of the Members of Queen City Little Theatre as of May, 196#. . . . . . . 102 2. Age. Sex. and Marital Status of the Mom- bers of Queen City Little Theatre . . . . . 114 3. Rating of Occupations Represented in Queen City Little Theatre . . . . . . . . . 116 4. Classification of Members' Responses by Major Category to the Question "Why do You Participate in Queen City Little Theatre ? 'U. D I I O O O O I O I l O O O O O O 125 . Classification of Members' Responses by Sub-categories of Self-oriented Reasons to the Question "Why do you Participate in Queen City Little Theatre?". . . . . . . 126 . Members' preferences as to the Number of Major Productions to be Given Each Year by Queen City Little Theatre. . . . . . . . 13h . Members' Preferences as to the Number of Workshop Productions to be Given Each Year by Queen City Little Theatre . . . . . 13h .‘ Members' Preferences for Major Productions by Dramatic Classification. . . . . . . . . l#3 . Members' Preferences for Workshop Pro- ductions by Dramatic Classification . . . . 1h“ 10. Leadership Position in the Total Organiza- tion and Leaders' Opinions Regarding the Functions or Purposes of Community Thea- 6 tree. 0 I O O I O O O O O I I O 0 I O O O O 20 jfffi 1&1 F/h LIST OE.FIGURES Page Queen City Little Theatre Organizational Chart. Arranged by the President and Distributed to all Members. September, 0 o e o e e 92 1. ‘ 19 e e o o e e 2. Queen City Little Theatre Production Or- ganization Chart. Showing Relationship ’ Between Participants and Production " - Leaders During a Major Production . . . . 96 arm. 3. The Relative Positions of Queen City g,‘ Little Theatre Leaders as Ranked by ‘ 4“: the General Membership of the Organi- *.g;§;nl___ zation and the Relative Position of 'L ' Leaders Along the Conservative-Liber- > a continuum. O O O I O O I I C O I I I I viii ‘.;.a.-‘. .- r' r—————_—————‘ INTRODUCTION The Problem Community theatres in the United States. estimated by some observers at more than 30,000 organizations. can make a significant contribution to the growth and development of the American theatre and to the cultural dimension of the communities in which they exist. Whereas these theatrical and cultural contributions must be viewed as potential rather than real, the community theatre's recreational function. that of providing its membership with an interest- ing leisure time activity and a social group with which to identify. may be more of a reality. The present investigation was based upon the assump- tion that an individual community theatre can serve any one.or any combination of the above service functions and. further. that the service functions of each community or- ganization depend in a large measure upon the nature of the membership and leadership of the organization. There- fore, if the community theatres are to fulfill their expec- tations as contributors to the American theatre and the local communities. more information is needed concerning the membership and leadership of the individual organiza- tione. Because participation in the community theatre is largely voluntary, information regarding membership and leadership should include the members' reasons for par- ticipating in the organization. their beliefs concerning 1 4 and: w ‘{ ”Cue“ “FM“ obvia' +‘r 1p, 9 M- u-v “OI the ,. the cc $311- b' FAA *- 'hvo cate l‘“ I ‘vi . a" “we ‘3 3“ r———_" 2 organizational practices, informal subgrouping around con; troversial issues of importance in determining the service functions of the organization, the function of leadership in the organization, and the leaders' considerations of the purpose and function of the community theatre. Since the community theatre is a specialized volunteer associa- tion. usually including both the democratic organization dimension and the more autocratic theatrical production dimension. information is also needed to determine how these two seemingly contradictory practices are resolved. Such information can best be found by studying the indi- vidual community theatre organization in more depth than the multigroup survey will allow. To achieve the necessary depth, the present investi- gation_was designed as a case study of a single community theatre organization: the Queen City Little Theatre. lo- cated in Queen City. New England.1 Methodology Through the use of data from tape recorded interviews with organizational leaders, from organizational documents and records. from observations of the organization in action. and from a questionnaire given the entire membership. Queen 1"Queen City" and "Queen City Little Theatre" are code names. The organization is located in a small indus- trial city (population of 50.000) in the predominantly rur- al state of Maine. eras (:1 ll: be I expecta‘ United : fern tc refer t but ra: the cps 3&1 st: 8t‘liy ‘ exist? V_——_' 3 City Little Theatre is described in terms of its membership and its organizational practices, with special focus upon the nature and function of leadership in the organization. Data were analyzed and interpreted to determine the present function of Queen City Little Theatre. the £22- ;ggg for its present function. and the ways in which it may be expected to contribute to the fulfillment of the expectations of the community theatre movement in the United States. The "function of the organization" in this study re- fers to the organization's reason for being. It does not refer to the formally stated purposes of the organization. but rather to its actual purposes as they are embodied in the operation of the organization, regardless of any for- mal statement of purpose.1 Thus, "function" is used in this study to answer the questions, "Why does this organization exist?" and ”What purposes does it serve?" Limitations Imposed The most significant limitation was that of the giggle Igggp 55291. The limitation was imposed to enable the investigator to study the organization in more depth than would be possible in a broader study involving more organizations. While it may be difficult to generalize 1See Chapter III for a report on the formally stated group purposes and a comparison of those purposes with the actual practices of the organization. mm: 3.1:: the: n ‘seen '1 ”a 4 a 'u- .waie‘s“ enzes 1r are 0:13 33551125 r——‘ 4 and apply the findings of this investigation to all commu- nity theatres. it is believed that the conclusions reached in this study will provide a definitive basis for further studies in the community theatre. This study was further limited in terms of time. All data concerning current membership and leadership of Queen City Little Theatre refer to the membership and leadership between January and December of 196“. Refer- ences in this study to time previous to January of 196# are only for the purpose of establishing trends in the organization or to clarify data of 196%. Significance of the Study Distinctiveness: To date there has been no community , theatre research employing the single case study method. ¥ While several books exist on the organization and managemen . of community theatres. none is based upon research findings. Surveys concerning dramatic activities in community theatres have been conducted by Work. by Dietrich and Work. and by Schoell; but none of these has investigated the membership or leadership of the organizations surveyed. Macgowan. Roughton. and Gard and Burley conducted interviews with several professional community theatre directors in which questions concerning membership and leadership were raised. but they did not go deeply into the nature of membership 1Such books as Alexander Dean's. Little Theatre 2;- > ganization find Management, instruct the new organization in how to organize and manage a community theatre. but do not reveal those instructions to be based upon investiga- tions of the community theatre movement. hi leai soyfl‘" ‘ w Jim“ 4 stuiei era fro: 33¢ :95. a! ties then-’0 to the I“ 5 and leadership in any organization investigated. Their conclusions concerning the function of each organization studied were based upon the testimony of one or two lead- ers from each organization and did not attempt to analyze the reasons for the function of each organization. Also. while studies in leadership are abundant, none of these deals with the community theatre. It is believed. therefore. that this study represents an original approach to the study of the community theatre. Intrinsic Merit: Many questions concerning the func- tion of community theatres have gone unanswered. Since community theatres are volunteer associations, the answers to these questions may be an extended knowledge of the mem- bership and the leadership of community theatre organiza- tions. A knowledge of the community theatre in terms of its membership and leadership can have significance to those who are concerned with the development of leisure time activities which are of social and educational value. and to those practitioners in theatre who are responsible for the organization and direction of community theatre pro- grams. It is hoped that this study, which proposed to find answers to the vital questions concerning membership and leadership in Queen City Little Theatre. will stimulate further investigation of the community theatres in the United States. unilni‘ first be iniiv. on tt View Chg;t tre r—__——_———‘ CHAPTER I REVIEW OF LITERATURE , Introduction The present study is concerned with a single community theatre organization. That organization can best be understood. however. when viewed against the back- ground of the national movement of which it is a part. Litbrature dealing with the community theatre was reviewed as a part of the study to provide the background necessary to understand better the national community theatre move- ment and to clarify those aspects of the community theatre movement which bear upon the present study of Queen City Little Theatre. Due to the importance placed upon leadership in the individual community theatres by those who have written on the community theatre movement. Ross and Hendry's re- view of leadership studies is also summarized in this chapter to provide a theoretical framework which is use- ful in analyzing the leadership of Queen City Little Thea- tre. What Is a Community Theatre The definition of community theatre is elusive and, as revealed by literature on the subject. depends largely upon who is defining it and for what purpose it is being defined. Talbot Pearson states: There is nothing standardized about either titles 6 atte tre k D U I a," .‘e 50 7 or operations of these groups; they show no sign of regimentation in either their tactics or their strategy and they pay no dues to a central organi- zation. They are no more than an agglomeration of highly individual civic associations, bound to- gether by a general similarity of motives and ideals.1 The names "civic theatre." ”little theatre." and "community theatre" are frequently used synonomeusly; how- ever. the most commonly used designation. "community thea- tre.” reputedly comes from a 1917 publication by Louise Burleigh. According to Gard and Burley: Credit for the term "community theatre" as a recognized term applied to a specific sub ect matter. apparently dates back only to 191 . when Louise Burleigh of Boston wrote a small book entitled The Community Theatre in Theory and Practice. She defined the subject as "any organization not primarily educational in its purpose. which regularly produces drama on a noncommercial basis and in which paEticipation is open to the community at large." Using the term ”civic theatre," Percy MacKaye attempted as early as 1912 to define the community theatre as a leisure time activity. Relating the community thea- I tre to problems of an expanding industrial-urban society. MacKaye stated : The reorganization of leisure thus becomes stu- en on t - th easg strivigggrgfnour no§e583t332§%.°fn‘%%133° countless millions are battling desperately. 1Talbot Pearson, Encores on Main Street: Successful CommunitzTTheatre Leadershi (Pittsburg: Earnegie Institute of Technology Press, 1955’. p. 3 2Robert Gard and Elizabeth Burley. Community Thea- tre: Idea and Achievement (New York: Duell. Sloan and Pearce, 195 5. p. 9. 8 often blindly. to emancipate the deepest instinct of humanity - the need for happiness. This re- organization of leisure. for its redemption of imaginative joy. is the aim of the civic theatre; its means is the correlation of the arts of leisure under the leadership of the art - fundai mental and foremost to that end - the dramatic. When viewing the community theatre as a leisure time activity, one should include the enjoyment received by the audiences attending plays as well as the satisfaction of participants who produce them. Jack Higgins considered the audience to be "passive participants" in the commu- nity theatre and equal in importance to the performers, or ”active participants" when viewing the recreational contributions of the community theatre to American life. Moreover, he considered the audience to be more important if standards are to be raised and interest in theatre in- creased: It must be remembered that we have both passive recreation and active recreation. We can't over- look the ssive or audience participation end of it. The esires of the spectators, in the thea- tre arts. are more important. if we're to raise standards and increase interest in thgatre. than are the problems of the participants. Another early writer on community theatre, Constance D'Arcy Mackay. recognized the recreational or avocational character of community theatre: but her definition placed a high degree of emphasis on the more sophisticated experi- 1Percy MacKaye, The Civic Theatre in Relatton 52 the Rode tion 2; Leisure New York: J. J. Little and Ives Co.. 1912;. p. 19. 2Gard and Burley. p. 70. [An interview with Jack Higgins]. 5‘3: 19 s‘ P: Th 9 mental function of community theatres and the presence of artists or potential artistsrin such organizations. Writ- ing at length on Antoine's Teatre Libre and the Moscow Art Theatre as forerunners of the American community theatre movement. Mackay implied the secondary nature of the purely recreational function of the community theatres in favor of their dedication to the development of theatre and dramatic art through experimentation conducted by their members: Little Theatres are established for the love of drama. not for the love of gain. Their workers are drawn together by the same in ulse - they are artigts or potential artists in t e craft of act- ting, of playwrighting, of stage decoration or stage management. These are the definite traits of Little Theatres the world over....most impor- tant. they are always centers of experimentation. For experimentation is the Little Theatre's raison d'etre. Percy MacKaye's leisure time theatre does not exclude the creative artist: but such persons. capable of con- tributing much to the community theatre and necessary to it if it is to reach a position of significance in Ameri- can life. must be "inspired by the spirit of the community.§ According to MacKaye: ' Community drama must be organized with the per- manency and trained efficiency of the regular army - for it re resents the eginnings of an army of peace. t cannot be made in committees. or by committees; in its early stages. it must indeed be fostered by committees. but it can 1Constance D'Arcy Mackay. Little Theatres In The United States (New York: Henry Holt and'Co.. 19177. p. 1. VIVHV t 1L n“ o .1. f o .23. I: .t w no- 51' c M: r: t' 5a "I at g 0 e .as 5‘ "5:5 1 “H u ‘ a» no we a. he (a a» he 6...- Y ‘ Ia ~§ aka a ... .5 iv ‘5 r—‘_———_———’ 10 if’éh’é’tfi‘dErbihfigi§2°§n§rifi$§eirfi§s‘e‘fié 33311”: of the community. Thus. while Percy MacKaye was chiefly concerned with the function of the community theatre as a contributor to the growing leisure of the industrial society and Constance D2Arcy Mackay viewed the community theatre as a contribu- tor the the art form through experimentation. both believed that the ideal community theatre should be composed of ar- tists or potential artists. skilled in their art. More recently John Wray Young of the Shreveport. Louisiana. Little Theatre has described the community thea- tre in terms nearer to what is thought of as a community service function. Re views the actors in a community thea- tre as giving their talents voluntarily as a community ser- vice by bringing live theatre to the local community. The word ”volunteer" is essential to Young. who states, "I have frequently used the word 'voluntser' to define the quality essential to community theatre." Gard and Burley. who also consider community service to be the chief function of community theatre. do not con- sider. however, voluntary service to be its essence: foul Mi Theatre is essentiailyt theat e at the coal eve amateur in s yet no necessarily nonprofessional; for indeed the contemporary com- 1Percy MacKaye. p. #1. 2John Wray Young, ”A Community Theatre Quiz,” Theatre iggg. (August. 1960). p. 16. 11 munity theatre is professionalizing in certain places without necessaril giving up its local . roots and volunteer depe ence. Gard and Burley's concept does not rule out. but rather encourages. the inclusion of a professional organi- zation which is considered to be a community theatre pri- marily because it is located in a single community and is supported by that community in exchange for providing the community with good quality entertainment. 0f such an organization Gard and Burley say: The essential consideration is the necessary in- volvement of the community itself in the well be- ing and continuation of the group as a recognized community enterprise in which the citizens take pride. and to which they may look for theatr cal entertainment of a better than average kind. While the concept of a community theatre as an organ- ization which is amateur in spirit and practice is the most widely held concept today, the trend has been, and contin- ues to be. toward a community theatre with some professional participation. Most often such participation is in the form of managerial leadership by a managing director or business manager. artistic leadership by a paid artistic director and/or scene designer. or a combination of paid managerial and artistic leadership. 1Gard and Burley. p. 3. 21bid.. p. 9. 3William Work. "Current Trends in Community Theatre Operation." uarter Journal 2; 8 each. XXXV December. .%.——=z-—— 4&— 1949). p. A 12 Professional leadership is acceptable. too. in Macxaye's "leisure activity oriented" theatre and Young's “volunteer" theatre. MacKaye chose as the three proper qualifications of a civic theatre: First. absolute independence from commercial competition. through adequate endowment; second. highest technical standards compulsive of ar- tistic competition. under the leadership g; g;- perts; third, policies dedicate to pu ic demo- craticlservice under such leadership. [emphasis added] Young's experience at the Shreveport Little Theatre is indicative of his acceptance of professional direction and management. since he is the paid managing director of that organization. Moreover, Young reveals his belief that professional direction is one of the minimal require- ments of community theatres in their "adulthood" as he comments on the importance of effective leadership: When we see groups of rather impressive age still struggling to find a permanent home. 39 progress pp the point 2; professional direction — still trying to solve infant problems in their adulthood - we can usually find 15 the case his- tory a period of poor leadership. [emphasis added] Constance Perry. who defines "little theatre" as a term ”applied broadly to bodies which engage, more or less regularly. in dramatic production and which are animated 1Percy MacKaye. p. 91. 2John wray Young, The Communit Theatre (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957’. pp. 59-30. “ ,r’J" at, 13 by intrinsic enjoyment rather than by monetary gain." also considers the attainment of a permanent paid staff as an indication of an advanced stage of development.1 While the paid professional director or paid staff has come into greater use in recent years and has become more acceptable as a characteristic of the community thea- tre. community theatre actors are rarely paid. Work found that of 197 groups investigated in l9h9 only two groups paid their actors. while 70 of the organizations paid full time directors. Ten others. however. planned to pay actors in the future. Although the paying of actors may be considered by some to be a more advanced stage in the development of a community theatre. Lester Lang is opposed to the paying of actors on the grounds that: You end with a kind of stock co mpany1 which nobody wants. Your public gets tired o seeing the same faces: the director has no opportunity to exer- cise that flexibility in casting that he can when there is a whole community from which to choose. A community theatse must always depend in the main on amateurs. Accepting the amateur status of the community theatre, Kenneth Macgowan reiterated Constance D'Arcy Mackay's view of the community theatre as a highly develOped artistic lconstance Perry. The Work of the Little Theatres (New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 19335. p. 9. 2William Work, p. #66. 3Lester Lang. quoted in Norris Houghton. :Advance Egg! Bpoadppy (New York: Harcourt. Brace and Co.. 195$). , Po 95- ;:e: 3338 a”; U“ o1 a: r.- Us: 3. sci a! V. Us 01 a: 5' U: C ..A?.‘ s ) rem! lh phenomenon when he stated his expectation that it might be- come our stepping stone to an American national theatre: And I believe it is just possible that this amateur theatrical system may develOp into something as close to a national theatre as the complex of richly productive local play- houses in duchies. principalities, and free cities which served Germany so well before the war. and raised her stage far ibove that of any other country of the world. To Macgowan. this advancing community theatre move- ment must. of necessity. be a theatre open to all members of the community. He contrasted what he called the copgunity theatre with the earlier private dramatic clubs. The private dramatic clubs of the early developmental period in the American community theatre movement. em- phasized small. highly selective membership. and played to small audiences which attended productions by invitation only. The community theatres had become more public by 1929. but some private clubs were still in existence at that time. Even today. many community theatre organiza- tions have programs which remind one of the private clubs. The private dramatic clubs. according to Macgowan. should never be considered community theatre since they do not. in fact. reach the community. Thus. an essential charac- teristic of Macgowan's concept of community theatre is 1Kenneth Macgowan. Footlights Across America (New York: Harcourt. Brace and Co.. 1929). P. E. 2A Queen City Little Theatre's workshOp program. em- phasizing selective participation and playing to a small. nvited audience is an example of such a program. See Chapter III. 1 r——_—- 15 that it be public. Describing the community theatre and its function. Macgowan says: The community theatre - that second outlet for the creative impulse in amateur actors - is a comparatively fresh form...It has two dominating ideas, or better. it is dominated by two angles of the same idea. It is a theatre dedicated to serving the community rather than any small group. The fashionable but inaccurate title ‘used by many new ones today is civic theatre. It provides plays for an audience no longer able to see touring companies. and creative opportu- nities for peeple whose lives are far from rich in either creation or recreation. Macgowan's "public'l community theatre concept is shared by many community theatre leaders. Notable in this respect is Young, who develOped the Shreveport Little Theatre on the basis of bread appeal and bread participa- tion. Young's appeal. however, seems to be based more upon appeal to the largest segment of the community rather than representation of many segments. Thus, while it is still a public theatre in the sense that most of the community is welcome. no real attempt is made to appeal to all groups. Young states: We believe that a community theatre must be operated on a broad foundation. appealing to all segments of a community which are capable of en oying and participating in theatre. That doesn t include everyone. The rogram is de- signed for a family audience. t does not ca- ter to the intellectual or the low brows ...It 1Kenneth Macgowan. pp. 86-87. 2The word "most" rather than "all" is used here due to the inference that Shreveport Negroes are not welcome. Statements to this effect have not been made. but Shreve- port Little Theatre audience statistics are measured in terms of the percentage of "white" population which attends the theatre. See Norris Houghton. p. 89. '9 ...‘ v——‘ 16 tends to the middle ground. where the family can come to the theatre and can find their en- joyment and pleasure. and where the young pe0ple grow up and become active workers. and, in turn, their children.1 Allen Grafton developed the Prairie Playhouse of Galesburg. Illinois. on the basis of broad appeal of another order. His broad appeal was to many segments of the community rather than an appeal to the largest major- ity. Discussing the organization of the Prairie Playhouse in 1915. Grafton explained: We succeeded in interesting a diverse and rather . representative audience: society ladies, and their reluctant husbands, a number of profession- ? a1 people. college faculty and students. We " tried to make this everybody's theatre. and asked help from everybody and anybody. This technique was new at the time. We cast our plays from everywhere: a banker's wife. a couple of preachers. ’ shop girls. high school and college teachers. stud- ents - and one of our best character actors I de- veloped from a delivery boy who began hanging around the theatre. ghis sort of "democratic" casting was also new. The broadest definition of a community theatre. therefore. would seem to include the following: 1. It is an organization which regularly produces plays. 2. It may serve one of three general functions or a combination of the three general functions: (a) a recreational function involving its mem- bers in an interesting leisure time activity. lGard and Burley. p. 50. [An interview with John Wray Young]. 2Gard and Burley. p. 32. [An interview with Allen Grafton]. 17 (b) a service to the community by bringing live theatre to that community. and (c) a service to the art of theatre through experimentation. 3. It is amateur in spirit and most often amateur in make up. though this does not imply a lack of quality in production nor the absence of paid professionals as part of the organization. #. It should be public. welcoming the total commu- nity to be a part of its operation as actual participants in theatrical production or as auditor-participants. Scope of the Community Theatre The number of community theatres in operation today is as elusive as is a universal definition of the community theatre. We do know. however. that community theatres are abundant. Estimates of the number depend upon the defini- tion of community theatre being used by the person making the estimate. In answering the question, "How many groups are there?" Gard and Burley report: In 1952. John Beaufort.. in the "Off and On Broad- way“ column of the Christian Science Monitor, said there were over lhl,000. We can only suppose that he included every church, school. and fraternal group in the country. In the light of the most recent investigations it would appear that there are about 3,500 full scale community theatres in 1 the united States producing on a continuing basis. lcard and Burley. p. 21. 'F—_——- 18 Except for the phrase "producing on a continuing basis" Gard and Burley make no attempt to define their approxi- mation of 3,500 "full scale community theatres" any more than did Beaufort. In May of 1953, Mary Eva Duthie published a directory of nonprofessional community theatres in the United States. With no central organization from which to obtain addresses, and relying upon returned questionnaires from known or- ganizations for directory data, she was able to report contact with 750 such organizations.1 Most estimates, like that of Gard and Burley, place the number of community theatres considerably higher than 750. A Saturday Evening Eng; article estimates the number of such groups at 100,000.2 and a annggng Times article of September 1962 reveals a National Recreation Associa- tion figure of 30.000 community theatre organizations producing a total of 120.000 community theatre productions a year.3 These widely divergent figures lead one to reject all figures and merely accept the ambiguous "abundance" of such organizations. Even Duthie's minimal 750 organiza- tions is no small number. Moreover. a close look at 1Mary Eva Duthie. "A Directory of Non-Professional Community Theatres in the United States. 1952." Educational Theatre Journal. V (Hay. 1953). pp. 13#-165. 2"Stagestruck Americans." Saturday Evening Post. (March 2». 1962). p. #2. 3"Community Theatres." Changing Times, XVI (September. 1962) a PP- 35-36 - A art!“ 5 dgquov 'g-I‘ a”... lav-a svhtv a ..I _. ~C l9 Duthie's directory reveals that the community theatre extends from Alaska to Florida. It further reveals that no town. regardless of its size, can be considered an unlikely place for a community theatre. Without re- ferring to specific numbers, Young has summed up the scope of community theatre participation with these words: Today the American community theatre involves a greater total number of participants than has ever worked in an art form, in any nation. in all of history. Their numbers seem destined to increase as our American life continues to- ward enlarged leisure and a growing nied for interesting and enjoyable avocations. Contributions and Criticism of the Community Theatre ' Of the three general functions of the community theatre, i.e. recreation, community service, and theatre service; it is recreation and community service which have received the most attention from writers on the sub- Ject. Discussing the potential contributions to be made to American life by the community theatre, Young says: Here is an art form which embraces or touches all the others and yet allows happy participa- tion by a group that may include those of no artistic talent alongside those possessed of great gifts. It further invites and uses skills in the crafts, and abilities in many of our bus- iness channels. The exciting center of this broad invitation to partake is the play....Quite apart from the sociological benefits is the fact 1John Wray Young. The Community Theatye. p. 154. vvw“ 20 that. beginning with the first play. this en- deavor exerts a cultural force in the town. As the season concludes and the organization moves on through the years, it becomes apparent that here. in the community theatre. are more people participating actively in an art form than are likely to be found in all other arts of the town combined. Young is speaking largely from his own experiences as director of the Shreveport Little Theatre, as is Alec Smith. who writes about the Palo Alto. California. Com- munity Theatre. ...the most im grtant of it: specificiaims %s a . Eat-38:55.83}; Srgfi’éifie'recrgfitffinuficEmma}. Its primary, broad aim, of course. is to pro- vide entertainment for the local public in terms of highest uality, taste. and excellence. Results are socia part cipation, crEative ef- fort, and a feeling of friendliness. It should be noted that the two theatres referred to above are quite different in one respect. The Shreveport Little Theatre is self supporting. while the Palo Alto Community Theatre is completely tax supported and operates as a di- vision of the Palo Alto Recreation Department. Speaking of the force behind the beginning of the community theatre movement. Norris Houghton introduced an idea which calls attention to other possible contributions of the community theatre. That idea incorporated a be- lieved dissatisfaction with the commercial theatre by the initiators of the movement and a desire on their part to experiment with and to decentralize the theatre. This is 11bid.. pp. 132—133. 2Alec th. "A Citizen's Theatre." Recreation, LI (January. 1953;. p. 18. ""'—-_' ‘ \ 21 a held belief of many of the recent writers on the history of the community theatre in America: The little theatre movement was brought into being by men and women who loved the sta e and wished to express themselves in it withou making it their profession: who were dissatisfied with the commercial fare of Broadway and wanted to experi- ment with the theatre as an art. Some of them also had social aspirations; others were motivated by a philanthropic desire to bring the stage closer to people from whom it was becoming far removed.1 Writing in 1952, Virgil Baker spoke of the drives behind the community theatres at that time by stating: The real drives behind the community theatres are: (l) the desires of scores of individuals in every community to participate in activities which give them satisfying self expression, and (2) the desires of local audiences to see 2 legitimate theatre performed on the home stages. Responding to the forces believed to be behind the beginning of the movement and Macgowan's hope that the community thea- tre might pave the way to a national theatre. Baker com- mented: A community theatre, therefore, is not a revolt nor an advance from Broadway. nor a pressure group working for the decentralization of the theatre: nor is it the embryo of a national thea- tre. If it is a revolt against anything. it is a revolt against dullness and inactivity, against the mechanisms and deadly routines of the pedestrian spirit which overwhelm the indi- vidual who has few spiritual and emotional out- lets. If it is a conscious movement. it is simply the spontaneous movement of individuals to find new spiritual values. If it is a pres- sure group, its pressures are exerted locally on the cultural and civic levels. 1Norris Houghton. p. 76. 2Virgil L. Baker. "The Community Theatre as a Force in Adult Education.” Educational Theatre Jonnnnl. IV (1952). pp- 227-230. 3Ibid.. p. 228. ’ter visf frcl 193'? {rich he :heatre : Along surve react house been Ind 3.331: All 1 than; of IE aqua: rela‘ its 1 nine Peep“ I"! 0 lations That cu t° their 57 bring their (:1 serve t! °f Origf 22 After visiting community theatres throughout the country from 1939 through 19in. Houghton agreed that the force which he identified behind the beginning of the community theatre movement rarely exists. Among the twenty-two theatres mentioned in this survey. in the period from 1939 through 1941, my records reveal that outside of the Pasadena Play- house only six original full-lingth plays have been given a major production. and again. All their repertories are practically inter- changeable: they have no relation to the region of which their theatre is a part...I have been equally concerned by my discovery of the limited relationship the average little theatre bears to its community...a playhouse from which ninety- nine per cent of She population stays away is no people's theatre. Houghton is most critical of community theatre organi- zations in terms of their choices of plays for production. That criticism calls attention to their failure to live up to their expectations as organizations serving the community by bringing live theatre to a significant proportion of their citizens. It also calls attention to their failure to serve the theatre through experimentation and the production of original scripts. Investigations of community theatre practices show Houghton's criticism to be valid. 0n the subject of play selection Card and Burley report: 3.323 $32??? thifiifiefiudyénmgéiifin‘ifi §°‘ {9 :3 P y written before #7 were pr uced. and among these only a few plays of a serious nature and 1Norris Houghton. p. 131. 2944. . p. 131-132. timings < mic typt. 13 73% co minis. theatres. ...a: not 1 Ema: 13 M 5:: “He” “is g ‘ audience Sctc-en' fulfill ml? 54 “perk 23 extremely few classics.1 Gard and Burley's statement is consistent with Work's findings of 19h9. which show the choice of plays be dra- matic type produced by community theatres to be approximate- ly 70% comedy. 20% drama. and 10% mystery-melodrama and musicals.2 Work calls "lamentable" the fact that community theatres. ...are preoccupied with holding the mirror up - not to nature. but rather with holding it up to E;°:%::§...?°::§t.§r$:%':¥..“zzzfiszzsnzzrfiiifigr- Stating that criticism of community theatres revolves chiefly around their tendency to succumb too completely to audience demands for the popular Broadway successes, Edwin Schoell's feeling is that if the community theatre is to fulfill its responsibility to the utmost. it must contin- ually seek not only to satisfy. but to enrich. the dramatic experience of the community. In his survey of types of plays produced in the com- munity theatre between l9#0 and 1950. Schoell placed each play produced by the organizations investigated into one of six classifications. from classical drama through recent Broadway plays. The survey revealed the selection of Broad- 1Gard and Burley. p. 71. 2Hilliam Work, ”Current Trends in Community Theatre £3:;3ti;n.u6%nnrterly Journal 93 Speech. XXIV (December. 33;. . p. #67. “Edwin Schoell. ”The Drama in the Community Theatre: 1959-1950.” Educationnl Theatre Journal. V (Hay 1953). p; 133. A r; I) It) 24 way plays to outweigh overwhelmingly the selection of classical and "significant” dramatic types.1 Thus. it is in the matter of play selection that the community theatres have been most severely criticized. this criticism reflecting a negative feeling towards the tendency for an overplus of Broadway plays. particularly comedies. in the community theatre fare. While criticizing the tendency. Dietrich and Work also defend the community theatre on economic grounds: That comedy heavily dominates the community thea- tre production schedule may be regrettable. but it is not surprising; comedy has usually Ead greater box office success than serious drama. Responding to the phrase "warmed over Broadway" - a phrase frequently used to describe the community theatre's tendency to produce recent Broadway successes - Young de- fends the practice by stating: The best of the tested modern plays remain as the chief items for community theatre program— ming. This is today's common practice. There are some who accuse the community theatres of doing ”warmed over" Broadway; but the approach. the methods. and the philosophy of the commercial and the noncommercial theatres are so far apart that the same play. under the two systems. usually seems different to the spectator. We are not warm- ing over anything; we are simply using the larg— es present source of contemporary drama. And we are ivi our audiences their right to see the reflection o thgir era as it is mirrored in con- temporary drama. 1Ibid.. pp. 128-133. 2Jchn E. Dietrich and William Work. "Dramatic Activity in American Community Theatre; 19h9-l950." Quarterly Jgnnnnl 2; Speech. XXXVII (April. 1951). p. 8?. 3Jchn Wray Young. gng Community Theatre. pp. 128-129. With specifical ions diff 2 this is t! in 0th! fired: ."1 \'&:t 25 Without calling attention to the community theatre specifically. Lee Mitchell agrees that Broadway product- ions differ from productions elsewhere, but suggests that this is the best reason for regional groups to select plays other than those which Broadway has successfully pro- duced: The best Broadway productions are those which allow the greatest variety of acting styles; the worst are usually those which demand the greatest unity. so that while plays of highly diverse in- gredients are often applauded by all. productions of the great drama of the world are generally criticized for inequities in interpretation and staging. In foreign productions and productions in other parts of this country the situation is likely to be reversed. with the best results achieved in those plays which require consistency of mood. unity if style or highly developed en- semble playing. Guy Boas. too. suggests that some dramatists. Shakespeare and O'Casey among others. are better done by amateurs than by professionals.2 Other critics. considering Broadway plays to be infer- ior to the classics and to the masterpieces of modern drama. feel that the community theatre. by copying Broadway. has not put its best foot forward. chghton stated.in 19u1: In the last ten years. however. New York has :fiznpififiiiii‘daififi2r§f°23g§afihfi?‘§2f§%ri8§t2 amateur stage has exhibited a comparable ster- ility. 1Lee Mitchell. "Broadway and the American Theatre Work- ." Quarterly_ Journal of Speech. XXXXV (October. 1959). p. 340. 2G wBoas, ”Professionals and Amateurs." Drama LXVII (Winter. 1962). p. 29. 3Norris Houghtcn. p. 77. r——— 26 Although Houghton's criticism is 25 years old. that criticism seems to be continuing. Edwin Schoell's study of the contributions of the community theatre to the de- velopment of drama during the period from 19#O to 1950 re- vealed. in his opinion. no significant contribution. Schoell. like the other critics. places his emphasis on the problem of play selection. To Schoell the lack of var- iety is a chief weakness in the play selection practices of the majority of community theatres. "The responsible community theatre," Schoell states. is most frequently thought to be an organization that offers a breadth of dramatic experience to the theatre patron. It sets an emphasis in no particu- lar direction but makes an effort to provide drama of recognized worth and of sufficient variety that the influence of the organization as a developmental force in the theatre and a cultural force in the community may be recognized and extended. Gard and Burley conclude that it is the recreational function of the community theatre that takes precedence over the attempt to produce good drama. A conclusion might be made that most community theatres try to bring good plays to their audi- ences. but not at the ex ense of the recreational function of the organiza ion.3 1Edwin Schoell. "A Quantitative Analysis of the Con- tributions of the Community Theatre to the Development of the Drama (unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. University of Denver, 1951). as reported in Clyde Dow, "Abstracts of Theses in the Field of Speech and Drama.’' Speech Monographs. XIX (Hay. 1952). p. 142- ngwin Schoell. Educatignal Theatre Journal. v (1953). p. 12 . 3Gard and Burley. p. 21. Tur—_——— 27 To Gard and Burley: The basic problem seems to be the finding of proper means to develop the idea of contempor- ary Community Theatre as a great cultural and artistic force rather than as a mere recreation- al adjunct to community living...There is in the Community Theatre at the present time too little of what is its essential idea: that thea- tre should become a necessity of American life in terms of art fulfillment and not merely remain a community frill to be turned on and off for pur- poses of providing recreation or exercises in efficiency and management. The possible contributions of the community theatre to American life. as seen through the writing of those who have been concerned with community theatre practices and community theatre potential. may be summarized as fol- lows: 1) Recreation a) The participants are provided. through the art of theatre, with Opportunities for diverse leisure time activities, depending upon each individual's interests or skills in the arts and crafts of theatre production or operation. b) The recreation is creative. with a work of art as the result. c) The creativity embodied in the recreation pro- vides for satisfying self-expression. d) As a group art. the theatre is social. with the possible result of social interaction and feel- 1Gard and Burley. pp. 3, 5. 2);: 3): ’ neatly I ‘5 7"“9 and “a 1‘ . Atom Stu r— 28 , ings of friendliness on the part of the parti- cipants. 2) Community Service a) The community theatre can provide entertainment for the local community through the medium of live theatre. b) The community theatre can add to the cultural and educational dimension of the local communi- ty by providing significant or worthwhile drama on the stage and by producing regional drama. 3) Theatre Service a) The community theatre can serve the art form of theatre through experimentation with new forms of drama and dramatic production. b) The community theatre can serve the art form of theatre by producing original scripts of worth. c) The community theatre can help keep alive the Best of the classics and the masterpieces of modern drama. While some community theatre directors feel that the community theatre is playing an important role in American society. studies reveal that. in general. the community thea- tre movement is not living up to its expectations. Most notably. it has been the subordination of its community ser- vice and theatre service functions that has received the harshest criticism. That criticism has stemmed primarily from studies of the play selection practices of community F‘- 1 I (Alf A 29 theatres and their tendency to imitate the commercial theatre in play selection. Thus. it is generally felt by the critics of the community theatre that the most mature organizations would include the production of drama other than Broadway successes. In addition. the mature commu- nity theatre should be open to the total community for spectator participation and would take steps to encourage attendance for the purpose of making a significant cul- tural impact upon the community. Finally. the most ma- ture community theatres would contain a program of eXperi- mental productions. including the production of original scripts. as a service to the art form of theatre. While some explanations have been offered concerning the community theatres' failure to live up to expectations. the real reasons have not been thoroughly investigated. Such an investigation. on a broad scale. would be diffi- cult. if not impossible. to undertake at the present time since, as Pearson has stated. "There is nothing standard- ized about titles or Operations of these groups." Mary Eva Duthie has summed up the problem of study- ing the community theatre in these words: It is a fruitless exercise to study or even spec— ulate upon the quality of performance, the quali- ty of play selection. or the general standards of ’png community theatre. Judgment of activity by any arbitrary standards is futile. for the standards of each theatre will depend upon the backgrounds of the individual members. their leaders. and the so- cial and culturil conditions of the community in which it lives. 1Hary Eva Duthie. "A Symposium on the Aims and Ob- ectives in Educational Theatre." Frances Hodge (ed.) ucationnl Theatre Journal. v1 (195#). pp. 113-11u. 30 To date there has been no study of an individual group in terms of membership. leadership. or the cultural conditions of its community. While community theatres have been investigated to determine their past contributions to the theatre or their influence upon the community of which they are a part. no investigations have been made into the individual group which would provide information useful in analyzing the group's current practices, deter- mining reasons for the practices. or predicting the group's probable future course. While little has been said about the membership of individual groups and the cultural conditions of their communities. a great deal of speculation has been made con- cerning the leadership of community theatres. Gard and Burley state: In almost every instance where a Community Thea- tre has gotten off the ground. there has been an outstanding person - sometimes more than one - in the background. The best examples usually have been leaders grounded in theatre arts. but this is not always the case. Sometimes a leader is merely a civic-minded worker who has been able to carry throng? with a Community Theatre in an admirable way. John Wray Young says: So it is not theatre or its powers of endurance. which need concern us in loo ing ahead. but rather how we can speed the growth and quality of theatre in the United States and particularly community theatre. From our experience since 1912. it is obvious that the greatest need has bggn or more capable. better trained leader- s p. 1cerd and Burley. p. 21:. 2John Wray Young. The Community Theatre. p. 1&5. hi ior: In a and is c has 537' 13:, n: ist. ! 5.1311 1 . v“. Ag‘ as“ are of Theatj of *‘r V.. Q 5‘ “.8 V.‘I “at au‘.‘ Ht 5? 31 And Nerris Houghton testifies: In a few places and on an occasional stage here and there I have been shown of what this movement is capable. An inspiring leader here and there has shown me the reach the little theatre might have into the remaking of American community life. 1 While no studies of community theatre leadership ex- ist. numerous studies concerning leadership in general ex- ist. Much of the work on leadership has been done with small face-to-face problem solving groups made up of ran- domly selected participants. studied under highly con- trolled laboratory conditions. Such small group studies are of limited value to this study of Queen City Ldttle Theatre because such groups have no culture growing out of the experience of continuing contact and mutual inter- ests among the members. Leadership studies of continuing organizations are also of limited value since the culture of each organiza- tion is different from that of each other organization. Both types of studies are worth investigating on a limited scale. however. since they do provide a theoretical frame- work useful in analyzing the leadership of Queen City Little Theatre. Leadership A comprehensive review of leadership studies was made by Ross and Hendry in 1957. Their study is useful for its organizational scheme. which analyzes the litera- ture in the field through 1957 and divides the study of L 1Norris Hbughton. p. l3h. naiershi] tilts vi :funtio cf the 51 5|" H Icfx of I‘,~ .eaae: 32 leadership into three basic theories: (1) leadership as traits within the individual leaders. (2) leadership as a function of the group. and (3) leadership as a function of the situation.1 The leadership traits theory focuses upon the per- sonal qualities of the leader which he brings to the group. Studies of leadership traits come largely from the field of psychology. According to the traits theory. specific personality traits are identified as being charac- teristic of leaders. Illustrative of this theory is the work of Stogdill. who reported the most commonly identified ”leadership traits” to be: (1) physical constitutional factors: height. weight. physique. energy. health. appearance: (2) intelligence: (3) self confidence: (a) so- ciability: (5) will (initiative. persistence. ambition): (6) dominance: and (7) surgency (talkativeness. cheerfulness. geniality. en- thusiasm. expressiveness. alertness. and ori- ginality). In their review of research into leadership traits. Ross and Hendry discovered the following characteristics being studied: 1. Empathy. This trait may be defined as the leader's ability to be perceptive to the needs 1Murray G. Boss and Charles E. Hendry. New Under- standings of Leadeyghip (New York: .Association Press. 1957 0 pp. 17-30 23. h. Stogdill. “Personality Factors Associated with Leadership." Journal of Psychology. XXV (19h8). pp. 37- 71. as reported in Ross ehE'Hendry. p. 18. 33 l of the group. 2. Member 22 the Group. This factor involves the relationship between "low domination and high 2 membership dimension." and friendliness. and“ equalitarianism between leaders and followers. 3. Consideration. This factor is interpreted as the extent to which the leader. while carrying out his leadership function is considerate of the men who were his followers. 9. Surgency. This refers to the individualés ability to catch and hold the limelight. lEmpathy has been found to be significant in the re- search findings of Schrag. Bell and Hall. Sanford. Chowdhry and Newcomb. Cattell and Stice. Stogdill and Koehler. as reported in Ross and Hendry. pp. 43-h6. 2Carroll L. Shartle. ”Studies in Naval Leadership." in Harold Guetzkow (ed.). Groups Leadepship and Men (Pittsburg: Carnegie Press. 1951). as reported in Ross and Hendry. p. #6. 3E. P. Hollander and Wilse B. Webb. "Leadership. Followership and Friendship: An Analysis of Peer Nomina- tions." Journal of Abnormal and Social PsycholOSY. L (March. 1955). p. 167. as reported in Ross and HendrY. P. 48. “Stuart Adams. "Social Climate and Productivity in Small Military Groups.".American Sociological Review. XIX (August. 1954). p. 25. and S. I. Stouffer. et. al.. IhswAmsrlaanmfinldlan (Princeton U. Press. 1959). I. as re- ported in Ross and Hendry. p. 7. 5nany studies are cited by Ross and Hendry. but the best illustrative study is that of A. W. Halpin and B. J. Winer. 222 Leadership Behavior p§,pnpiAipplane Commander (Columbus: Ohio State U. Research Foundation. 1952). as reported in Ross and Hendry. p. 51. 6Cattell and Stice. The Psychodyngmics 2; Small Groups as reported in Ross and Hendry. p. 5 . 3h 1 5. Emotional Stability. 6. Desire for and Recognition.g§ the Leadership 2 gplp. 7. Intelligence. Cattell and Stice found intelli- gence significant when leadership was determined by the total number of leadership acts. while others suggest that intelligence is important in gaining leadership. but that leaders' intelli- gence must not exceed that of their followers by 3 too great a margin. The second theoretical approach to the study of leadership. i.e. as a function of the group. defines leadership more as a structure and less as a person. Cattell asserts that "all group functions are leadership functions.” Thus. one would speak of ”the leadership structure of Rho group" rather than speak of "the leader" of the group. 1Cattell and Stice. p. 94. and William Haythorn. "The Influence of the Individual Grou Member on the Beha- vior of Coworkers and on Characterist cs of the Group (Ph.D. dissertation. U. of Rochester. 1952. p. 15%). and W. E. Hendry. ”The Business Executive: The Psychodynamics of a Social Role." American Journal 2; Sociology. LIV (January 19h9). pp. 236-291. as reported in Ross and Hen- dry. p. 52. 2David Kretch and Richard s. Crutchfield. Theorfi and b ems in Social Psychology (New York: McGraw ooE Co.. 1958): and Katz. Maccoby. Gurin. and Floor. - ivit . Su ervision and Morale Amo Railroad Workers (ifin Arbor: 955; pp. 22-23. In Boss and . of c gan Press. 1 hmn.m5i 3Ross and Hendry. p. 56. “Ibid.. p. 23. 2. ‘. Liv 35 Referring to Kretch and Crutchfield. Ross and Hen- dry discuss the leadership structure of the group in terms of roles played by the leaders. Members of the group. when performing leadership functions play many different roles. Various in- ventories of leadership roles have been suggested. Probably the listing develOped by Kretch and Crutchfield is the most comprehensive. They list the following thirteen in all: executive. planner. policy maker. expert. external group representa- tive. controller of internal relationships. pur- veyor of rewards and punishment. arbitrator and mediator. and exemplar. also symbol. surrogate, father figure. and scapegoat.1 Ross and Hendry take note of Gouldner's suggestion that it might be useful to examine all the leaders of a group treated as an entity. rather than to examine individual leaders. and Thelen's view that students of leadership are discarding older concepts of the one-man leader. Their conclusion is: One can readily see that this "group prOperty" conception of leadership adds a new and important dimension to our understanding of the phenomena of leadership. In doing so. however. let it be noted that it does not deny or discard the view that what individuals bring with them to the group is basic. Individuals constitute essen- tial elements and set certain limits to the de- velopment of leadership structure.2 Reviewing literature on what leaders must do (lead- ership as a function of the group). Ross and Hendry group findings into the following categories: 1Ibig.. p. 2h. 2Ibid.. p. 25. 36 l. Viscidity. This refers to the group's ca- pacity to "pull together." This is not simply the degree to which members like each other: but implies the degree to which members can work together in the common interest.1 2. Hedonic Tgng. This factor has to do with pleasantness of group climate. geniality of member relations. satisfaction with group achievements. and whether the member likes the group. 3. Syntality. As defined by Cattell. syntality is "that which predicts what the performance of the total group will be in a defined stimuli situation."2 A. Eng; Achievement. This refers to the ability of the group to achieve its objectives. 5. Initiative. This refers to the ability of lead- ers to keep the group functioning to carry out regular tasks and to develOp new ideas or to ~ 1It should be noted here that most of the categories are defined in terms of the members rather than the lead- ers. The implication is that leaders. regardless of per- sonality traits which they may or may not possess. will be effective in promoting these qualities among members. Research findings related to these aspects of leadership reported in Ross and Hendry. pp. 69-91. 2Raymond B. Cattell. "New Concepts for Measuring Leadership in Terms of Group Syntality." Human Relations. IV £1951). p. 161-18G. as reported in Ross and Hendry. p. 9. 37 undertake new projects. 6. ngnp_§ng_§n 1 Analysis. Ross and Hendry call this'the ability to analyze group problems or projects and to help the group on the basis of one's analysis." 7. Facilitating annnnngation. This refers to the capacity of the leadership of a group to estab- lish adequate communication within the group for members to recognize it as a unit. 8. Establishing Structure. Gibb says. "The clarity of members' perceptions of their reciprocal re- lationships and responsibilities is crucial. re- gardless of whether these mutually recognized relationships correspond to formal structure. And furthermore. the clarity of such percep- tions is seen to depend upon the leader behavior of immediate superiors."1 9. Implementing Philosophy. This refers to the leader's choices regarding whether or not to share his goals for the group with the members of the group. Ross and Hendry cite no research concerning this aspect of group structure or leadership. The third concept of leadership is as a function of 1CecilA. Gibb. "Leadership.’I in Gardner Lindzey (ed.) Handbook 9; Social Ps cholo (Cambridge. Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.. 195 ). as reported in Ross and Hendry. p. 83. (u IUAAU 1 to s.‘ 38 the situation. Gouldner calls upon Murphy's discussion of the ”self confidence" variable when discussing the con- cept of leadership as a function of the situation: A. J. Murphy. emphasizing the relative fluidity of leadership traits. points out that the "self con- fidence" of a work leader may disappear if his group is placed in a parlor situation. Or that a leader noted for his 'dominance" may become "shy" when placed in a situation in which his skills are not useful. Thus. not only must the rou in which the leader Operates be considered. buf a so the situation which the group encounters. and Gibb states: It is known that the situation is eSpecially liable to change through changes in goals. changes in syntality. changes in interpersonal relations, the entrance of new members and the departure of others. pressure from other groups. and so on. Since the individual personality characteristics.are, by con- trast. very stable. it is to be expected that group leadership. if unrestricted by the consious hier- archical structure of the roup. will be fluid and will pass from one member fie another along the lines of those particular personality traits which. by virtue of the situation and its demands become for the time being. traits of leadership. This is why the leader in one situation is not necessarily the leader. even 3f the same group. in another dif- ferent situation. Ross and Hendry summarize the three theories of leadership by stating: Perhaps the best we can say at this point is that any comprehensive theory of leadership must take into account the fact that roles in groups tend to be structured. and that the leadership role is probably related to personality factors. to the attitudes and needs of ”followers“ at a particular time. to the structure of the group. and to the 1Alvin W. Gouldner (ed.). Studies $2 Leadership (New York: Harper and Brothers. 1950). p. 27. as quoted in Ross and Hendry. p. 26. 2Gibb. "Leadership.” in Gardner Lindzey. p. 902. quoted in Ross and Hendry. p. 26. 39 situation as defined above. Leadership is prob- ably a function of the interaction of such vari- ables. and these undoubtedly provide for role differentiation which leads to the designation of a "central figure” or leader. without prohibiting other members in the group from performing leader- ship functions in various ways and at various times. in the life of the group. Thus. leadership is directly related to membership in two obvious ways: first, leadership implies ”follower- ship,” and secondly. members other than the "central fig- ure" may in some situations perform leadership functions and thereby be interpreted as "leaders." Relating membership. leadership. and successful community theatre. Gard and Burley say: The human material for successful Community Thea- tre seems to be endless, and in places where out- standing leadership has appeared the Community Theatre has often settled into a pattern of per- manent worth. The best examples of permanent growth in artistic terms seems to be those where there havg been one or more notable individuals involved. 3 Gard and Burley's ”notable individuals" would appear to be leaders in most situations and, by inference, in any community theatre organization. This view of com- munity theatre leadership as a function of the individual 1Ross and Hendry. p. 36. 2Gard and Burley. p. 4. 3Examples of outstanding community theatre leaders. according to Gard and Burley. would include such persons as Allen Grafton of The Prairie Playhouse (Galesbur . Illinois ). Theodore Viehman of the Tulsa (Oklahoma Lit- tle Theatre, and Kendrick Wilson of the Omaha (Nebraska) Community Playhouse. C‘) #0 is again inferred in the following dialogue between Gard and Theodore Viehman of the Tulsa Little Theatre: Gard: You rely heavily on volunteer people. Ob- viously some of them have more leadership characteristics than others. Do you make any attempt to pick out and train particular people for leadership roles in your Opera- tion? Viehman: I don't think we make any particular attempt...As soon as you find a person who handles a job. you just give him more jobs and his leadership just comes out naturally. You keep loading him with re-1 sponsibility as often as he will take it. Gard and Burley's own analysis of the Special quali- ties of community theatre leadership. however. is much more detailed: For the most part. leaders in Community Theatre must. to be successful. be able to do certain things. They must be able to appraise situations objectively and to take appropriate action. They must function as a communication center of the group. They must initiate or terminate action when necessary. moderate differences when they threaten to rupture communication or group action. and be able to delegate responsibility. They ought to have vision. courage and talent. The necessity of maintaining prestige. the avoidance of obvious enjoyment of leadership. the ability to control group emotions are all involved in the functions of objective appraisal of situa- tions and in successful communications. And. similarly. making decisions without delay and the courage to take necessary risks are involved in initiating or terminating action. All such func- tions seem to work together. Objectivity. for example. is presupposed by all the others. With- out it. all other leadership functions will be disrupted. It is. in fact. a truthful measure of a leader's social sense generally. The ability to delegate responsibility often turns on the leader's security in the group. and his ability to relinquish personal control to im- prove the over-all Operation of his organization. The sense of involvement of his followers and 1Gard and Burley. p. 112. H #- {1'11 {j H ind is die 1< #1 indeed. the entire morale of the group. are often involved. A.group seems to develOp best when it is challenged. The Community Theatre lives or dies with the art of leadership. It survives. flourishes. goes on to something that's significant as its leaders work and think. Without leadership. Community Theatre is really nothing.1 It must be noted in the above passage that the leadership requirements being considered are prOperties of a leadership group. not necessarily those of a single individual. though it is unclear as to whether all per- sons in the leadership group must possess these qualities or whether the group of leaders must collectively possess the qualities described. If the latter. Gard and Burley are touching upon the notion of leadership as a function of the group. It is from these two perspectives: leader- ship as a function of the individual. and leadership as a function of the group. that the leadership of Queen City Little Theatre will be analyzed. Summary In summary then. the community theatre movement. largely because of its lack of strong national organiza— tion.2 is difficult to define. Community theatres are usually thought of as amateur play producing organizations. 11b;d.. p. 24. 2The organization. in 1959. of ACTA (American Com- munity Theatre Association) may eventually provide strong national leadership for the American community.theatre movement. At present. however. ACTA is too young to have made a strong impact upon the community theatre in America. As a result. the community theatre is still relatively unorganized nationally. #2 though professionals may be employed by some organizations. A community theatre may function in one of four ways: (1) purely as a recreational outlet for its members. (2) as a service to the community in general. (3) as a service to the art form of theatre. or (4) as a multi- purpose organization which contributes to all three of the foregoing functions. The scOpe of the community theatre movement. like its definition. is elusive. A conservative estimate. using a narrow definition of community theatre. would be in excess of 3.000 organizations: and a liberal estimate. using the broadest definition of community theatre. might reveal well over 30,000 organizations which pro- duce 120,000 plays each year. The community theatres make some contributions to American life. but not all community theatres make the same contributions. Among the possible contributions to be made by community theatres are: (1) recreation through satisfying self-expression and social experience on the part of the members: (2) community service by providing entertainment and adding to the cultural and educational dimension of the community: (3) theatre ser- vice through experimentation with new forms of theatre and drama. production of original scripts. and keeping the classics and masterpieces of modern drama alive. Many observers indicate that the community theatre has not lived up to its expectations. Criticism of the Av- I! ‘53.- )- t..€ m5 3 43 community theatre has been directed. primarily. toward play selection practices; particularly with reference to the tendency for community theatres to revive success- ful Broadway plays rather than provide a variety of dramatic literature for their audiences. While the community theatre has probably made its greatest contribution in the field of recreation and leisure time activity. theatre critics sometimes find the concentration on recreation to be the factor which is often responsible for the community theatre's failure to live up to theatrical or community service expecta- tions. While one critic considers the membership of each group and the social and cultural atmosphere of the com- munity in which each group is located to be the key elements in the quality and success of community thea- tres. leadership has generally been considered the most important factor influencing their quality and success. Community theatre literature. however. reveals no depth studies of leadership or membership of community theatre organization. Thus. there is a gap in the litera- ture on the community theatre. To arrive at a better understanding of the function of community theatre or- ganizations. and to arrive at meaningful conclusions re- garding the reasons for their function. leadership and membership must be studied in depth at the level of the individual group. It is for that reason that the present study was undertaken. CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY Introduction With no strong national organization to give leadership to the community theatre movement. each commu- nity theatre organization functions independently of each other community theatre organization.1 In order for national leadership to be successful in organizing and defining the community theatre movement and in eXploiting the resources of the individual community theatres. in- formation must be forthcoming concerning the individual community theatrgs which might be a part of such a national effort. It was the principal task of the present study to begin the process of investigating individual community theatres by studying Queen City Little Theatre in terms 1As has already been stated. ACTA (The American Community Theatre Association) is still in its infancy. In time. this national organization may become instru- mental in giving national leadership to the community theatre movement. At present. however. each group sets its own goals and achieves its own purposes in terms of the interests of its own members and their leaders. with- out any feeling of responsibility to a parent organiza- tion. At best. an organization may have members who vaguely identify with the ambiguous "community theatre movement." On the other hand. an organization may be made up entirely of members who have no contact with. or interest in. the community theatre movement nationally. 2What is being suggested here is merely that a national organization can give the community theatre movement the best leadership if it functions in the in- terest of the local organizations. Thus. the term "ex- ploiting” means ”putting to good use." not ”taking un- #4 “5 l of its membership and leadership to determine the func- tion of the organization and why the organization func- tions as it does. It is the purpose of the present chapter to (1) state and explain the basic questions with which this study was concerned. (2) provide an explana- tion for the employment of the case study method in the investigation. and (3) report on the chronology of the study and the techniques used in the collection of data. The Basic Questions This study of the Queen City Little Theatre sought answers to the following basic questions concerning the leadership and membership of the organization: 1) What is the make-up of the membership of Queen City Little Theatre? 2) What are the members' stated reasons for par- ticipating in Queen City Little Theatre? 3) What are the members' opinions on current _ group practices? h) Who are the leaders of Queen City Little Theatre? 5) What is the function of leadership in Queen City Little Theatre? 6) What do the leaders of Queen City Little Theatre consider to be the purpose or func- tion of community theatre? fair advantage of" the resources of the local organiza- ons. llt is felt by the investigator that the writing on the community theatre thus far has tended to overem- phasize the community theatres as organizations with re- sponsibilities and obligations. without appropriate attention to the organizations as being composed of 239- plg who have their own. oftentimes personal. reasons for participating in community theatre activities. #6 To determine the function of the organization and why the organization functions as it does. the essential problem was one of interpreting and analyzing membership and leadership in terms of the above questions. A fur- ther explanation of the questions which were investigated follows. The study of the make-up of the membership enabled the investigator (l) to describe the organization in terms of the demographic elements of age. sex. marital status. and membership longevity: (2) to determine the level of theatrical SOphistication of the members as re- vealed by their backgrounds in educational theatre. mem- bership in national and regional theatre organizations. and contact with community theatre outside of the local community through theatrical publications: and (3) to de- termine homogeneous elements in the demography of the or- ganization which could be helpful in arriving at conclu- sions concerning the function of the organization. In addition. recruiting practices were investigated to de- termine the probable future make-up of the membership and further. to analyze the degree of interest on the part of current members in promoting changes in member- ship composition or in promoting the expansion of the total membership. The members' stated reasons for participating in the organization were investigated to determine the con- tributions which are likely to be promoted by members as changes in organizational practices occur. #7 The members' opinions on current group practices were investigated to determine (1) the degree of support of current practices among the members. and (2) the like- lihood that changes in group policy or practices will take place in the near future. The question. "Who are the leaders Of Queen City Little Theatre?” was asked in order to provide a basis for the study of the function of leadership and to in- vestigate the leaders' Opinions concerning the purpose or function of community theatre. The function of leadership in Queen City Little Theatre was investigated to determine the role of leader- ship and the personal characteristics of individual lead- ers in the organization. Data on the internal social structure of the organization and the major area of intra- group conflict grew out of the investigation Of the function of leadership. These data were regarded as be- ing of importance to the study in determining why the organization functions as it does. Therefore. a report on the internal social structure and the major area of intra-group conflict is included as part of the report on the function of leadership. The question. "What do the leaders consider to be the purpose or function of community theatre?" was asked to determine further the contributions of the organization which can be expected to receive leadership support as the organization reevaluates its purpose. In addition. certain formal aspects of Queen City #8 Little Theatre wereinvestigated to provide an overview of the organization prior to the reporting of the results of inquiry into the above questions. These include (1) the organization's formal statement of purpose. (2) types of membership and participation in the organization. and (3) the formal leadership structure of the organization. Methodology Employed By means of the case study method. data were collected from group documents. observations of the group in action. interviews with leaders. and a questionnaire given the entire membership. Although the case study method does not lend itself to the highest form of quanti- tative analysis. the method was selected because of the problem to be investigated. Discussing the relationship between research problems and methodology. William Foote Whyte has stated. ”The methods used should depend upon the nature of the field situation and of the research problem." and Arnold Bose states. "...I would support the primacy of subject matter and hold that methods are mere tools to be chosen by the requirements of the research problem under consideration."2 While the case study as a method of research may lack some precision and is more often described as "quali- tative” rather than “quantitative." it is believed that re- liability and validity are in no way minimized by that 1William Foote Whyte. Street Corner Societ (2nd. ed.. Chicago. Universty of Chicago Press. 1955 . p. 356. 2Arnold Rose. Theory and Method ig the Social Sci- ences (Minneapolis: The Lund Press. inc.. I955). p. 257. 49 methodology in this investigation. Speaking of case study research. Elwood Murray points out. "...the varieties of data which go into a case study have a peculiar inti- macy and closeness to the reality being studied."1 The nature of this problem requires a closeness to the subjects being studied. since it is the subjects' ideas which are Spontaneously. and often publicly. expressed that are of chief concern to the investigation. These ideas and the interworking organizationcan best be studied by utilizing a variety of techniques for close observation of the organization in its life situation. The methodo- logical problem. therefore. is one of observing the organi- zation in its actual processes of conducting its affairs and Of duplicating. as much as possible. the life situation when collecting data. Thus. the case study method should produce more use- ful data than could be expected from other methods. In addition. the case study method does not rule out quantita- tive techniques. if and when they apply to the questions being considered. Goode and Hatt called attention to that view when they wrote: It follows. then. that modern research must re- ject as a false dichotomy the separation of 'qualitative' and 'quantitative' studies. or between the 'statistical' and the 'nonstatistical' approach...The fundamental questions to ask about all research techniques are those dealing with the 1Elwood Murray. "Case Study and Case History." An Introduction to Graduate Study in Speech and Tantrg. ed. Clyde W. 53w (East Lansing._fiichigan: Michigan State University Press. 1961). p. 259. ' 50 precision. reliability. and relevance of the data and their analysis: (1) how precise are the Observations? (2) can other scientists repeat the observations and (3) do the data actually satisfy the demands of the problem. that is. do they actually demonstrate the conclusion?1 Besides the need for closeness and immediate ob- servation. the case study method was employed in this in- vestigation to provide the investigator with the highest degree of flexibility in collecting and reporting data. since it was expected that the problem would require a modification of plans as the research progressed. In this way. the case study method would enable the investi- gator to achieve greater depth of study than previous 2 surveys have achieved. In developing the methodology. particularly with regard to the techniques of field observation and inter- viewing. and in determining the system of reporting re- sults. the investigator used as a methodological touch- stone the reported experiences of William Foote Whyte in 3 his work on StreetCorner Society. A description of lWilliam J. Goode and Paul K. Hatt. Methods $3 Social Research (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co... 1952). p. 313. zQuestionnaire surveys investigating community thea- tre practices nationally were reported by Work (1949). Dietrich and Work (1951). and Schoell (1953). Surveys of community theatre practices nationally through intervies with leaders of selected organizations were published by macgowan (1929). Houghton (l9#1). and Gard and Burley (1959). 3See Whyte's notes on methodology in Street Corner Society (2nd ed.. 1955). pp. 279-358. and William P. Whyte. ‘Interviewing and Field Research." Human Organiza- Q ." ‘UVeew [.00 I). 51 the techniques employed in this study. described in terms of the general chronology of their occurance and the major methodological problems encountered follows. Chronology of the Study Preliminary Sggpg: Preliminatry steps in the in- vestigation began in November of 1962. when the investi- gator asked the president of the Queen City Little Theatre for permission to Observe the organization in action. The reason given for observing the group was to study the group as an example of a community theatre organization to determine the nature of some of its problems. how they were solved. and to study the general Operation of a com- munity theatre. No more information could be given the group concerning the research project since the investiga- tor had not yet formulated specific questions to be asked. This initial observation period was to be for the purpose of formulating questions and to gain entree. Except for two persons in Queen City Little Theatre. the investigator was unknown to the members of the organi- zation. The two exceptions were a former student of the investigator and the Older brother of another former stu- dent of the investigator. The immediate objective of the investigator was to establish himself as a non-participant observer and to have the group accept his presence without influencing their normal activities and interactions. tion Research. ed. Richard N. Adams and Jack J. Preiss (Homewood. Illinois: The Dorsey Press. 1960). pp. 352-373. 52 During this first phase. which lasted for 14 months. the investigator attended only the business meetings of the entire group. Meetings of the board of directors and or- ganizational committees were deliberately avoided by the investigator so that he might remain as unobtrusive as possible until Specific questions for inquiry were for- mulated. During this preliminary period the group accepted the presence of the investigator and with few exceptions. asked no questions concerning the research project. The two principal exceptions were Ed and Cy. two members of the Board of Directors. who showed interest in the fact that the organization would be studied and evidenced some knowledge of social research. In those instances. the investigator's lack of Specific direction was an advantage in that it enabled him to avoid detailed discussion of the project while being perfectly Sincere in the avoidance. Some members made an effort. during this initial period. to involve the investigator actively in the group. These invitations were resisted at first by pleading lack of time. Later. feeling that such an excuse might damage , . entree. the investigator explained that he wished to main- tain the highest degree of Objectivity in observing the group and that to become involved in the activities of the group might interfere with that objectivity. However. in September of 1964. after the research had formally be- gun. the investigator agreed to play a small part in one of the organization's theatrical productions and at that 53 time became a participant observer. The reason for Shifting from non-participant Observer to participant ob- server was to probe more deeply into the group's activi- ties. since it was evident by that time that the group placed a high value upon participation. The investigator believed that some information might be gathered by a participant which would not be available to a non-partici- pant. Egglg,yg§g§: Notes on meetings formally began in January of 196%. at which time the investigator began attending all meetings of the Board of Directors and the Play Selection Committee. Play selection was chosen as the group phenomenon to observe most closely because (1) it was the activity around which much conflict and con- troversy had develOped: (2) other areas of controversy seemed to be related to problems of play selection: and (3) play selection is the activity most frequently evalu- ated adversely by observers of the community theatre in America. AS observation became more frequent. the opinions of the investigator were often sought concerning some as- pects of group policy and practice. The general approach to that problem was to Show interest and concern. but to be noncommittal in terms of Opinions and advice to the group. Chief among such inquiries were those of Eve. The nature of Eve's questions. the method of handling them. and the implications of close contact between in- 5h vestigator and subject are presented here as an illus- tration of problems in field Observation of which the investigator had to be constantly aware. Since Eve was the leader of a sub-group. care had to be taken not to alienate others who identified with Opposing sub-groups by becoming too friendly with her. Even though her conversations with the investigator were not always public. the danger did exist of her possible mention at a later date of agreement or disagreement with the investigator on matters about which others may have had strong feelings. Chief among Eve's questions were those concerning play selection. casting. and the work of individuals in the organization. Concerning plays for production. the investigator's approach to the problem was to pretend lack of knowledge of the play in question. or to suggest that it had been many years since he had read the play. Under conditions where such excuses were implausable. obvious factors concerning the play in question would be mentioned. such as the balance of men and women in the cast or the complexity of the setting. Questions raised by Eve concerning casting and criticism of individuals were more difficult to handle. since this involved Specific persons in a more direct way. and it was believed that Significant data might come out Of such discussions. If it was apprOpriate. the investigator would suggest that he had no Opinion; 55 and an attempt would be made to reverse the question to get her Opinion. or to refer to the normal channels of criticism to discover relationships between Eve and other leaders. She seemed to enjoy giving her own Opinion. and often discussion would end after her Opinion had been given. The following conversation between’Eve and the investigator. and the succeeding action observed by the investigator took place during a rehearsal of a production. It illustrates an attempt on the part of Eve to test her judgement of the rehearsal by seeking the Opinion of the investigator. The conversation is reported here as a Specific illustration of one of the hazards of field re- search when the investigator comes into close personal contact with the subjects being studied. That hazard. is investigator influence. Eve: Don't you think that Russ [one of the actors] 1 could do much better? Jim: In what way? Eve: Don‘t you think that he should pick up cues faster? And stand up straight? Jim: I hadn't noticed. What does Bill [the direc- tor] think about it? Eve: He isn't too eager to accept suggestions. Jim: Have you discussed it with him? Eve: NO. but I wanted your Opinion. Jim: Neither of our opinions will do much good if Bill won't accept them. Eve: I just think Russ could do much better if we called his posture to his attention. 1The code name ”Jim” will be used throughout this study to identify the investigator in quoted dialogue. Ji “1? as as See. P 9. 56 Jim: Maybe the director feels that poor posture is in character for him. (pause - Eye watches the rehearsal for a brief period) A moment after the above conversation. the investigator retired to the coffee urn to continue the observation of Eve. About four minutes later. Eve approached the direc- tor and began a conversation which was inaudible to the investigator. A moment later. both Eve and the director moved toward the rear of the rehearsal hall as the re- hearsal continued. They carried on a discussion for about four minutes. Following his conversation with Eve. Bill continued to rehearse Russ's scene. mentioning the import- ance of interplay between Russ and Cy (another actor in the scene). This suggestion. plus growing familiarity with the lines of the Script. did result in RuSS'S in- creased tempo in picking up of cues. No mention was ever made of Russ's posture. The above illustration reveals the growing familiar- ity which develOped between Eve and the invetigator and the method of handling what could have been a sensitive interaction. It is also illustrative of the relationship which sometimes exists between an organization leader (Eve) and an individual task leader (Bill). That relation- ship may have been influenced by the investigator through his seeming insistence that the director be consulted on the matter of advising an actor. Taken as a whole. the verbal exchange and its concluding action indicate a con- 1Conversation with Eve. August 15. l96fl. 57 stant problem which faced the investigator as research progressed. Every attempt was made to minimize such in- vestigator influence. but field observation of the type illustrated above was felt to be important enough so that such observation continued whenever possible. Through the spring of 196M. an attempt was made to keep verbatim notes on business and committee meetings. This technique proved unsatisfactory. however. because Of the lack of Skill in verbatim note taking on the part of the investigator. What was produced was more in the nature of minutes of meetings with verbatim exchanges of conversa- tion or group business only when the particular substance of the exchange was considered to be of value to the study. The principal value of notes taken during the Spring meetings was their use in identifying the issues around which major problems and conflicts developed within the organization. These. as has been noted. were conflicts over play selection. Also of importance was the comparison that could be made between the investigator's notes and the minutes recorded by the secretary to determine the de- gree to which regular minutes revealed the details of issues over which conflicts arose. . During the spring of 196“. the primary concern of the organization was the selection of the major fall pro- duction. The work of play selection was handled by the play selection committee. and it was with this committee and its meetings that the most complete records were kept. 58 One problem facing the investigator during that period revealed one of the chief channels of communication with- in the organization: non-meeting decisions made by way of telephone "gossip.“ Telephone conversations previous to the meetings tended to structure meetings. Attempting to probe the nature of pre-meeting conversation. the in- vestigator questioned Jane. the chairman of the committee. who reported: Nobody plans to discuss the group's problems. These women have nothing to do all day and the phone is their social contact with one another. The one thing they have in common is Queen City Players. so informally they begin the meetings early. by phone1 I don't mind. It saves time at the meeting. Jack. Jane's husband. a former member of Queen City Little Theatre who resigned to become more active in Queen City Musical Theatre. another amateur theatrical producing group. was somewhat more critical of the phone conversa- tions. He eXplained. The little black box is the biggest problem with the group. Take out the phones and you might have a good group. It would eliminate all the gossip and intrigue that runs Queen City Players. They don't talk about what's good for the group or what's ggod for theatre. they gossip about one another. The following incident illustrates pro-meeting plan- ning for which the meeting itself served no real purpose except that of maintaining a degree of formality in the or- 1Conversation with Jane. March 3. 196W. 2Conversation with Jack, March 3, 1964. 59 ganization. On September 25. 196h. Dawn. the new presi- dent. called a Short meeting of the Board of Directors to discuss "a problem of some concern to the welfare of the group." The investigator was informed of the meeting by Dawn and invited to attend. When the meeting was called to order. Dawn presented the problem. which in- volved a debt owed the group by a local summer theatre. During the summer of 196% the summer theatre had used Queen City Little Theatre lighting equipment and had agreed to pay a rental fee of $300. As of September 25. the fee had not been paid. although the lighting equip- ment had been returned. Dawn presented the problem and a plan. Her plan was to write a letter to the manager of the summer theatre. asking for $200 and access to the prOpertieS collection of the summer theatre during the coming season. The other four members of the Board who were in attendance gave authorization for such a letter. and the contents of the proposed letter were then dis- cussed. June was then asked by Dawn to read a letter which She had prepared in advance of the meeting. The in- dication was that Dawn and June had gotten together in advance of the meeting to handle the problem. thus structuring the meeting and virtually determining the outcome. The meeting served only for the purpose of se- curing Board approval. The Board approved June's letter. changing only the date by which a reply was expected. 60 l and the matter was closed. Throughout the play selection process the investiga- tor kept a running record of the person on the play selection committee who introduced and spoke for each play under discussion. Because of pre-meeting discussion by members of the committee and other interested members of the organization. it became necessary to establish one category called simply "the group." to classify those plays whose source could not be identified and about which there were certain understandings without having been considered within the framework of the formal meet- ing. Such a Situation. for example. existed with regard to the play Magy. Magy. about which no member of the com- mittee was particularly enthusiastic and which was destined to be eliminated after having been mentioned and very briefly discussed. No one wanted it. but it was discussed and considered for production ”due to group interest in it." The investigator had never heard the play mentioned either formally or informally at any other group meeting. The final choice for the fall production. Madwoman 2; Chgillot . was introduced by Carole at the first meeting of the play selection committee. Carole's introduction of the play was a part of the investigator's written record of the meeting. Three months after the play had been in- troduced the investigator asked of each member of the 1Meeting of the Board of Directors. September 25. 196k. CC: st: 6 CO; 61 committee. "Who first suggested Madwoman g; Chaillott?" No member of the committee claimed the play as his or her suggestion. and none remembered who had first introduced the play. though the play was closely identified with Carole. Eve. one of the committee members. said she thought the original idea came from HOpe (a member who was not on the committee). but She also thought that it was a play that many in the group liked very much. This illustrates the importance and influence of informal con- tact outside Of the framework of the formal committee structure of the organization. Recognizing the importance of informal contact and further recognizing the importance of the telephone as a communication tool. the investigator decided to use the telephone. The technique employed was to call group leaders frequently to ask questions concerning group prac- tice. but to make the questions simple and Open ended enough to allow the reSpondent to Speak freely on any sub- ject concerning the group which he wished to discuss. While much of the telephone data were of no direct con- cern to the study. indirectly they provided avenues to be investigated and clarified through more formal means. Much of the description of leaders by other leaders was collected in this manner. In addition. telephone conversa- tions helped the investigator to identify the issues around which major problems and conflicts developed with- in the organization. 62 Another technique used for the recording of field notes was the tape recording of meetings of the Board of Directors. The tape recorder was not used until the fall of 1964. due to the belief by the investigator that it might inhibit the participants. By the fall of 1964. how- ever. the investigator felt that the participants had be- come so familiar with the notion that records of their meetings were being kept that the presence of a tape re- corder would no longer inhibit their discussions. Familiarity. on the part of the participants. with the recording of meetings by the investigator is illustrat- ed by Cy's comment as he arrived at the November meeting. when he said. humorously. “I guess we're going to be 'bug- ged' again." The willingness on the part of members of the Board of Directors to be "bugged" is supported by the accommodations extended to the investigator when he could not attend meetings. On those occasions. the participants expressed a willingness to change meeting dates to ones which were more suitable to the investigator. Rather than allow the group to change dates. however. the investigator secured the services Of Dawn. one of the Board members. to tape record meetings. Questionnaire: In May of 1964 a questionnaire was given to the entire membership.1 It was administered at a meeting which was chosen for the likelihood of attract- ting a large number of the regular membership. Only four 18cc questionnaire. Appendix A. 1 E b 54 gfi-fl UV-' .5 5t 0' a; a \ W311 63 persons considered to be regular members were not present at that meeting. All members present at the May meeting completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire was given at a later date to those who were not present at the May meeting. Members present at the May meeting were given one full hour to complete the questionnaire. and all reSpond- ents were instructed to ask questions about any item which was unclear to them. In this way the questionnaire served as a form of group interview. A record was kept by the investigator of all questions raised and the ex- planations given. The following questions were raised by individual members. and the answers were given in the form of instructions to the entire group: 1) Item number one was questioned in terms of "Official membership.” One member asked if the time should be included during which he was a participant in productions. but not an actual member. To this question the answer was. "Include the years you were associated with Queen City Little Theatre without being an official member." 2) Another question concerning item number one was whether or not one should include sev- eral years during which She became inactive and dropped membership. The answer given was. ”Include those years during which you were a member or associated on a non-member basis only. Do not count years when you were 3) 4) 5) 6) 64 not associated with the group even though that period followed an active period and preceded an active period." Item number three was questioned as follows: ”I am now in a workShOp production which goes on next month. DO I count it?! The answer given was. ”No. Answer as of today's date and in terms of productions which have been presented." Item number Six was questioned twice. The first question was. "Where do I Show private lessons?" The answer was. "In the margin on the left.” The second question was. "I don't remember how many courses in theatre I have had." The instructions were. "Give an approx- imate answer to any of item six which you can't remember. but try to be as accurate as possible." It was pointed out that the margin or the re- verse side of the questionnaire may be used for additional Space as needed for any of the Open ended items. Attention was then called to the continuation of item ten on page three. The following statement was made concerning item seventeen: "I haven't been a member very long and I don't know the people well enOugh to answer those questions sensibly.” Instructions were then given concerning item seventeen as follows: ”Try to identify those whom you believe to rate 65 among the first ten persons in each of the categories of number seventeen. If you can- not think of ten persons. name as many as you can." 7) The question. ”What do you mean by number eighteen?" was raised. The answer was. "I want you to take each category among those in seventeen. restudy the persons you have named and Show who is first. second. third. and so on. by placing the numbers one. two. and three. and so on beside the names in the category. While the above questions might well have been eliminated through a pre-test. it was felt by the investi- gator that the opportunity for reSpondents to raise ques- tions and to have them answered increased the reliability of what might otherwise have been a poor questionnaire. As it exists. the questionnaire is unusually long. It was. however. kept at its present length rather than being broken into Shorter segments to take advantage of the most pOpular meeting of the year. when the entire membership could be expected to attend. It was calculated that the time needed to complete the questionnaire would be approximately 40-45 minutes. and an hour was granted from the meeting to administer it. This. it was felt. would keep members from working under pressure since they would never feel that they were ”get- ting behind” as they completed each page. The second pre- caution taken to prevent the feeling of getting behind was .IIH‘, a); 1‘.Uc the 1 64 g. U‘ 5.! 66 to begin with demographic data which could be handled quickly because of the factual nature of the data and the familiarity which respondents have with such ques- tions on other types of applications and information sheets. Many of the respondents completed their question- naires well within the 40 minute period. while a few took the entire hour. The members worked. as directed. with no communication among themselves and were judged by the investigator to be unusually cooperative. The last item (number 17) was the one which was apparently most difficult for the members to handle. A number of persons did not list the requested ten names for each category. and many did not rank the names listed. In an interview follow-up of selected questionnaires it was discovered that some members felt there were not ten persons in the organization who could be ranked in some of the categories of item seventeen. The two categories which seemed to present the most difficulty were 170 (per- sons believed to give the strongest group leadership) and 17f (persons believed to be most influential in group de- cision making). Of the leadership question. Eve said. There are only three real leaders in the group; those that I have named. There are those who are influential. but they're not real leaders. I just can't bring myself to name any more than three. and of the influence question. Hope said. llnterview with Eve. August 24. 1964. 67 This is a democratic group. All members are in— fluential. They may not make decisions. but de- cisions are made with the entire group in mind. In this way. even the wishes Of the newest mem- ber influences decisions. In all cases where follow-up remarks were significant to the study. these remarks were used in addition to the questionnaire data. Two of the four persons who did not attend the May meeting and were given the questionnaire at a later date did not return the completed questionnaire. One of the two was unable to complete the questionnaire due to ser- ious illness. and the second returned the incomplete ques- tionnaire by mail with a message which read. in part. ...since in my present frame of mind. I'm afraid my answers might be just a little bit too re- vealing...right at the moment I'd rather keep my thoughts on the subject to myself.2 lpterviews: During the month of August. leaders of Queen City Little Theatre were interviewed to determine their view on the role of community theatre in American society (its function and purpose) and their testimony as to the function of leadership in the organization. Leaders interviewed were those ranking highest in the leadership poll on the questionnaire administered in May. This system of identifying leaders is a modification of the system used by Delbert Miller and others to deter- 1Interview with Hope. August 19. 1964. 2Letter fromLStan.:dated July 7 [June 7]. 1964. 1 L28 821C rt F4 (D H (D 31) FF: Q“ (7) l H 68 mine community power. While Miller's system is a two phase system which first isolates key individuals and then uses key individuals to identify and rank tOp in- fluentials. or power figures. the investigator used a Single phase system to identify the leaders of Queen City Little Theatre. The modification. in which all members were considered to be key individuals. thus eliminates Miller's first phase. The system was modified by the investigator because of the constant face-to—face contact the members of Queen City Little Theatre have with one another. It was decided that members of Queen City Lit- tle Theatre would have less difficulty identifying their leaders than is true in a community where face-tO-face contact with leaders iS limited. In addition. one member who ranked eleventh as a leader on the questionnaire administered in May. but who became president of the organization in June was added to the leadership group because of the power of the office of the president in the leadership of the organization. The question of how a person ranking low in leadership could come to be elected president is a meaningful one and will be dealt with in a later chapter. For now. it may be stated that two factors make such action possible. First is the relative diffusion of leadership in the or- ganization. which narrows the gap between one who might rank 2nd and one who might rank 11th (the position of the new president when the questionnaires were administered in May). The second reason is the volunteer nature of is} (2) 69 the organization. which tends to seek for reSponsible jobs those persons who have time and the inclination to do the job. What has been suggested here - that leadership is determined. in part at least. by availability and willing- ness to work - will also be dealt with in another chapter. It may be stated now. that the current president was not the organization's first choice for the Office; by her election to the presidency. however. the power of that office was included. Thus. the new president was a strong leader in August. though She had not been in May. It was for these reasons that she was included in the interview series. The interviews with leaders in August of 1964 attempted to verify the leadership group by raising the question. "Who are the leaders of the organization?" The leaders interviewed did identify one another as leaders: thus. they were in agreement with the results of the leader- ship poll on the questionnaire of May. The single exception was that Dawn. the new president. who ranked eleventh in the leadership poll of May. was considered a leader by five of the six other leaders of the organization. That was interpreted as further evidence to support her inclu- sion in the leadership group. The analysis of the leadership structure and function is based upon data from three sources: (1) field notes. (2) the questionnaire and (3) interviews with the leaders .; .Vst ' I 5.3 V 6.83 deri £833 S‘*= V.‘\ Six: an: «1 (D (I) 70 themselves. Interviews were tape recorded and were conducted with an interview schedule which attempted to permit a maximum amount of freedom for the interviewee to eXpress his or her own ideas regarding the purpose of community theatre. the purpose Of Queen City Little Theatre. the derivation of leadership. identification of leaders. the nature of leadership. and the function of leadership in the organization. The investigator attempted to keep the interviewee's attention focused on the questions. but allowed for digression if suchdigression seemed to pro- vide useful information not covered in the interview schedule. or if it served the purpose of keeping the in- terview Spontaneous. The interview schedule itself was in the form of sixteen note cards. each dealing with a Specific question and possible probe questions. The probe questions were based upon various anticipated responses to the original question. The investigator made no attempt to limit him- self to the prepared probe questions if improvised probe questions seemed advisable while conducting the interview. Probe questions were not used when responses to the origi- nal question seemed spontaneous and complete. The interview technique changed Slightly as the in- vestigator gained more Skill in interviewing. The first interview. for example. found the investigator talking more than was necessary to define questions. AS the inter- .‘fl‘v‘ 4 as p0. his 0 calls the ’0 1‘ Ly 71 views progressed. more ambiguity was allowed in the questioning to permit greater freedom for the interviewee in answering questions. To increase his Skill in the technique and to maintain as high a degree of reliability as possible. the investigator kept written records of his own behavior in interviewing as well as notes on data collected from the interview tapes. It was the plan of the investigation to avoid de- tailed definitions of terms Since in a large measure it was the defining of terms that was being sought. Thus. if the interviewer had defined "community theatre." "lead- ership." and "function of leadership" in any but very gen- eral terms. the answers would have been structured too highly to get the necessary insight into the interview- ee's thoughts on the subject. This is not to suggest that the interviewer was using a non-directive technique. William Foote Whyte's comment. In research we want the informant to talk about things of vital interest to him. but we also need his cOOperation in covering matters of im- i§€§i2°in§2r22§ {Ssiiifiiarfi’éfié‘ti ”38”” °f became the overall methodological technique of the inter- views with leaders Of the Queen City Little Theatre. The interviewer was not seeking a series of answers to highly structured questions. He was seeking an ex- 1William F. Whyte. ”Interviewing in Field Research." in Richard N. Adams and Jack J. Preiss. p. 353-354. 72 pression of the personal Opinions of various leaders as they might be Spontaneously expressed informally or for- mally at moments which might influence the policies and practices of the organization. The interview data. it was decided. would best serve as direct testimony in the form of actual quotations to be interpreted and analyzed as reSponses to Open ended questions rather than as statistical data. In this way recognition could be given to the different roles the re- Spondents play in the organization and to the different kinds and degrees of leadership extended by them. Moreover. the attitude of each interviewee. varia- tions in language skills. and differences in personality had to be taken into consideration. Both HOpe and Dawn. the former president and the current president. reSpec- tively. were quite talkative in their reSponses. Often explaining in great detail how they felt about the role of Queen City Little Theatre. other leaders. or current policies. 0n the other hand. Cy. the current vice-presi- dent and a lawyer by profession. was extremely careful in his choice of words. He often sought explicit definitions of concepts from the interviewer. and his responses tend- ed to be quite general and almost non-committal. June. the treasurer of the organization. was reluctant to talk at any length about peOple: and when she did SO. she was extremely careful not to make derogatory comments. She explained that it bothered her to discuss individuals 73 and the role they play in Queen City Little Theatre. The antithesis of June was Ed. who stated. "When someone asks me a question. I consider it a reSponsibility to answer it just as I see it. If the answer is too painful. I would have to say. 'I won't answer that question."'1 None of the questions seemed "too painful" for Ed to answer. ‘Qpppp documents and Recopdg: The fourth source of data for this study came from group records and one Official document. the Byrggpg pg Queen City Little Thea- 333. These were used to build an historical background of the organization and to determine Official policies and practices. Group records are in the form of four scrap- books representing an accumulation of pictures. programs. brochures. and news stories about the organization; a brief history Of the organization written in 1960 by one of the members: tryout Sheets identifying those who tried out for productions during the past three years; an incom- plete set of minutes of the general meetings held during the past four years: and OOpieS of Official correSpondence of the organization Over the past four years. Summary It was the principal task of this study to investigate Queen City Little Theatre in terms of its membership and leadership to determine the function of the organization and why the organization functions as it does. The problem 1Interview with Ed. August 17. 1964. 74 was investigated by asking Six basic questions concerning membership and leadership in Queen City Little Theatre. The questions were. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) What is the make up of the membership of the Queen City Little Theatre? What are the members' stated reasons for par- ticipating in the Queen City Little Theatre? What are the members' Opinions on current group practices? Who are the leaders of the Queen City Little Theatre? What is the function of leadership in the Queen City Little Theatre? What do the leaders of Queen City Little Theatre consider to be the purpose and function of com- munity theatre? The methodological approach to the problem was that of the case study. The case study was used to permit flexi- bility in techniques employed and to enable the investigator to get closer to his subjects than other methods would allow. After a preliminary observation period. used to es- tablish entree into the organization and to determine the Specific questions to be asked. the techniques of field Observation. the administration of a questionnaire. tape recorded interviews. and study of group records and docu- ments provided data for the study. 75 The interpretation and analysis of the data collected by these various means will be reported in the following chapters of this study. CHAPTER III THE FORMALITIES OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE AND ACTUAL GROUP PRACTICES Organizational Purposes Statement 3; Purpose: Th2 Articles 33 Association 23 3292p Qipy Little Theatpp. adOpted in April of 1963 and presently serving as an introduction to the organizational By-Laws. contains the following statement regarding the purposes of the organization: To present. produce. manage. conduct and represent in any theatre. or place of amusement. or enter- tainment or elsewhere. such plays. dramas. comedies. ballets. and other entertainments as the corpora- tion shall think fit: to promote art and to develOp artistic abilities and other Skills in the field of histrionics: to foster and encourage and develOp public appreciation of dramatic works through the presentation of such works: to provide means. equipment and facilities to afford qualified per- sons an Opportunity to acquire knowledge of the science of stagecraft and practical experience in play production: to own. lease. Operate and main- tain one or more workshOps or theatres: to have the power to acquire. hold. own. sell. lease. mort- gage or otherwise encumber all kinds of prOperty. real or personal. including the right. power and authority to hold by gift. devise. bequest or purchase any form of prOperty to be held in trust for the benefit of the corporation; and to do anything which may be found useful or con- venient in accomplishing the pufposes. objects. aims and powers above outlined. With a statement of purpose sufficiently broad in scope to allow for a wide variety of theatrical production 1Articles 2; Association pf Queen City Little Theatre. adOpted and entered into the minutes of the first meeting. April 3. 1963. Do 7- 76 77 activities. the organization has been primarily a pro- ducer of legitimate drama. No ballets have ever been presented by the organization. and ”other entertainments" have been limited to two presentations of group oral in- terpretation programs. All other productions Since the group was first organized in 1951 can be clearly classi- fied as "dramas" or "comedies." The aims of the organization. from the statement of purpose of 1963. may be summarized as (1) the develOpment of Skills in the arts of theatre and (2) the develOpment Of public appreciation of dramatic works through the pre- sentation Of such works. All other clauses in its state- ment of purpose relate to its powers or limitations. Un- defined and. therefore. subject to wide interpretation are the limitations tied to its Specific aims, such as the phrase. "qualified persons." to describe those who may be afforded "an Opportunity to acquire knowledge of the science of stagecraft and practical eXperience in play production" through the use of the organization's "equip- ment and facilities." The 1963 statement of purpose may be compared to the original purpose of 1951. The original purpose was implied in a section of the group's informal history which describes the origin of Queen City Little Theatre: One day in autumn of 1951. a small group of peo- ple chatting on a [Queen City] street corner. hit upon the subject of theatre. In the summer there was [Woodlawn] or [Trenton] or [Sand Cove]. but in win er. except for the comparative few who could Spend time and money on trips to 78 [Eastern City] or [Metropolis], the theatre- loving people in the vicinity had nothing to see except movies. and for the peOple who had an in- grown desire for theatre-in-the-making. there was nothing. There had been. previously. one or two attempts to establish a "Little Theatre". but none had survived the wear and tear. Why not try again? Why not start at least a discussion group - for fun. for meeting of kindred Spirits. for the reading of current plays? Why not. in- deed! Others who might be interested were sug- gested. and a get together meeting was planned. 1 While the original purpose appeared to be essentially a recreational outlet for those who wished to participate in theatrical production. and additionally. to provide theatrical entertainment for those who desired such en- tertainment. the new purpose placed more emphasis upon the promotion of theatrical art and the develOpment of theatrical abilities. The shift in purpose2 would seem to indicate that the organization was moving in a direction more consistent with that which is believed by the critics Of community theatre to be healthier and more reSponsible. Schoell called the responsible community theatre. one in which. ”the influence of the organization as a develOpmental force in the theatre and a cultural force in the community may lIna Ladd Brown. The History pp igueen Cit Little] Theatre (unpublished history of Queen ity Li tle Theatre. 1960). p. l. The names Of towns have been bracketed to signify that the investigator has changed the names from those in the original document. 2The Shift in purpose was from service to those who already possess the interest and desire for theatrical re- creation and entertainment. to the develOpment of "public appreciation of dramatic works" and the develgpment of Skills and abilities in dramatic art. 79 1 be recognized and extended." (italics mine) and Gard and Burley stated. "The basic problem seems to be the finding of proper means to develOp the idea of contemporary Com- munity Theatre as a great cultural and artistic force rather than as a mere recreational adjunct to community living.2 Th2 Fulfillment pf Purpose: The essential question regarding organizational purpose. however. has to do with the influence of the formal statement upon actual group practices; Specifically. "IS Queen City Little Theatre functioning in terms of its formal statement of purpose?" In order to be influential as a developmental force in the community. the reSponSible community theatre. according to Schoell. ”...makes an effort to provide drama of recognized worth and of sufficient variety." In order to analyze Queen City Little Theatre's ful- fillment of one of its aims. the develOpment of public appreciation of dramatic works through the presentation of such works. two factors must be considered: (1) the quality of plays selected for public presentation. and (2) the variety of drama offered for public consumption. The second factor. variety. also implies an analysis of the quantity of public presentations per season because va- riety can be achieved only by offering several productions lEdwin Schoell. Educational Theatgg Journal. v (1953). p. 128. See the full statement above. Chapter I. p. 26. 2Gard and BurleY. P. 3. See above. Chapter I. p. 27. 3Schoell. Educational Theatre Journal. v (1953). p. 128. See above. Chapter I. p. 26. 80 within that time Span. Finally. if the influence of the new purpose is to be analyzed. a comparison should be made between the production record before and after its adOption. During the three year period immediately preceding the adOption of Th3 Articles 22 Association.1 Queen City Little Theatre presented a total of five major productions for public audiences; an average of 1.67 productions per season. The five productions were the Broadway comedies. Once gpon _A_.Mattress.2 The Grass Harp. Auntie Mamp. and Tunnel pi prg: and the modern masterpiece Pygmalion. The organization presented one major public production in each of the two years following the adOption of the .Articles 93 Association.3 One of the plays was the Broad- way comedy. gppp‘Blppplppp‘fippp: the other was the modern L. masterpiece. The Madwoman pg Chaillot. This represents 1This period is defined in terms of theatrical sea- sogs 2nd includes the seasons of 1960-61. 1961-62. and 19 2" 30 2The non-musical version. 3The theatrical seasons represented in that two year period are 1963-64 and 1964-65. Although formal research on this project ended at the midpoint of the 1964-65 sea- son. no public presentation occurred during the spring Of 1965. It is accurate. therefore. to report a Single production each year during the two year period. “Schoell. Work. and others have called attention to the tendency for community theatres to limit variety by producing too many pOpular Broadway successes - particularly comedies. See Chapter I. pp. 22-25. Note that all of Queen City Little Theatre's public productions over the past 5 years have been comedies. and all but two have been "Broadway" comedies. 0f the two "masterpieces." Tpp,M§g- woman 22 Chaillot was successful on Broadway within the 81 no noticeable improvement in terms of either variety or quality of play selection over the period preceding the adoption of The Articlp§_p§ Association. Moreover. in the period following the adoption Of Th3 Articles p§.§§§p- ciation. the organization decreased the average number of productions per season. It is evident. therefore. that no positive change has occurred in terms of play selection. with regard to the organizational aim of developing public appreciation of drama through the presentation of dramatic works. However. the organization's other aim. the develOp- ment of Skills and abilities in theatre art. has been im- proved upon Since the adOption of the 1963 Articles 9; Association. through the introduction of a workshop pro- gram. The workShOp program. inaugurated in September of 1963. gives members of the organization an Opportunity ”to experiment. unhampered by commercialism."1 and ...for less experienced talents [sic] to perhaps gain confidence and to work with those veterans of acting. directing and the many and varied phases of theatre. It Offers an Opportunity for exploring the unusual in theatre without the ten- past 15 years and Pygmalion has been pOpularized by the musical version of the play - My Fair Lady. 1Statement of policy of Queen City Little Theatre WorkshOp. September. 1964. The word "experiment" in this fragment must not be taken literally to mean that the or- ganization is experimenting with the art form. Since the beginning of the workshOp program no original scripts have been tried. However. members do "SXperiment" with their own abilities. their production Skills. and techniques of production with which they are personally unfamiliar. 82 sions of commitment and the uncerfainty of acceptance by the general public. The workShOp productions. totalling four per year. are not Open to the public. but are presented to private 2 audiences composed Of invited guests and associate members. The workShOp productions. therefore. can provide the members with more varied and challenging theatrical experiences than do the major public productions. Since there is no attempt to attract an audience with plays which the group believes would be successful at the box office. It should be noted that the more challenging theatre SXperiences may help to develOp the skills of members. and by so doing. improve the production quality of major pub- lic presentations. Such development could contribute in- directly to the promotion of theatre appreciation in the community. The workshop productions. however. make no direct contribution to the develOpment of theatre apprecia- tion in the community. since the community at large is not invited to the productions. The impact. if any. is felt by those who probably need it the least. i.e.. associate members and those who receive invitations because they are known to appreciate theatre. Produced on a low budget and with nOBexpectations of technical polish. the workshOp productions provide for 1gueen City Little Theatre Bulletin. distributed to the membership. Fall. 1963 (no date given]. 2Associate member status will be described later in the present chapter. 3Often one-act plays. interpretative reading programs. and cuttings from longer plays. 83 the following services to the membership: 1) Through the workShOp they may produce plays which lack popular appeal and which are judged. there ore. to be poor choices for ex- pensive major production. 2) The workshOp provides an Opportunity for mem- bers whose known Skills lie in one area. such as stage lighting. to try their hand at other theatrical skills such as acting or directing without the pressure of community criticism or damage to the organization's status or financial solvency through mediocre performance. 3) The workshOp provides an Opportunity for actors to play roles greatly unlike the roles in which they tend to be cast for major productions due to previous success with a particular character type. In these ways the workshOp program serves the member- ship by furnishing opportunities to experiment with their own potential skills and talents: thus. serving one of the aims outlined in the stated purpose of Queen City Little Theatre -- the development of skills in the arts of thea- tre. In addition. the Opportunity afforded the members through the workshOp program to participate ”without the tensions of commitment and the uncertainty of acceptance by the general public.” provides for relaxed recreation. a service function which was unmentioned in the statement of purpose of 1963. Thus. through the diminishing number of public pro- ductions and the introduction of a private workshOp program of the type described. Queen City Little Theatre's service to its own members seems to be more important than its ser- vice to the community. 84 Membership and Participation Not all persons directly associated with Queen City Players are officially considered members. In addition to the Official members. there are non-member participants. associate members. and sponsors. Although the organiza- tion's operating policies and practices are determined by the members. a description of each of the associated groups and their relationship to the members provides a more definitive picture of the total organization. Members: Queen City Little Theatre is composed of thirty-five members.1 A member is defined in the By-Laws as follows: Any person who has been issued a current member- ship card signed by the membership chairman shall be considered a member. Membership cards shall be available on or before June 1st of each year at the price of one dollar. Membership cards of the previous year shall be valid until June 30th Of the current year. Thus. the only Official prerequisite to membership is a dues payment of one dollar per year. Unofficially. mem- bers are expected to participate in the activities of the organization. According to the By-Laws. payment of the membership fee entitles a member to a vote in the election of officers in the organization and a vote on any issue submitted to the general membership for ratification or rejection. All 1This figure represents the total number used through- out this study. Membership varied from 37 in January of 1964 to 35 in December of 1964. 2By-Laws p; Queep City Littlp Theatre (article II). adOpted and entered into the minutes Of the first meeting. April 3’ 1963’ p. 100 85 members are on a mailing list which the membership chair- man uses to notify them of business meetings.1 production activities (including tryouts for productions). and social affairs Open to the membership. This group is active in the organization through both organizational work and theatrical production work. Everyone in the membership group gives time to the organi- zation during the year; and while the entire group of members may not work on all productions. most of the mem- bers participate in at least one production each season. Some members are more active in organizational matters and consider this to be their primary contribution to the organization. Such organizational reSponsibilities include membership on the play reading committee. work on the membership committee. and coordination of the workshOp productions. ‘Qpppp,§§pticipants: Participation in the productions of Queen City Little Theatre is not limited to just the members. but may also include interested non-members. Non- members may attend business meetings. but may not Speak un- less invited by the presigent to Speak. Non-members have no vote in the organization. Non-member participation will vary with each pro- 1According to the By-Laws. all members must be notified of each business meeting at least 2 days prior to the meeting. 2By-Laws (article III. section 3). p. 10. 86 duction. depending upon the number of persons needed and the Special Skills needed for a particular production. This group is usually quite small. numbering from one to ten persons for each major production and occasionally in- volving one or two persons in a workShOp production. The persons involved are not always the same peOple. and non- members are seldom in more than one production each year. Another group of persons who identify with Queen City Little Theatre. called "associate members." are un- mentioned in the Byegapp and do not participate in the production or organizational activities. Their function is to provide a token audience for the workShOp produc- tions. The following excerpts from a letter inviting selected persons in the community to become associate members. serves to describe associate member status: Queen City Little Theatre will include WorkshOp Productions in the 1964-65 program of activi- ties...Because of the fine reaction to this ex- perimental project. Queen City Little Theatre has voted to continue the policy of inviting guests to all Workshop Productions. Your name was submitted as one who might be interested in attending these productions. If your reply is favorable. you will receive a card Signifying your status as an Associate mem- ber. (In no way will Associates be committed to the "active workings" of Queen City Little Thea- tre unless they express a desire to do so). To help defray mailing costs. etc. the nominal fee of one dollar is requested (one dollar also 1Persons are selected on the basis of their known in- terest in theatre. Names are submitted by members. then limited in terms of the size Of the theatre in which work- ShOp productions are presented. The "associate member" group is then further limited by the $1 fee ("to help de- ray mailing costs. etc."). 87 covers both Mr. and Mrs.). This is not to be con- sidered an admission fee. BecauSe of the enthuSiasm for the program and the limited seating capacity at the "House." a "first-c me. first-served" principle will be adopted. Non-member participants and associate members have no voice in the organization. although they are welcomed as members if they wish to become members. In Short. members must pay a fee and are SXpected to participate. while the others either pay a fee (associate members) or participate (non-member participants). The sponsors are other community organizations which take on the financial responsibilities of the major pro- ductions and by SO doing. lend support to Queen City Little Theatre.2 After the meeting of production costs which are underwritten by a Sponsoring organization. net profit from ticket sales and program advertising is divided between the Sponsor and Queen City Little Theatre.3 Thus. the sponsor uses the organization's major production as a fund- raising project. while the organization uses the Sponsor to prevent a financial loss on the major production. Sponsors also work COOperatively with Queen City Players on the business aspects of production such as 1Letter from the Membership Chairman of Queen City Liggle Theatre to prOSpective Associate Members. Jan. 18. 19 . 2Each major production is Sponsored by a single or- ganization. The sponsoring organizations have been the various service clubs in Queen City. 3Divided on a noz—ooz basis. the theatre group re— 88 ticket management and publicity. They have been particu- larly effective in providing an audience for the major productions through aggressive ticket selling since they have a financial investment in the production. In that way two organizations are working together for the mutual success of each other. 2p; Relationshyp Between Members and Other Partici- pappg: AS has been stated. it is the members that are of greatest concern in studying Queen City Little Theatre. The members are the persons who are instrumental in deter- mining group policy through their voting rights. and Since they form the nucleus group in the total operation of Queen City Little Theatre they are the persons who. through repeated participation. are thought of by both the organi- zation and the community as the Queen City Players. While ideas may infiltrate the membership from asso- ciate members and non-member participants. their influence is totally dependent upon acceptance by the members. It is through the members that ideas are eXpressed. and it is through their voting power and leadership that group poli- cies and practices are finally determined. Some members have frequently stated that Sponsoring organizations are largely reSponsible for the group's tend- ency to choose comedies for majorproductions. If their influence is significant. it is indirect and difficult to ceived $720 and the Sponsor received $1,080 from the fall. 1964 production. 89 observe. Moreover. there is evidence that the membership. including those who have little or no contact with Spon- sors. prefer the selection of comedies over serious drama 1 as major production. As to Specific productions. a Sponsoring organization did. on one occasion. Object to the choice of play selected by the organization. That incident. involving the play. Qppg Upgp A Mattress. was resolved by producing the play selected. but under different sponsorship. The organiza- tional attitude in that instance was clearly revealed by the following fragments from the minutes of the meeting at which the problem was discussed by the members and rep- resentatives from the sponsoring organization: The Sunrise Club had decided that if Queen City Players could not come up with an acceptable new play. then the Sunrise Club would rather not Sponsor "Once Upon A Mattress." Restating the question - approval to select an alternate play for the fall production. The ac- tion was voted down. Since the motion to approve the selection of an alternative was voted down. the decision made at the July. 11 meeting to perform "Once Upon A Mat- tress” was declared still in effect. Queen City Little Theatre will do "Ogce Upon A.Mattress" Sponsored or unsponsored. 1Avote taken at the March. 1964 meeting indicated that of 20 members voting for choice of play by typology. l6 voted for comedy while 4 voted for serious drama. 2"Minutes of the Meeting of July 25. 1962." Queen Cit! Little Theatre. PP. 3'“. A 9O 1 Formal Leadership Structure The formal leadership structure of Queen City Little Theatre is composed of three inter-related units: the Offi- cers. the committees. and production leadership. The units are interworking because (1) many of the members serve in all three units and (2) all three are directed toward the single goal of putting on plays. Tpg Officers: The Officers of the organization are the president. the vice-president. the secretary. and the treasurer. The officers. elected by the members. along with three additional members elected without Specific titles. make up the Board of Directors.2 The Board of Directors' duties include the selection of the directors and producers of plays for the organiza- tion. the appointment of the play reading committee. approval of production budgets. appointment of a casting committee. handling of organizational disputes. and con- 3 trol over each of the other Officers of the organization. 1The concepts of "formal" and "informal" leadership. as used in this study. are differentiated in the following way: Formal leadership refers to that leadership. des- cribed in the By-Laws. which established the positions or offices of authority through election or appointment. In- formal leadership refers to the guidance of informal sub- groups within the organization by Opinion leaders. In- formal leadership. which is really a study of the informal sub-group structure Of the organization. is described in Chapter VII. Formal leadership. as presented in this chapter. provides a background for the chapters which follow. ZBy-Laws (Article V. section 1). p. 11. 3§y-Laws (Article V. section 1b; VII. secs. 1. 2. 3; XII). pp. 11-13. 91 AS stated in the By-Laws. the president's responsi- bility is: ...general control and direction of the corpora- tion. subject to any Specific power delegated by the membership or the board Of directors. He Shall preside at all meetings of the corporation and all meetings of the boaid of directors. of which he shall be chairman. In addition. Article VI of the By-Laws gives the president the power to appoint standing committee chairmen. The reSponsibilities of the other officers are: f.The vice-president shall perform the duties of the president in the latter's absence.. and Shall have the custody of all prOperty of the corpora- tion. He shall prepare an annual report on the state of the prOperty of the corporation. g.The secretary Shall keep a faithful record of all meetings of the corporation. and of the board of directors. and perform such duties as may be required by the president and board of directors. h.The treasurer Shall keep accurate records of all moneys [sic] received and paid out. He shall give such bond as the board of directors may re- quire for the faithful discharge of his duties.2 In addition. "the treasurer Shall make a3complete financial report at the annual meeting." The Committees: The committees Of Queen City Little Theatre are the principal link between the total organiza- tion and the production of each play. The standing com- mittees are considered to be the primary committees of the 1py-Laws (Article IV. section 1e). p. 11. 2py-Laws (Article IV. sections 1f. lg. and 1h). p. 11. 3py-Laws (Article Ix, section 2). p. 13. 92 organization and are also considered to be the direct link between the general membership and the Board of Dir- ectors. Chairmen of the standing committees are appointed 1 by the president of the organization. [QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE] Board of Directors Standing Committees General Membership OR PRODUCTION [WORKSHOP PRODUCTION] Director Coordénator Producer Any mem er who wishes to direct Production Staff or produce Fig. l.--Queen City Little Theatre organizational chart. arranged by the resident and distributed to all members. September. 196 . The standing committees are (l) costumes and prOper- ties. (2) lighting. (3) sets. (4) publicity. (5) workShOp, and (6) membership. The strength and importance of each committee varies with the complexity of the particular production in question. Two of the standing committees. workshop and membership. are not directly related to each major production. Two other committees are appointed by the Board of Directors: and while membership on the committees is Often 1py-Laws (Article VI. section 1). p. 11. 93 repeated. they are not considered to be standing commit— tees. They are (1) play reading and (2) casting. Special rules apply to these two committees as follows: (1) the director of the production acts as head of the play-read- ing committee. but the Board of Directors make the final decision on the choice of plays for major production. (2) the casting committee may include non-members. (3) no member of the casting committee shall be eligible to audition for a principal role. and (4) the director and producer of the production under consideration shall be members of the casting committee.l Production Leadership: Production leadership. com- posed of the director and producer of each major produc- tion. is considered to be temporary task leadership and is under the direct control of the Board of Directors.3 The director who is the head of each production. is appoint- ed by the Board Of Directors. The producer. second in com- mand to the director. is also appointed by the Board of Directors after consulting with the director. Since the production of plays is the principal activity of the organization. production leadership is of great importance to the organization. Officially. pro- 1By-Laws (Article VII. sections 1 and 3). P. 13. 2Temporary task leadership refers to positions of authority to complete a Specific job. Once the task is completed. the position ceases to exist. 3py-Laws (Article V. sec. 1b; VII. sec. 1). p. 11-12. 94 duction leadership is considered subordinate to the Board of Directors and the standing committees. Once the play goes into production. however. the director. as the leader of the production. enjoys a high degree of autonomy. It is perhaps Significant that directors and produc- ers have. in most cases. been board members; but even when this was not the case. the director has been given much freedom in play production and power in the organization during the production period. For example. while standing committee chairmen are officially above the status of the director and report to the Board of Directors. directors and producers may alter the normal chain of command by choosing their own key production personnel.1 In in- stances where standing committee chairmen are not selected by the director or producer to serve as production com- mittee chairmen. they serve only as caretakers of equip- ment. Such service carries no authority in the production and falls below the status of production committee chair- men. In actual practice. however. it is rare that stand- ing committee chairmen are not appointed as production heads in the area of their committee activity. The production organization for the major public productions places each appointed production committee head directly beneath the director and producer. A.Stand- ing committee chairman who has been appointed a production 4 1By-Laws (Article VII. sec. 4). p. 13. 95 committee head is. therefore. in the peculiar Official position of being both subordinate and superordinate to the director and producer of the production.1 The norm is to function as the follower of the director and pro- ducer rather than as their superior in such an instance. The actors are under the direct leadership of the director in the production organization. and the play reading committee is chaired by the director of the produc- tion. Both the director and the producer serve on the five man casting committee.2 The organizational scheme for the workShOp produc- tions is the same as that of the major productions; how- ever. the selection of personnel is quite different. The first difference is that production committee leaders are frequently pp; the same persons as the chairmen of stand- ing committees since part of the function of the workShOp program has been to allow casual SXperimentation with one's untried skills. To achieve this efficiently the workShOp coordinator (workShOp committee chairman) is expected to be "...the 'contact' between personnel of workshop pro- ductions and the Standing Committee chairmen for use of facilities." lSubordinate as a production committee head; super- ordinate as a standing committee chairman. 2See figure 2. p. 96. 3Statement of policy of the Queen City Little Theatre workshop. September. 1964. 96 Director , [Play Beading Committ:ee] Casting Committea ’ (including producer Pro uce ’ L l E [SEE Chairmanl[Lighting Chairmafi] COstumes and PrOpS (Castl ‘Chairman Efiflnv Ilghfl lung! .1 [Publicity Chairmag Ticket Management Crew (including (handled by Sponsoring L __________ members of Spon- organization) soring organiza- ' tion) Fig. 2.--Queen City Little Theatre production or- ganization chart. showing relationship between participants and production leaders during a major production. The second difference is that workShOp plays are not selected or cast by committees. Plays are selected in the following manner: Any member of Queen City Little Theatre who wishes to produce or direct any WorkshOp show Shall com- pile a prOposed workshop "package" and submit it to the workShOp coordinator - who. in turn. sub- mits the package to the Board for approval. The prOposed package should include: (as detailed as possible) -the exact nature of the Show -all necessary personnel. including a cast -the technical production requirements -the rehearsal schedule and rehearsal places -the date and place of performance The director and/or producer of a workshOp shall know [sic] the comparable responsibilities as those of a major production. 1Statement of policy of the Queen City Little Thea- tre Workshop. September. 1964. 97 It Should be noted that part of the "package" is a cast. indicating that the director has full reSponsibility in the matter - except for the securing of approval of the total "package" from the workshop coordinator and the Board of Directors. With the elimination Of the casting committee. the workShOp. as has been noted. is frequently used to present plays involving parts which members of the organization want to play. but for which they would not be cast in a major public production. Summary Queen City Little Theatre's formal statement of pur- pose reveals two organizational aims: (l) the develOpment of art. artistic abilities. and skills in the fields of theatre and histrionics. and (2) the develOpment of public appreciation of drama through the presentation of dramatic productions. Actual practice by the organization indicates that the first of these aims is being met in a large measure by the recently organized private workshop pro- gram. Group practice has been interpreted as not meet- ing the second of these aims. This interpretation was based upon (1) the infrequency Of public productions.1 and (2) the lack of variety in the plays selected for public presentation. Thus. the principal direction of 1The average of 1 public production per year com- pared to 1.67 public productions per year before the adoption of the statement of purpose indicates a decrease. and. therefore. the probability of less impact upon the public than previously. 98 the group's attention seems to be inward. towards its own members. rather than outward toward the community. The organization is made up of four types of par- ticipants. (1) members. (2) non-member participants. (3) associate members. and (4) Sponsors. It is the first group. the members. that is of concern to this study. since it is that group that determines group policy and practice. and it is that group toward which the total or- ganizational body feels reSponsible. The formal leadership structure of the organization has three major units: (1) the officers. (2) the standing committees. and (3) the production leadership. All three are interconnected; and while the official status of each unit from the top down is in the order presented above. the overlap of personnel in the three units and the im- portance of theatrical production as the principal activi- ty of the organization. render the status of each unit variable. The importance placed upon the private workShOp program at the SXpense of the major public productions leads one to conclude. tentatively. that the organization is more interested in its service function to its own members as a develOpmental and recreational activity than in its possible service functions to the community by pro- viding the community with live theatrical entertainment. or to the art of theatre through eXperimentation with new 99 production techniques and the production of original scripts. The information presented in this chapter was in- tended to provide a definitive background against which Queen City Little Theatre can be understood more clearly in the forthcoming chapters of this study. CHAPTER IV THE MEMBERSHIP OF QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE Introduction Of the four participation categories described in the preceding chapter of this study. ppp members were re- ported to be the group which determines the policy and practices of Queen City Little Theatre. Moreover. ppp ppmbeps are depended upon to carry out the work of the organization in its principal field of activity -- play production. The make up of the membership. therefore. is of vital importance to the operation of Queen City Little Theatre and to the determination of its function. This chapter is a further refinement of the des- cription of the members1 and serves to answer. in part. the question. ”What is the make-up of the membership of Queen City Little Theatre?" The description begins with an analysis Of membership longevity. membership departure. and recruiting practices. during 1964. Such an analysis provides a view of membership stability and grganizational practices in promoting membership expansion. The make- 1See Chapter III. pp. 84-85. th should be recognized that the fulfillment of the aims of the organization depends upon membership Size. For example. the pressures associated with the major production would be lessened with a larger group to Share the work load. Moreover. a larger group could produce more major productions. and thus contribute more significantly to "the development of appreciation of dramatic works through the production of such works.” 100 101 up of the membership is then analyzed in terms of age. sex. and marital status: occupations represented in the organization: the educational theatre backgrounds of members: membership in national and regional organiza- tions concerned with community theatre: and periodical publications concerning community theatre which are read by the members. These areas were investigated to deter- mine the nature of group homogeneity and to provide in- formation which might be useful in determining why the organization functions as it does. The principal source of data for this chapter was members' responses to selectid items on the questionnaire administered in May of 1964. Additional information came from informants within the organization. Membership Longevity. Membership Departure. and Recruitment Membership in Queen City Little Theatre has fluctua- ted between twenty-five and forty members over the past five years and between thirty-seven and thirty-one members during 1964. Membership records Show no trend toward growth. although the membership as of May of 1964 con- sisted of thirty-five persons. a figure near the maximum size of the organization. 1Active membership as Of May of 1964 totalled 35. This report excludes two members who became inactive be- tween January and May. but includes four members who be- came inactive between June and December. Thus. the member- ship profile presented here. "arrests' the organization at the time Of the administration of the questionnaire. 102 Membership chgevity: Only two of the members of 1964 were charter members of 1951. One of these has main- tained continuous membership and participation. while the other drOpped membership for a period of eight years dur- ing the fourteen year life of the organization. The av- erage term of membership among those who were registered in May Of 1964 was four years. Of the thirty-five members in the spring of 1964. ten persons had been members for a period of one year or less. while nine persons had been members for more than six years. Twelve persons had been members for a period of time equal to. or exceeding. the average of four years. TABLE 1--Lcngevity of the members of Queen City Little Theatre as of May. 1964. _- Term Of Active Membership Number of Present Members 1 year or less........................10 1-2 years............................. 2-3 years............................. 3-4 years............................. “-5 yearaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 5 I. I. 3 5-6 years............................. 0 6-7 years............................. 3 7-8 years............................. 0 8-9 years............................. 0 9-10 years............................ 1 1 10-11 yearseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 103 Table 1 continued Term of Active Membership Number of Present Members 11-12 years............................ 2 12-13 years............................ 0 13-14 yearSOeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 2 In view of the relatively large number of new mem- bers. two questions become immediately apparent: (1) Why do some members leave the organization? and (2) ch are new members recruited to the organization? Membepship Depapture: Six members became inactive between January of 1964 and December of 1964. Of the six. four moved away. one became too 111 to maintain active membership. and one left the organization due to lack of interest and lack of time to devote to its activities. Looking more closely at the four persons who moved away. it should be noted that all four maintained active participation almost to the time of departure. Of two who departed in August of 1964. one had performed in a workshop production in July of 1964 and the other in a workshop production in August. one week before leaving. Two persons left in NOvember of 1964. both having worked on the major production which was presented in that same month. Meme of these persons gave any hint of dissatis- faction with the organization: and their departure was simply the result of the necessity of their leaving the community. 104 The same is true of the person who became ill. Her continued interest in the organization was evidenced by her willingness to play a role in the fall production des- pite her illness. until doctor's orders prevented it. The sixth person gave no reason for leaving other than lack of interest and lack of time. the latter being the result of professional reSponsibilitieS. There is. however. some indication of dissatisfaction with the or- ganization which came to the attention of the investigator from another member who was a confidante of the departee. Further evidence of dissatisfaction is revealed in an ex- cerpt from a letter sent to the investigator by the de- parted member regarding his unwillingness to complete the questionnaire.1 Recpuitment 93: Np! Membpps: The history of Queen City Little Theatre shows that the replacement of the six persons who departed will eventually be brought about by recruitment of new members. The method of recruitment. however. will be haphazard. Although a substantial number of new members joined the organization between May of 1963 and May of 1964 (approximately 28% of the total current membership).2 there has been no observable membership drive or systematic recruitment program. 18ee quote from Stan's letter. Chapter II. p. 67. 2See Table 1. pp. 102-103. 105 A recruiting brochure was printed during the winter of 1963. but there is no evidence that it has been effec- tive in recruiting new members. The brochure invited ”any and all persons” to join and participate in the organiza- tion. Any and all persons who would like to join with us and take part in any phase of our year's pro- gram - whether regular stage productions. work- shop plays or study groups. or just attend meet- ings. which are always interesting. will be cor- dially welcome. We meet regularly each month. and a series of entertaining programs is planned for the present season. The brochure also emphasized the variety of Skills and in- terests needed by the organization: Now Have YOu Ever Wished That You Could Take Some Part In The Fun And Excitement of Creating.A Stage Play? Then you should think seriously about becoming a Little Theatre member. yourself. Can you act - or would you like to try? Then. we Obviously are for you. Or are your talents in other lines - such as sewing. wielding a paint brush or a hammer and saw. any type of design. or helping in the backstage organization while others are out in front doing the speechifying? Then you would find many Spots in which you could function happily with other kindred souls. And Take It From Us - There Is No Feeling That Can Top The Moment The Curtain Opens On YOur Play! .I; you want pp.look fppther into this inyitat;on just write your name. address and phone number on the coupon below. and mail it to the membership chair . Someone will get in touch with you very soon. 1"AMessage from Queen City Little Theatre: Queen City Little Theatre recruiting brochure. February. 1963. 21b;d. 106 Several members reported that the brochures were placed at Smith Air Force Base. the Public Library. and The YMCA - YWCA: and they were distributed at productions of the Queen City Little Theatre. "The reSponse was mini- mal." according to Eve. ”PeOple don't flock to us at all. We have to dig."1 HOpe indicated that four persons responded‘ by mail- ing the coupon. Because no record was kept of the re- Sponses. however. no one knows who the four are. Ann thought that there were six reSponses. none of which She could identify: and June's answer to the question. "What was the result of last year's brochure? Did anyone reSpond to it?” was. ”I don't know of anyone who actually did."2 The membership chairman is equally uncertain about the re- sponses to the brochures. Cy's feeling is that there is no recruiting program. He implies that the organization depends largely upon per- sons seeking the group. The following dialogue reveals Cy's view of the method of replenishing organizational mem- bership: Jim: Does Queen City Little Theatre have a recruit- ing program? Cy: No. Jim: HOw does Queen City Little Theatre replenish its group pOpulation? llnterview with Eve. August 24. 1964. 2Interview with June. August 25. 1964. 107 Cy: It's a haphazard thing. There always seem to be a few peOple who are interested and join the group. They often get interested through some minor participation and continue with it. but there is no systematic recruitment program. Jim: Does the group go out to get the person or does the person come to the group? Cy: It's hard to generalize. I think mostly the person seeks the group... Eve's feeling is that the group does attempt to re- cruit members. Her statements reflect. to a large degree. her past reSponsibility as producer. since the producer. as alter-ego of the director. would Share many of the dir- ector's insecurities about having enough peOple to work on the production in question. In answer to the question. "Does Queen City Little Theatre have an active recruiting program.” the following dialogue reveals Eve's slight difference of Opinion with Cy and her role as recruiter in the position of producer: Eve: Everyone is on the lookout for a victim more or less. Jim: On a person to person basis? Eve: But we do have these brochures out to the various clubs. Jim: What was the return on the brochure? Eve: I think it was minimal. PeOple don't flock to us at all. we have to dig. Jim: Whom do you attempt to recruit? (a long pause from Eve Does it make any difference who (Sic) you recruit? llnterview with Cy. August 31. 1964. Eve: Jim: 108 It makes a difference. We generally like to see newcomers come in whether we know what their talent is or not. but if we know someone was real great in University Theatre in something and we need a role filled we approach this per- son. We have to dig for casting and for backstage every production. When you have recruited someone to play a certain role in a show. is there any real effort to fol- low up on that person to try to get him as a reg- ular member? I certainly make the effort and I think many do. What happens to a person who comes down to try- outs. but doesn't get a part? Well chances are you wouldn't see him again. but upon occasion they will come back and try again. Is any effort made to go back after that person? Yes - well at least I do. I have committees and need people for tryouts. That has been my way of producing - giving a lot of peOple nudges whi I feel would be good in the cast and backstage. June. too. has served as producer and assistant produ- cer. and reveals that she has recruited persons for a given production: Jin: June: What's the recruiting system at Queen City Lit- tle Theatre? We never did have anything very specific. Last year we sent out a letter to various people. but as far as general membership is concerned we just rely on someone seeing some publicity and coming to us. We don't really recruit. We've recruited for associate members. but I don't geel that we've ever recruited for regular mem- ers. IInterview with Eve. August 21:. 1964. 109 Jim: Basically you have peOple in the community com- ing to you? June: I don't think we are too active. Maybe we re- cruit in some ways when we have a Show and we call someone up and ask them if they'll work on costumes or something. but you see we never do ask them to become a member...1 It must be noted. however. that while Eve claims to follow up on occasional participants to expand membership in the organization. June apparently does not follow up on prOSpective members and believes that there is no group ef- fort tO recruit prOSpects. Such follow up could be of importance to the fulfill- ment of the organization's stated purpose. This would be particularly true in the case of prOSpective new members who indicate an interest in the organization or theatre pro- duction by offering their services to the group. but are not used at the time of the offer. These persons. of whom Eve says. "Chances are you might never see them again." might at another time provide a valuable service to the group in either organizational work or production work. and may be instrumental in providing the necessary group depth tto expand the theatrical offering to the community beyond the single major production each season. .At tryouts for the fall production. such a person. unknown to the members. did appear at tryouts and was not cast. .A record was kept of her tryout. but no follow-up llnterview with June. August 25. 1961:. 110 was made to induce her to become a member even though she did not get a part in the current production. In the questioning of HOpe about the handling of such peOple. she said that they are contacted if they indicate a willing- ness to participate in aSpects of production other than acting.1 An investigation of the tryout questionnaires indi- cated that the person in question. Rose. answered ”Yes” to the questionnaire item. 'Would you be willing to assist backstage if not Cast." but placed a question mark after the item. ”In what capacity.” This could be inter- preted to mean either "In any capacity (wherever I am needed)" or ”I don't know enough about backstage work to make a choice." Ineither case. Rose was a good prospect for membership who may have been lost to the group through the lack of follow up. The investigator questioned the candidate at a later date. and discovered that the latter answer. lack of knowledge of backstage work. was the cor- rect interpretation. AS an elementary school teacher of language arts. however. Rose may be an excellent prOSpect for membership if adequately encouraged to join and parti- cipate in the organization. 1Space is provided on the tryout questionnaire for the person trying out to indicate a willingness to serve on one of the many crews for the production in question. 111 Make-Up Who. then. are the persons in the community who have been haphazardly recruited or who have sought membership in Queen City Little Theatre? Data from the questionnaire administered in May are used to describe and analyze the membership of the organization in terms of age. sex. marital status. occupation. and backgrounds in education- al theatre. In addition. questionnaire data are used to describe and analyze members' contacts with theatre out- side of the local community through their reading of theatrical publications and their membership in regional or national theatrical associations. Some questions traditionally asked in a demographic study were deliberately omitted from this study because of the probability that they would endanger the investiga- tor's rapport with the members and interfere with more im- portant field research during the months following the ad- ministration of the questionnaire. Such questions. gen- erally used to establish social class. are source and amount of family income and highest educational level at- tained. It must be remembered that each member was asked to identify himself on the questionnaire. It was believed. therefore. that the reSpondents would be reluctant to give information of a more personal nature. The information sought was the type that is more easily Observed and there- fore less sensitive. Moreover. it was felt that social class could be 112 established through the occupations of the members. even though the technique is. admittedly. less reliable than is probably true when using other demographic data in conjunction with occupation.1 However. since the investi- gation of social class is somewhat less important to this study than the data which were to be collected after the administration of the questionnaire. the omission of sen- sitive questions which lead to the more accurate estab- lishment of the social class of the individual was judged to be apprOpriate. The questioning of the individual's educational theatre background as well as the establishment of his readership of theatrical publications and non-local thea- tre organizational membership also had a degree of sensi- tivity. but that information was believed to be important enough to sacrifice some possible rapport for the sake of gathering such data. Agg.{§pg. gpd Marital Status: Of the thirty-five persons who composed the membership of Queen City Little Theatre in May of 1964. eighteen were between the ages of 1Warner. Meeker. and Eells discovered. in their study of Jonesville. that occupation is a significant factor in determining social class. Though they arrived at four Index 29 Status Characteristic factors. occupation alone correlated with Evaluated Papticipation at .91: £0.2- being one of the methods used to arrive at social class. See W. Lloyd Warner. Marchin Meeker. and Kenneth Eells. Social Class in America (Chicago: Science Research Associates. Inc.. I949). pp. 35 and 168. 113 twenty and thirty years. while nine were between thirty and forty years. and eight were over forty. Twenty of the members are women. and fifteen are men. The organ- ization. therefore. with more than half of its members under thirty years of age. must be described as primar- ily a group of young people. More than one-half of the members are not married (19 members). while sixteen are married. Two of the un- married members were previously married and are now di- vorced. Fourteen of the nineteen unmarried members fall into the twenty to thirty year old age group. three are in the thirty to forty year old age group. and two un- married members are over forty. An analysis of the three demographic elements of age. marital status. and sex reveals that the largest group is the single men in the twenty to thirty year old age group. This group totals nine of the thirty-five members. or approximately 25%. That group is followed by three groups. each of which is composed of five per- sons. They are (1) single women between twenty and thirty years of age. (2) married women between thirty 1 and forty. and (3) married women over forty. 18ee Table 2. p. lin. llh TABLE 2--Age. sex. and marital status of the mem- bers of Queen City Little Theatre. NOn- Non- Married harried Married Married _Age Meg_ Women Men Women Totals 20-30 2 2 9 5 18 30-40 1 5 2 l 9 over 40 l 5 - _:§ 8 Totals u 12 ll 8 35 The composition of the membership in terms of age. sex. and marital status may be described as heterogeneous. The largest concentration of members is in those categor- ies which are composed of individuals who may be seeking leisure time activities.1 while the smaller concentration of members is in those categories which are composed of per- sons who may have available less leisure time.2 Occupations 2; Members: Occupational representation in Queen City Little Theatre consists of eight housewives who are unemployed: seven professional or executive per- sons; three persons whose occupations are classified as managerial; nine persons whose occupations may be classi- fied as sales. clerical. white collar. or service: three artists: two students; and three unemployed persons. 1Married women whose children are beyond the most de- pendent ages and young. unmarried persons who do not yet have family responsibilities and who seek social contacts outside of the home. 2Married men of all ages and young married women who may have pre-school children. 115 Eight of the persons work at Jobs closely related to theatre. Two of these are public school teachers in re- lated disciplines (Art and English). one is an executive at a local television station. one is a television pro- ducer-director. one is a commercial artist. one works in electronics at a Job closely related to his service to the organization as a lighting technician. one is a portrait L colorist. and one is a hair stylist. I Using occupation as an index to social class.1 the membership of Queen City Little Theatre is composed of 2 persons in all classes except the lowest class. 1Werner. Meeker. and Eells considered occupation to be weighted more heavily in determining social class sta- tus then each of three additional factors when using the Index of Status Characteristics. See W. Lloyd Werner. Marcia Meeker. and Kenneth Eells. Social Class in America (Chicago: Science Research Associates. Inc.. 1953). pp. 163-169. The present use of occupation alone to de- termine social class status is. of course. less reliable than would be true if all factors used in the Jonesville study were used. The purpose here. however. is not as much to identify. statistically. the class structure of Queen City Players as it is to show that the organization is heteregeneous in terms of social class. See Warner. pp. 140-141 for the rating scale used in this study. 28ee Table 3. p. 116. 116 a TABLE 3--Rating of occupations represented in Queen City Little Theatre. Social Status Number of Occupations Eating in Classificationb 1....................................... 3 2....................................... 8 3.......................................10 h....................................... h 5....................................... l 6....................................... 4 7......00......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0... o aHusband's occupation was used in the case of each married female. bFive unemployed persons are not included in this analysis. Backgrogpds in Educational Theatre: The large number of persons in unrelated occupations. however. does not necessarily signify a lack of knowledge of theatre prac- tice. Many members have develOped skills and interest in dramatic production through college. professional. and secondary school course work or through theatre production work while in college. professional school. or secondary school. Of the thirty-five members of Queen City Little Thea- tre. only five persons indicate no theatre training or ex- perience in the educational theatre. Of the five. two in- dicate that they have had private lessons in dramatics. Thirteen members have had course work in theatre in 117 high school. and twenty-five indicate that they have par- ticipated in high school dramatic productions. Twelve persons have had theatre course work in college or pro- fessional school. One of these. Hope. has a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre: and another. Dawn. has a college minor in theatre. The remaining ten persons have completed a total of thirty courses in theatre on the college and professional school level. for an average of three courses per person. Seventeen persons have participated in col- lege or professional school productions for a total of 152 productions. or an average of 8.35 productions per person. These data reveal a considerable amount of study and participation through the educational theatre on the part of the members of Queen City Little Theatre: and they support a statement by Cy. one of the leaders of the organi- zation. that: One of the important functions of Queen City Little Theatre is to provide an expressive out- let for persons who have had training in theatre. but are new in vocations which do not make use of their training.1 Continuing Education: In spite of the great amount of background and experience in educational theatre. how- ever. the members of the organization show little concern for keeping up with theatrical develOpments or for main- llnterview with Cy. August 31. 196#. 118 taining contact with the community theatre movement through membership in regional or national theatre or- ganizations. Four members of the thirty-five claim membership in a national or regional theatre organization. One claims membership in the Amegican Educational gbggpgg AssociaflonI but does not claim a subscription to £9325- gional Theatre ggggggl (a publication received by all mem- bers of the organization) and is not listed in the Ages;- gap Educational Theatre Association Directogz:1 one be- longs to the Egg England Theatpe Conference: one is a mem- ber of Acggg'g §33i21.Association: and one is a member of ngphg Theta_th. an honorary college dramatic society.2 Some contact is maintained with theatre outside of the community through periodical publications. Twenty-four. persons said they read Theatge Apps occasionally before it ceased publication in the spring of 196“. Of these. only four subscribed to the publication. Of the twenty-four eight also read some other publication related to theatre. The publications are §hgg. read occasionally by five per- sons and subscribed to by one: Egg England Theatre Confer- ence Newsletter. received and read regularly by one person: 1It can be concluded that the respondent is not cur- rently a member of AETA. though he may have been a member previously. 2Of the four organizations. only two (AETA.and NETC) are concerned with the role of community theatre in society. and the develOpment of American theatre and drama. Actor's Equity is the professional actors' union. and Alpha Theta Chi is an honorary college dramatic society. 119 Encore. subscribed to by one person: variety. read occasionally by one person:‘!g£lg_Theatre. read occa- sionally by one person: and 922 a 3212' read occasionally by one person. Summary Although there has been no systematic recruitment of new members to Queen City Little Theatre. the organiza- tion has been relatively stable in terms of membership. neither diminishing substantially in size. nor showing growth or expansion of membership. Membership recruitment to Queen City Little Theatre is haphazard. based often upon group need for a particular production. More often members are not recruited. but seek membership in the organization through their own initiative. Thus. the organization demon- strates little interest in expanding its membership. Since such expansion is necessary if the organization is to make a greater impact upon the community. it must be concluded that community impact. while a part of the official statement of purpose of the organization. is not of great enough importance to the members for them to take whatever action is necessary to achieve that aim. The membership of Queen City Little Theatre is a mixed group of persons in terms of age. sex. marital sta- tus. and occupation. with the highest degree of homogeneity existing in terms of their backgrounds in educational thea- tre. In addition. the members reveal. through their read- 120 ing of theatre periodicals. some interest in the con- temporary American theatre. In spite of that interest and their educational theatre backgrounds. however. there is a lack of identification with the national and regional community theatre movement through membership in national and regional theatre organizations. It has been concluded further. therefore. that Queen City Little Theatre has not yet demonstrated an interest in working collectively with other similar organizations to improve the community theatres in the United States. CHAPTER V MEMBERS' STATED REASONS FOR PARTICIPATING IN QUEEN CITY LITTLE THEATRE Introduction Since Queen City Little Theatre is a volunteer asso- ciation. with the individual member largely responsible for initiating his own membership and participation. an analy- sis was made of the members' stated reasons for partici- pating in the organization. Assuming that such an organization functions in terms of its members' reasons for participation. and fur- ther assuming that members would be truthful in stating their reasons. it was expected that the results of such an analysis would be consistent with the tentative conclusion arrived at in Chapter III. i.e. that the organization's principal function is to provide for recreation rather than community service or theatre service.1 Moreover. if the results were as expected. they would explain the membership data in Chapter IV: (1) very little interest in increasing impact upon the community by expanding either the membership or Operations of the or- ganization. and (2) little concern for identifying with the national movement through national or regional theatre organizations. 18ee Chapter I. pp. 27-28. 121 122 In addition. the expected results should support the interpretation placed upon the membership data in Chapter Iv. i.e. that membership consists primarily of persons in the community who have ample leisure time to devote to the organization and who seek non-professional recreational activity and social contacts.1 Data for this chapter came from one item on the questionnaire: The Open-end question. ”Why do you partici- pate in Queen City Little Theatre?" The Open-end question provides the reSpondent with the Opportunity to give more than one reason for participating in the organization. An additional advantage to the Open-end question is that it may have. in some cases. encouraged respondents to think more thoroughly about their reasons for participa- ting in the organization. In connection with this latter advantage. respondents were able to structure responses in terms of their own thinking rather than follow the in- vestigator's answer choices. Concerning Open-end questions. Pauline Young. while commenting upon their weakness. states: open-end questions permit persons to express their views and opinions or to report details in their own way without the restrictions imposed by closed questions...The open-end question has been employed successfully where the primary infoamaticn to be developed is qualitative in nature. lsee Chapter IV. p. 114. 2Pauline v. Young. W M m 2.49. 29.- search (3rd ed.: Englewocd Cliffs. N. J.: Prentice Hall. Inc.. 1956). p. 191. 123 One of the disadvantages of this direct approach was the investigator's inability to determine the degree to which the respondent was capable of identifying his mo- tives: however. the problem was not considered to be of paramount importance since conclusions reached were to be tentative and used in the final analysis in conjunction with conclusions reached by other means. More important was the problem of whether or not the members would be truthful in stating those reasons for participation which they could consciously identify. It should be noted. however. that there were no strong reasons for members to avoid the truth except. for some. the possible desire to present themselves as altruistic rather than self-centered in their reasons for participa- ting. In both instances the tendency would have been to state community service or theatre service reasons rather than self-oriented ones. Since the results do not indi- cate such responses. but rather emphasize the self-oriented reasons for participating. a high degree of honesty in the responses has been assumed. The final problem. which is always a disadvantage in using any Open-end question is one of investigator inter- pretation of the responses. The method of interpretation was to place each separate statement on a four-by-six file card and then index the cards. Since some members re- sponded to the question with more than one statement. there were fifty-two separate cards in the file. The investiga- 12“ tor then indexed all statements by dividing them into four major categories. The categories were (1) self-or- iented reasons for participation. (2) community-oriented reasons for participation. (3) theatre-oriented reasons.1 and (h) miscellaneous reasons. The fourth category included those statements which could not be interpreted and classi- fied. The result was a large number of responses in the self-oriented category. These were then sub-divided into five sub-classifications which were (A) personal enjoyment. (B) social interaction. (C) self-expression. (D) self-im- provement. and (E) recognition. To increase the reliability of the results. a second person. not involved with the study. but familiar with the technique employed. was asked to repeat the process with the categories identified. but without knowledge of the classification of each card by the investigator. All statements not agreed upon by the two judges were placed in a fifth major category called "Disagreement." Of the fifty-two separate statements. the judges were in agree- ment on forty-nine of the statements when placing them in 1The three orientations are based upon the possible functions of a community theatre in terms of its contribu- tions to American life (see Chapter I. PP. 27-29). One is "self-oriented" if his concern is to ”serve himself“ through recreation or social interaction: "community or- iented" if he participates in order to bring live thea- tre to the community: and/or ”theatre oriented” if he participates to experiment with theatrical production. produce original scripts. or keep alive the classics and masterpieces of drama of the past. 125 the four major categories and were in agreement on thirty- five of the statements when further sub-classifying the self-oriented reasons for participation. TABLE h--Classification of members' responses by major category to the question ”Why do you participate in Queen City Little Theatre?" Number of Number of Number of cards classi- cards classi- cards classi- Major fied by judge fied by judge fied similarly Categories #1 #2 by both judges I. Self Oriented Reasons 4h 45 43 II. Community Ori- ented Reasons 3 3 3 III. Theatre Oriented Reasons 0 O 0 IV. Miscellaneous Reasons 5 h 3 V. Disagreement by Judges .1 ..x. .1 TOTALS 52 52 52 126 TABLE 5--Classification of members' responses by sub-categories of self-oriented reasons to the question ”Why do you participate in Queen City Little Theatre?" Number of Number of Number of cards classi- cards classi- cards classi- fied by judge fied by judge fied similarly Categories #1 #2 by both judges I. Self Oriented Reasons .A. Personal Enjoy- ment 15 28 15 B. Social Inter- action 12 5 h C. Self Ex- pression 7 5 3 D. Self Im- provement 7 5 5 E. Recognition 3 2 2 II. Community Oriented Reasons 3 3 p 3 III. Theatre Oriented Reasons 0 O 0 IV. Miscellaneous Reasons 5 h 3 V. Disagreement by Judges .. .. 17 TOTALS 52 52 52 In terms of the four major categories of members' stated reasons for participating in Queen City Little Thea- tre. the forty-nine statements similarly classified by both 127 judges were revealed to be overwhelmingly in the self-ori- ented classification. Forty-three of the responses were interpreted as belonging in that category. as compared with three responses classified as community service oriented and no responses classified as theatre service. Three re- sponses were agreed upon as miscellaneous. and the judges disagreed upon three of the responses. While the judges agreed that forty-three responses fell into the major cate- gory of self-orientation. they were in less agreement as to the Specific sub-classification of these responses.1 A further analysis of the statements revealed that of the three persons who gave community service oriented statements. two gave. in addition. self-oriented reasons for participation. The lone person who gave community service as her only reason for participating stated simply. "The community needs and should have constant exposure to the theatre arts.” No obvious pattern existed in the relationship be- tween sub-groups and reasons for participating other than the fact that all five of the persons who in the judgement of the judges. gave self-improvement reasons for partici- pating were in the 20-30 year old age group. This is. per- haps. to be expected since that age group represents the largest sub-group by age in the organization. More specifi- 1The overlapping nature of the sub-classifications may well account for the disagreement. 128 cally. an interpretation of that datum could be the desire on the part of younger people to experiment with their abilities and to prepare themselves more adequately for the future. Typical of the self-improvement reSponses were. ”To improve my ability to converse." "It [theatre] is my choice for a career and I feel much can begained in ex— perience. on whatever scale." and ". . . to learn [about theatre] through observation and participation." Conclusions The data clearly show that to the degree that mem- bers were able to identify their reasons for participating in Queen City Little Theatre. and to the degree that they were willing to state those reasons. participation is mo- tivated chiefly by self-oriented reasons as compared to community service or theatre service. Moreover. of the self-oriented reasons. all. with the possible exception of self-improvement reasons. are recreational and social. Thus. of the forty-nine statements interpreted similarly by the two judges. forty-three are statements indicating recreation. self-development. and social interaction as the prime motives for participation in Queen City Little Theatre. The above interpretation. consistent with the con- alusions tentatively arrived at in Chapter III. are quite inconsistent with John Wray Young's suggestion that com- ..129 . munity theatre participants give their talents freely as 1 a community service. and Kenneth Macgowan's description of a community theatre as ". . . a theatre dedicated to . 2 serving the community rather than any small group." A closer. more accurate description of Queen City Little Theatre can be seen in Card and Burley's conclusion that. ”. . . most Community Theatres try to bring good plays to their audiences. but not at the expense of the recreational function of the organization." or Baker's conclusion: .A community theatre. therefore. is not a revolt. nor an advance from Broadway. nor a pressure group working for the decentralizing of theatre: nor is it the embryo of a national theatre. If it is a revolt against anything. it is a revolt against dullness and inactivity. against the mechanisms and deadly routines of the pedestrian spirit which overwhelm the individual who has few Spiritual and emotional outlets. 1John Wray Young. "A.Community Theatre Quiz." Theatre Arts (Aug. 1960). p. 16. see above. Chapter I. p. 10. 2Kenneth Macgowan. Footli hts Across America (New York Harcourt. Brace and Co.. 1929). p. 86. see Chapter I. p. 15. 3Robert Card and Elizabeth Burley. Community Theatre: Idea and Achievement (New York: Duell. Sloan and Pearce. 1959). p. 21. see Chapter I. p. 26. “Virgil L. Baker. "The Community Theatre As A Force in Adult Education." Educational Theatre Journal IV (1952) p. 228. see Chapter I. p. 21. CHAPTER VI MEMBERS' OPINIONS CONCERNING KEY GROUP PRACTICES As was shown earlier. Queen City Little Theatre has maintained the policy and practice Of selecting and casting plays by committee: and it has Operated on a completely amateur basis by not appointing any type of paid leader- ship. These practices are inconsistent with what has been described as apprOpriate for mature community theatres and are also inconsistent with national trends in con- 1 temporary community theatre practice. It was also suggested earlier in this study. that the attentions and interests Of the members too frequently turn inward toward self satisfaction than are appropriate for an organization wishing to have an impact on the cul- tural life of the community. As has been shown also. one major production per year to which the general community is invited seems an insufficient number from an organiza- tion which is also capable Of producing a number of private workShOp programs for the personal amusement of its mem- bers if the organization has. as one of its aims. the de- velOpment of public appreciation of dramatic works through 2 the presentation Of such works. lSee MacKaye. Gard and Burley. Work. and Young. Chapter I. pp. 9-11. 2See Chapter III. pp. 76. 130 08 t1: TI ff - .I1 Iii; 3.1., l 131 It has also been shown that the quality of play choi- ces for major productions has not improved over the past two years since the adOption Of the new by-laws in 1963.1 Thus Schoell's contention that a community theatre. to ful- fill its responsibility. must seek to enrich the dramatic experience of the community2 is not being met by Queen City Little Theatre. It would seem from the data reported in Chapters III. IV. and V that meeting such responsibility is relatively unimportant to the members of Queen City Little Theatre as deomonstrated by group practices. membership a make-up. and members' stated reasons for participating. Two questions remain unanswered however: (1) whether or not the members would change Operating policy and prac- tice if given the Opportunity: and (2) what rationale do members offer for the operating policy and practices which they prefer? The present chapter will report on an investigation of the four aspects 'Of group policy and practice about which some controversy has taken place within the organization and about which critics of the community theatre and other theatre artists have made some commentary: (1) the number of productions per season. (2) the types of plays which are apprOpriate for production. (3) selecting and casting plays by committee. and (a) the payment of personnel. lsee Chapter III. pp. 89-8L. 2See Chapter I. pp. 23-25. 132 Number of Productions Per Season A study by Dietrich and Work of a representative sample of 195 community theatres in 1949-1950 revealed that the average community theatre program would have n.75 productions per year: each production would play 6.65 times before a total audience of 1900.1 Queen City Little Theatre's program falls somewhat below the aver- age in terms Of number of performances and the audience reached. Queen City Little Theatre presents from four to Six productions each year. one of which plays for two performances to a total audience Of approximately 1.000: and each Of the remaining productions plays one night to an audience Of approximately 80 persons. The first Of these is referred to as the £519; production. and the latter are referred to as workshOp productions. The gen- eral public may attend major productions. while the work- shOp productions play to an invited audience.2 One of the major areas of controversy in Queen City Little Theatre has been over the number of major productions to present each season. Previous to the inauguration of the workshOp program. when the organization presented one 1Jchn E. Dietrich and William Work. ”Dramatic Activi- ty in.American Community Theatres: 1949-19503 terl Jgurnal 2; Speech XXXVII. No. 2 (April 1951). p. 135 : 2Referring to productions presented for invited audiences. Kenneth Macgowan has stated that such private showings are not truly community theatre since they do not.uin fact. reach the community. See above. Chapter I. p. l . 133 or two productions each season. the controversy was re- portedly more acute: but since 1963. the workshOp program has satisfied some of the advocates Of more major produc- tions per year. However. Eve testified. ”The number of majors to produce each year is still the reason for our biggest conflicts."1 Other organizational leaders have testifeid similarly. In order to determine the Opinion Of the group. each member was asked. "How many major productions do you feel Queen City Little Theatre should do each year?” and "How many workshop productions do you feel Queen City Little Theatre should do each year?" These questions were then followed by a third question. which asked each member to explain why he feels as he does. The majority of the members currently favor the present organizational practice Of presenting one major production each year. While there is a large group (nearly one-half of the membership) that favors a change in the direction Of more major productions per year. the majori- ty Of this group would prefer to increase the Offering to 2 two major productions only. 1Interview with Eve. March. 196n. 2The greatest number of major productions advocated was four. that number being advocated by one person. ,See Table 6. p. 134. 134 TABLE 6--Members' preferences as to the number Of major productions to be given each year by Queen City Lit- tle Theatre Number of Number of Members Advocating Productions the Stated Number of Productions 1 per year..............................20 2 per year..............................12 2 or 3 per year......................... 1 3 per year.............................. 1 # per year.............................. 1 More than one-half of the members advocate the present practice of presenting from three to five workshop plays per year. Two would decrease the number of workshOp produc- tions. Five would increase the number. and ten had either no opinion or indicated no specific number of workshOp pro- duction. using words such as "several" to describe their beliefs. TABLE 7--Members' preferences as to the number of workshop productions to be given each year by Queen City Little Theatre Number of Number Of Members Advocating Productions the Stated Number of Productions 1 per year.............................. 1 2 per year.............................. 1 3-5 per year............................18 6 or more per year...................... 5 ”several”000000000000.0000000000000000IO 1 "as many as possible”................... 3 no opimonOOOOOCOOIO0.0.0.000...00...... 6 135 Reasons given by the members for their beliefs had to do with human and financial resources of the organiza- tion. Eve. one of the leaders Of the organization and a strong advocate of a single major production each season. presented the reason for her belief as: Experience. Learned standard of production suffers. Small number of qualified members who are willing to be constantly involved. Community does not support. Merchants saturated (we depend on pro- gram ads for production costs). Scarcity of spon— sors. Members overworked. Lila and Sue. also favoring a single major production each year. make no mention Of the human resources of the organization. but focus their comments on the lack of financial support from the community: Lila: Queen City won't or can't support too many major productions each year. Sue: Adequate financial support is difficult. A more Often stated reason for limiting major pro- ductions. however. has to do with the inadequacy of group size or with the pressures such practice would bring to bear upon a relatively small number of the active members: Joe: There are just not enough peOple to go around. Sam: . . .more than one major production would be asking too much from the backstage crew and all other persons. Fred: Queen City Little Theatre is completely capa- ble of one production a year. but two would entail too much work on a dedicated. active. minority. 1Quotation taken from Eve's questionnaire. All other statements quoted in this chapter were taken from the questionnaires. The name preceding each statement identi- fies the member making the statement. 136 Cy: Because major productions consume too much time. . . Mary: Overwork loses members. June: Time limitation for quality production and com- munity participation would diminish if too many Offerings were made in one year. Beth's more personal reason for her belief in a single major production each year suggests very strongly the self- oriented motivation Of the member. She states: The ones we do now are adequate for me. being a busy housewife with small children. While. in the Opinion Of the above members. the num- ber Of major productions should be limited to one. work- shOp productions were often regarded as a better means of producing more plays during the season. Al said. "WOrk- shops can be selected for small casts. . ..” while Cy favors at least three workshOps because ". . .they give new peOple a chance and are free of financial responsibility implicit in a major production." Fred considers the organization to be capable of only one major production a year because. ”. . . two would en- tail too much work on a dedicated. active minority.” He favors nine workshops because: WorkshOps are a very good source Of entertainment which can be of great benefit to a majority of active members. Nine workshops is (sic) feasible on a 'rotated group' basis. Sam feels that "four workshOps can be done comforta- bly." as does Ed. who states: Due to the size of our organization more than one ma or show would be impractical. WorkshOp does no seem to put the same kind of burden or pres- sure On our group. 137 and Sarah who states: Queen City Little Theatre is not equipped either financially or in any other way to do more than one major a year. but I feel it can do as many workshops as it likes because of the limited num- ber of people required and the limited amount of time and money needed. While advocating two major productions and "4 or 5 workshOps." Dawn. the president Of the organization says: WorkshOps are 'the thing' I believe - a joy to do theatre for itself sake. devoid Of commercialism. and Lila calls workshop productions. ". . . ideal for pre- senting non-commercial. worthwhile. interesting productions." The antithesis of these comments was Often made by those who believe that Queen City Little Theatre should do more productions in order to involve more persons and attract more attention from the community. thereby in- creasing the prospect of financial solvency. Advocating two major productions. Ray feels that. "attendance should support the major productions." his explanation for advoca- ting ten workshOp productions. being. ”Workshops are valuable training ground. and everyone has a chance to par- ticipate.” Pete feels that two major productions. as well as four workshop productions. will ”. . . keep as many people busy as possible. thereby strengthening the group through participation.” He is joined in his belief by Gail. who advocates two major productions and six workshop productions. She explains: Two productions per year. I feel. would make our group a more 'closely knit' one. Also I believe 138 we would stay constantly fresh to the public eye. More workshOp plays would give those who have had no previous experience a chance to learn the many phases of theatre. Will gives "variety of experience" as a reason for advocating "2 or 3" major productions and "at least 4 work- shOp productions.” He states. "I feel that everyone learns much more from an active and varied production schedule."1 Two advocates of more than one major production commented on the contributions or Obligations of the com- munity theatre to the total community. Jean chose two ma- jor productions as the optimum number for Queen City Little Theatre and ”several" workshops as appropriate. and she further explained. "This type Of thing is excellent work. hobby or job and something any community's artistic and cultural standards are promoted by.” .Al. the most vocal Of those in favor of several major productions. feels the Optimum program for Queen City Little Theatre should include four major productions and eight workshop productions because: This group needs this many productions to fulfill its Obligations to itself and to the community in general. This number would provide a challenge and a sense of accomplishment. It may be stated. therefore. that Queen City Little Theatre now follows the policy of producing one major pro- duction and from three to five workshop productions each 11t should be noted that the majority of the advocates Of more than one major production are still looking inward toward the benefits which the members might receive from an increased production schedule. 139 season. The majority of themembers. twenty of the thirty- five questioned. agree that one major production is appro- priate. while a substantial minority would advocate more major productions. Of these. twelve advocate no more than two major productions each year: one person would be pleased with two major productions. but would accept a third production: one advocates three major productions: one advocates four major productions: and no member advo- cates more than four major productions in a given season. The reasons given by the members for their beliefs concerning the number of major productions are. to some degree. antithetical. The majority calls for one major production each year because of the lack of community sup- port and insufficient numbers Of active participants to produce more major productions. while the minority calls for more major productions to give more persons an Oppor- tunity to work at theatre production and to arouse greater support in the community. All but two persons indicates their exclusive con- cern to be for the organization. its financial solvency. and the interests of its own members. In this regard. there is a desire on the part Of the membership for the avoid- ance of "pressure“ resulting from major productions and an interest in the more relaxed. lower pressure workshOp production program. Two persons indicate some interest in the community and what Queen City Little Theatre may do or is obliged to 140 do to contribute to the artistic and cultural develOpment Of Queen City. No person commented upon the contribu- tions which such an organization may make to the art form. There is an interest in the workshOp program as a means Of eXpanding participation in the group. Only two persons want fewer workshop productions each year. while five want more than group policy calls for. Ten persons were not explicit in stating their desired number of work- shop productions: and the remainder. eighteen members. are satisfied with the present policy regarding the number of workshop productions to be given each year. WorkshOp. as has been stated. is generally regarded as involving less pressure than is true with major produc- tions. This factor. along with the comparatively small audiences invited to workshop productions (60-100 persons as compared to 800-1200 attending major productions) would suggest a greater interest in the recreational function of the community theatre than in its other service roles.1 Types of Plays for Major and WorkshOp Productions Dietrich and Work. and Schoell have shown that recent Broadway plays. particularly comedies. overwhelmingly out- weigh all other types Of production in the community thea- 1The implication here is not the complete absence of art or community service. It is. rather. that the motives Of the majority of the members - insofar as these data re- veal their motives - agree with the conclusions reached in the preceding chapter. 141 l tres. This. too. has been interpreted by Gard and Bur- ley and others as the placing of emphasis on the recrea- tional function of community theatres. often at the ex- pense Of their other service functions. The history of Queen City Little Theatre over the fifteen years Of its existence reveals that a total of twenty-seven major productions have been given. twelve of which were classified as recent Broadway comedies. ten of which were classified as recent Broadway dramas. three were classified as masterpieces of modern drama. one was classified as original (a bill of 3 one-act plays). and two were unclassified.2 The members' thinking is divided in terms Of type of plays to present as major productions. This part of the investigation was an attempt to analyze current think- ing in the organization regarding the types Of play which members consider to be most apprOpriate for major and workshOp production and to investigate the reasons for the members' beliefs. The question asked on the questionnaire was in three parts. The first two parts asked the members to rank. from one through six from among the six major 1Dietrich and Work. p. 189. and Schoell. "The Drama in the Community Theatre: 1940-1950.” p. 128. 2The unclassified plays were contemporary comedies which were never produced professionally in New York City. As published plays. however. they do not fit the "original play" category. l#2 1 classifications of drama. their preferences for (1) major productions and (2) workshOp productions. In addition. a blank was included as a possible seventh type of production to provide the reSpondent with an Opportunity to include a type of production not covered in the six classifications indicated. The third part of the question asked why they felt as they did with regard to play choices. This was to give the respondent an opportunity to present the reasons for his beliefs and to provide the investigator with data which might provide insight into the thinking of the in- dividual members. The system used to analyze the group response to the first two parts of the question was first to isolate those which clearly identified preferences for major productions by dramatic classification and those which clearly identified preferences for workshOp productions by dramatic classification.2 The ranks assigned by the members to each classification were then added together to get a total numerical score for the classification. Since the number 1 was assigned to the dramatic classifi- cation which the respondent preferred and the number 6 1The six classifications are based upon those used by saboell. See Edwin Schoell. "The Drama in the Community Theatre: l9fl0-1950." p. 130. Schoell's system was modified for this investigation to minimize the overlap of classi- fications. 2Some members merely checked those classifications which they preferred without ranking them. These unranked responses (9,for the major production item and 10 for the workshOp production item) are not used in this analysis. ln3 was assigned to the dramatic classification which he least preferred. the classifications having the highest total scores are those least preferred by the group as a whole.1 The results indicate that for major productions the group as a whole would choose plays in the following order from highest approval to least approval: (1) recent BEQEQ- gay comedies. receiving a total score of 46: (2) recent Broadway dramas. receiving a total score of 52: (3) master- pieces 23 modern.g;gm§. receiving a total score of 73: (4) n:e-mgdezn,drama§. receiving a total score of 113: (5) originals. receiving a total score of 130: and (6) egper - mgntal playg. receiving a total score of 139. TABLE 8-- Members' preferences for major productions by dramatic classification. Raw. Degree of Dramatic Type Score membership preference* Recent Broadway Comedy #6 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Recent Broadway Drama 52 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX *Note: Each X represents 5 quantity points. Total quantity points for each dramatic type was ar- rived at by subtracting the raw score from the total points possible if all persons had scored the dramatic type as their lowest preference and then adjusting to the nearest interval of 5. 1The total number of ranked responses to the question of major production choices was twenty-six. Thus. the pos- sible score Of 26 for a specific dramatic type would indi- cate unanimous approval. while the lowest possible score. lhh TABLE 8 continued: Raw Degree Of Dramatic Type Score membership preference* Masterpieces Of Mod. Drama 73 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Pre-mod. Drama 113 XXXXXXXXX Originals 30 XXXXX Experimental 139 XXX TABLE 9--Members' preferences for workshOp productions by dramatic classification. Raw Degree Of Dramatic Type Score membership preference* Recent Broadway Comedy 120 XXXXXX Recent Broadway Drglg 99 XXXXXXXXXX Masterpieces Of Mod. Drama 85 W Pro-Mod. Drama 8h XXXXXXXXXXXXX Originals 91 XXXXXXXXXXXX Experimental 51 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX *Note: Each X represents 5 quantity points. Total quantity points for each dramatic type was ar- rived at by subtracting the raw score from the total points possible if all persons had scored the dramatic type as their lowest preference and then adjusting to the nearest interval of 5. indicating unanimous disapprOval Of a specific dramatic type. would have been 156. Since there were twenty-five ranked re- sponses to the choice Of workshop production by dramatic classification. the highest possible score. indicating unan- imous approval would be 25 while the lowest. indicating unan- imous disapproval would be 150. 145 The preferences shown for workshOp productions by dramatic classification were: (1) experimental pigyg. receiving a score of 51: ppp-modern dramas. receiving a score of 84: (3) masterpieces 2; modern dramaI receiving a score of 85: (4) original pigyg. receiving a score of 91: (5) recent Broadway dramas. receiving a score of 99: and (6) recent Broadway comedies. receiving a score of 120. In addition. two suggestions were made in the space provided. one person suggesting that dramatic readings and cuttings would be good for workshOp productions. and another including musicals as a good choice for both major and workshop productions. It should be noted that the members' preferences for major productions are consistent with previous find- ings in surveys of community theatre play choices. It should be further noted that the members' preferences for workshop productions are. with the exception of original plays. in exact reverse order of the preferences for major public productions. An analysis of the reasons given by the members for their preferences reveals a lack of faith in the willing- ness of the community to support the productions which the members actually prefer to do. The preferences for major productions are based upon the need for box Office success. while the workshOp preferences are based upon group self-satisfaction. This notion was summed up by Ed. 146 who said: As our group depends on moneys realized from our major production and a Sponsor. we are at present in the position of pleasing a public with the major show - workshop is to please ourselves. The Play Selection Committee and the Casting Committee: Members' Opinions Two committees Often adversely criticized in com- munity theatres are the play selection and casting committees. While play selection by committee is tolerated. casting by committee is seldom acceptable to theatre artists. Dietrich explains the problem by stating: Casting the play is said to be fifty per cent of the directing. This may be an exorbitant claim. but there is little doubt that superior casting is necessary to first rate production. With a good cast. the director can Show his capabilities as an artist. With a poor cast1 the director's job may well be insurmountable. The principal reason for rejecting these committees as apprOpriate for community theatres is based upon the be- lief that the director is the primary authority in theatri- cal production and the one who unifies the production. His interest in the chosen play is of greatest importance. and his choice of actors to play the various roles is his first public statement of the interpretation that will be given the play. From the purely theatrical viewpoint it is appro- priate that the director select the play for production. 1John E. Dietrich. Play Direction (Englewood Cliffs. N. J.: Prentice Hall. Inc.. 1953). p. 227. 147 His choice depends upon a number of variables in addition to his own interest in the play. Availability Of what he considers to be apprOpriate acting talent for the play in question and the availability of stage Space to fulfill his production idea are important variables to consider. Then. tOO. he must decide whether or not design talent and design materials. including scenery. lighting equip- ment. sound. prOps. and costumes are available to fulfill his image of the production. While he can communicate with others regarding his ideas. no one can understand com- pletely what it is that exists in his imagination until the production appears on the stage. These are some of the reasons for giving directors the power of play selec- tion. The members Of a community theatre organization. how- ever. are volunteers who may wish a voice in the selection of plays for production. Since play production is the chief activity of a community theatre and the particular play selected governs. to a large degree. the group struc- ture during the preparation of the play. This in turn de- termines the role to be played by each member in the or- ganization during the preparation of the play. In Queen City Little Theatre. play selection for the major production is handled in the following way. The president Of the organization. with the advice of other members of the Board of Directors. appoints a play select- ion committee made up of four members and the director of 148 the forthcoming production. One member is appointed chairman and charged with the reSponsibility of select- ing a minimum Of five plays. The Board Of Directors then decides which of the five playws will be the next production. Since there are seven members of the Board of Directors. the maximum number of persons acting Of- ficially in the play selection process is twelve. This number may be reduced if the director or one of the mem- bers of the play selection committee happens to be a member of the Board Of Directors. For the past three years the director has. in fact. been a Board member. During the same three-year period. the play selection committee. with the exception of the director. has been made up of non-Board members. Thus. the total number of persons involved in play selection each year has been eleven. one short of the twelve person max- imum. HOpe. the past president Of the organization. ex- plained that this is a deliberate action in order to Spread representation over the organization. .As part Of the present study the investigator attended all meetings of the play selection committee. and observed no unusual power exerted by the director over the other committee members. Suggestions came from all members. and some plays were included in the final report of the play selection committee of which the pro- spective director had not been strongly in favor. The casting committee. on the other hand. functioned 149 entirely in the interest of the director. That committee of three persons in addition to the director was made up of two Board members and one non-Board member. all appoint- ed by the president. The investigator was permitted to attend all tryouts for the fall. 1964. major production and the meetings of the casting committee immediately following each tryout session. In these meetings the director had exclusive con- trol over casting and used the committee as a sounding board rather than as a decision-making body. Dialogue as follows was quite common in these meetings: Director: I'd like to use Jane as the Countess. What do you think? Member #1: I liked her. She's probably the only one who can really do the part. Member #2: I'll go along with that. Member #3: Whom do you like as Constance? Director: Dawn is the best. I'll use her foi the part if nobody better comes along. The following phase of the present study was an attempt to investigate the beliefs of the general member- ship regarding how they feel about the two committees. Four questions were asked on the questionnaire as follows: (1) Do you favor the play selection committee sys- tem of choosing plays? (2) Why do you feel as you do? 1 Th e f a S tak n f on th t : notes on gge m§e§§§2tor'§fi§ cas ingrcommigtggYoetiga or s 150 (3) DO you favor the casting committee system as a means of casting productions? (4) Why do you feel as you do? In answer to the first question concerning the play selection committee system of choosing plays. twenty-eight persons favored the system: one person did not favor the system: four persons said they favored the system. but con- ditionally: and one was undecided. One person did not respond to either this question or the question concerning the casting committee. In answer to the third question concerning the cast- ing committee system as a means of casting plays. twenty- four persons favored the system: six did not favor the system: and four favored the system. but conditionally. Reasons given by the members for their beliefs con- cerning both the play selection committee and the casting committee fall into three principal categories. The cate- gories are (1) the importance of the director as the most reSponsible person connected with the production and the one who should ultimately make the decisions. (2) the in- portance of group democracy and group involvement which the committee system encourages. and finally (3) the effi- ciency of the committee system over decision making by the entire organization. Those who do not favor the committee system or who favor it conditionally. most frequently cite the first of the above reasons for their belief. COncerning the matter of play selection the following are samples of statements 151 reflecting the members' recognition of the importancecf the director's authority and responsibility. Pete: Jane: The group may come up with good ideas. but the director has reSponsibility for the Show. therefore he Should be able to work with something he can do well. The director should have the say. I favor the present policy of choosing quali- fied directors first and placing the committee under his guidance. There should be a check and balance system. of director working with the play committee. suggesting perhaps. several plays. any one Of which he would undertake and from which they could choose. Those quoted above have the following to say about casting a play: and Pete: Jane: The director has the ultimate reSponsibility and he should be able to pick the peOple with whom he must work. The director. not the committee. has to work with these peOple. Also his conception Of the cast may differ substantially from the others. I feel the director should guide in the case of someone whom he does or does not wish to work with. I think the director should have sole reSponsi- bility for this. He or she is the best judge of who best fits the role as he (or she) sees it. In addition. Ed said: Once the play and director has been chosen the dir- ector should have full and final say on all facets of the show. Hope replied: A director should have the authority to select the cast with whom he or she wishes to work. 152 The largest group was composed of those who favored committees as the best means Of handling both play selec- tion and casting. The most frequently given reason for this belief had to do with group democracy. including fairness and group involvement. Cy's response. which follows. is typical of most Of the respondents who favored the play selection committee system: It adds to the democratic feeling. increasing in- terest in the group. and tends to result in great- er participation by the group. A sample of others who reSponded similarly were: HOpe: .A committee Of approximately 5 members hould represent the thinking Of the group suffi- ciently to select a play the members will be happy with. Sue: In a democratic group the committee decision is the only fair one. Dick: It will eventually give many peo 1e a chance to be on a committee and select he plays. Regarding the casting committee system. the responses. a sample Of which follows. were similar to those given for favoring the play selection committee: Hay: Several persons voting with majority rule. assures anyone trying out. of more fairness - and assures the play of better characters. Sarah: For the same reason I favor a trial by jury. Lila: Better evaluation of acting worth rather than picking favorites. Sue: In a democratic group - the committee decision is the only fair one. The third classification of reSponses revealed that some reSpondents thought of the alternative to the committee 153 system as being that of decision making by the membership at large. Their reasons for favoring the committee system were based largely upon the efficiency Of committee de- cision making over decision making by larger bodies. Concerning play selection. four persons compared the committee to a larger body Of decision makers. Rose: A small committee can better evaluate the worth of a play for its purpose than a large group. Sally: Because a few competent peOple make better decisions than a large group of ineXperienced individuals. Mark: There would be too much arguing and long de- lays in Open voting on the selection Of a play if this were not the case. Marie: A small qualified group can be more Objective than the membership at large. Concerning casting. one person compared the committee to a larger body Of decision makers. That person was Marie. whose response was identical to her reSponse to the play selection committee question. The data regarding the Opinions of the members Of Queen City Little Theatre concerning the committee system for choosing and casting plays reveal the following: 1) The majority of the members favor the present Olic Of choosi and casti la s b the Committee system?8but they agg Iesg pogitive toward the casting committee than they are toward the play selection committee. 2) Regarding both committees. those who do not favor the present system or who favor it conditionally believe in the primacy Of the director as the im- portant decision maker in both processes. 3) The reason most frequently given for supporting or favoring the committee system is that the 154 committee system is believed to be fair. to be democratic. and to involve more members in the important decision making processes Of the organization. Payment of Personnel Although the community theatre movement has been called "amateur in spirit." it has been shown by Work that the trend is toward more professional assistance through the appointing of paid staff.1 Others. too. have noted that the community theatres are professionalizing.2 The question of paying for professional leadership and direction by the Queen City Little Theatre has been described by Dawn. the current president. as "a purely academic argument since we can't afford to pay anybody anyway." Raising such a question with the membership may. therefore. be regarded as something of a waste Of time. Group Opinion on the subject. however. is of some impor- tance as an indicator Of the direction which the organiza- tion might move in the future and also to determine further the members'.attitudes toward the completely amateur status which the organization now enjoys. Similar to the methodology employed in the four pre- vious questions, the question was raised. “Do you feel that Queen City Little Theatre Should pay any Of its per- sonnel?" That question. which called for a yes or no 1Work. "Current Trends in Community Theatre Opera- tion." p. 465. 2See above. Chapter I. pp. 12-13. 155 answer. was followed with the Open end question. "Why do you feel as you do?" An analysis of the responses indicate that it would have been better to ask. "Should the Queen City Little Theatre hire professional leadership?" since many Of the members interpreted the question to mean the payment of persons who are pp! active volunteers in the organization. While the misinterpretation undoubtedly colored the re- sults. the responses to the Open-ended part Of the in- vestigation provide insight into the thinking Of the in- dividuals in the organization. Of thirty-three persons reSponding to the question. nine believe that Queen City Little Theatre Should pay some of its personnel. while nineteen believe that no one should be paid. Five persons gave qualified answers which included "expenses only" and "only as necessary.” Twelve of the nineteen who believe that there should be no paid personnel indicated a desire to keep the or- ganization an amateur community theatre by means of main- taining voluntary status of all persons involved in the organization. Samples Of their responses are: June: This is community participation and should be maintained on a voluntary basis. Jed: Should be completely amateur. Lila: I feel that to Operate at a peak of interest it Should be volunteer. Will: By placing the services of little theatre ersonnel on a monetary basis. we run the tfinger of becoming a professional organiza- on. 156 Four persons who said'ho" to the payment of per- sonnel. did so on the grounds of intra-group problems regarding who should be paid and how much to pay. Illus- trative Of this type Of response was Hope's. A.group half paid and half not paid can become disorganized. Whom to pay and whom not to pay gets to be a major problem. The remaining three persons who said "no" to the payment of personnel. indicated the inability of the or- ganization to meet the cost. Of the persons who believed that some persons should be paid. four believe that paying personnel is necessary to get "qualified" directors. while three believe that local professional theatre persons shOuld be paid if they lost earnings which would normally come from another job while serving Queen City Little Theatre. A number Of reSpondentS mentioned the particular job categories for which there should be some pay. Most fre- quently mentioned was that of the director. and the second most frequently mentioned was that Of the designer. It is clear that most of the members were not thinking in terms Of paid professional leadership as they dealt with these questions. They thought. instead. of payment to local persons or certain current members. The chief reason for this was the faulty wording of the original question. In addition. it is evident that there is some lack of SOphistication on the part of the membership regarding the nature of paid professional leadership as it is gener- 157 ally thought Of in other develOping community theatres. Nevertheless. there is a small group who g3 believe that some payment of those who work harder or contribute Specialized skills is consistent with amateur theatre and would produce better quality productions. It must be stated. however. that amateur status. fairness. and total group participation are valued highly by the majority Of the members: and a paid leader would have to insure the organization that these values would remain if he were to be hired by the organization. Conclusions It is clearly evident from the members' stated be- liefs concerning the number of major productions to be pre- sented and also from the members' statements concerning the types Of productions to present to the general commu- nity that the group as a whole has little faith in the re- ceptiveness Of Queen City audiences for an abundance Of worthwhile drama on the home stage. This belief may be based upon good evidence or it may be rationalization to justify current policy and practice. In any case. the members' general reluctance to change any Of the existing policies or practices is believed to be an expression Of satisfaction with the status-gp_. It appears. therefore. that if the wishes of the members are allowed eXpression. Queen City Little Theatre will continue to produce a single major production each year and that this will be a recent Broadway comedy or 158 recent Broadway drama. This production will serve prin- cipally as a group fund raising project to support the more interesting workshOp program.1 The workshOp program is more interesting to the mem- bers because it involves less pressure in terms Of (1) financing productions and (2) total group participation demands. It is the workshOp which will feature the less commercial masterpieces Of modern drama. pro-modern drama. experimental drama. and original drama. Since the workshOp audience is composed of from 60-100 invited guests. the program will have little impact upon the general community; but it will provide pleasant theatre production eXperiences to the members Of the organization. The members' attitudes toward the play selection committee system for choosing plays. the casting com- mittee system for casting plays. and the payment of per- sonnel. all reveal an awareness Of the production leaders as artists. but reveal further maintenance of group democ- racy and amateur status to be more important. Thus. to paraphrase Gard and Burley. Queen City Little Theatre might bring good plays to the audiences Of Queen City. but probably not at the expense of the recreational func- tion Of the organization. It must also be noted that there has been some Opposition to the status gu . The 1It can be Observed that this practice is not un- usual in either community or educational theatres in America. 159 Opposition has appeared slight. but it has been there. What remains to be investigated is how the members ex- press their differences Of Opinion. and more important. how the members with conflicting Opinions organize them- selves into sub-groups. What is being suggested here is the question of leadership and sub-group structure. the subject of Chapter VII. CHAPTER VII INFORMAL SUB-GROUP STRUCTURE AND THE FUNCTION OF LEADERSHIP Introduction Individual members' reasons for participating in a volunteer association. as well as their Opinions and be- liefs concerning group policy and practices. are Of vital importance to an organization if it is to retain its mem- bership on a voluntary basis. Of equal importance to an organization is group structure in terms Of the sub- groups which influence differing policies and practices. Even in an organization consisting of only thirty-five active members. action on controversial issues is depend- ent to a large degree upon how the members organize them- selves into sub-groups representing Opposing points of view. the relative power of each of these sub-groups. and the function of each of the sub-groups in the planning and Operation Of the total organization. The investigation of the phenomenon of sub-group structure and the function of sub-groups becomes. therefore. another important means of studying the crucial issues of an organization and the directions in which the organization is likely to de- velOp in the future. An investigation of sub-group structure leads ulti- mately to an investigation of the leadership of the sub- groups since it is around leaders that sub-groups are formed and it is through the leaders that the sub-groups are often given voice. Thus. a study of informal sub- 160 161 group structure is. in the final analysis. also a study of informal leadership. It Should be noted further that the structure and substance Of the informal leadership Of an organization may be equal to. or of greater impor- tance than. its formal leadership. The formal leadership structure of Queen City Little Theatre. as it has been established in the organization's by-laws was described in Chapter III of the present study. The present chapter will report on the description. func- tion. and leadership Of the informal sub-groups Of the organization. The data interpreted. analyzed. and report- ed upon in this chapter. collected in the form of field notes Of the organization in action and interviews with the leaders in question. will be related to the overall policies and Operation of the total organization. As leaders are discussed in the present chapter. their placement on the leadership poll. which represents an analysis of the members' responses to the question. "who are the person's you feel give the strongest leader- ship tO Queen City Little Theatre." will be indicated.2 The relative consistency between the results Of the poll and the investigator's selection of organizational leaders can be explained by noting that the organization is small (35 members) and the fact that the members were. in all 18cc Chapter III. pp. 90-97. 2See Chapter VIII. Table 10. p. 206 for a summary Of the leaders ip poll. 162 probability. intuitively basing their analysis of leader- ship On the same data being used more systematically by the investigator in his field notes to determine leader- ship. Leadership Of sub-groups was determined by the in- vestigator by consistency Of support received by leaders from their followers in general business meetings and committee meetings. notes collected from informal gossip. and the testimony of informants when actually questioned about sub-grouping and leadership-followership patterns. Sub-grouping in Queen City Little Theatre is de- termined by the position taken by leaders and followers in the areas of greatest intra-group conflict. These areas are: (l) the number of major productions to present each season and (2) the quality of dramatic literature to present as major productions. Overall Sub-Group Structure It is evident from the most casual conversation with members Of Queen City Little Theatre that the organization divides itself into three primary sub-groups. One sub- group is composed Of the older. more conservative members of the organization under the leadership Of Eve. They ad- vocate a single major production each year. The choice of the group is usually the more commercial Broadway comedy with strong emphasis on the box-office and concern for financial solvency. The Opposition is composed of the newer and younger members of the organization under the leadership of Ann. 163 This sub-group advocates the presentation of more major productions each year and. further. advocates selecting what it considers to be a better quality Of dramatic literature than is generally chosen for major productions. in order to achieve a higher degree of artistic success. Ann is also a strong advocate Of securing professional leadership by hiring a paid director. although there are many of her followers who disagree with her due to limited financial resources. The middle group. the largest of the three sub- groups. is led by HOpe. This group is composed of those who wish to keep the organization functioning as a finan- cially solvent organization. but advocate working toward improvement in the quality of dramatic literature for major productions and planning for more major productions in the future. Also included in this group are the less Opinionated members Of the organization who simply follow the stronger leadership of Hope. HOpe uses the term "conservatives" to refer to the older members and "liberals" to refer to the younger sub- group. She does not label her sub-group. which for pur- pose Of identification on the conservative - liberal con- tinuum will. hereafter in this report. be called the "middle"sub—group. The conservatives and liberals are often in Open conflict with each other. while the middle group plays the role of mediator in resolving such conflicts. The 164 middle group has the greatest power due to its size and the strength Of HOpe's leadership. Its position is less extreme than that of the other two groups. and therefore it is easier for most uncommitted new members to lend it their support. The position taken by the middle group is the strongest factor in determining group policy and practice. The Middle Group During the 1963-64 season. the middle group favored the position of the conservatives. in support of a com- mercial Broadway comedy for a single major production each year. HOpe's Often eXpressed idea concerning the select- ion Of Broadway comedies for production is: I believe in the P. T. Barnum approach to theatre. If you have no audience. you have no play. Sure you can upgrade the taste of the audience. but you have to have an audience to start with. Even thea- tre lovers like to go to the circus.1 On the other hand. with the election Of Dawn. one of the liberals. to the office of president Of the organi- zation. Hope eXpressed satisfaction with the election. stating. "The Board is more liberal now then previously. It is moving in the right direction."2 Hope's middle-Of-the-road position. which attempts to resolve the views of the conservatives and those of the liberals. can be seen more positively through her 1Discussion with HOpe. May. 1964. 2Interview with Hope. Aug. 9. 1964. 165 explanation Of the economic realities of Queen City Little Theatre and her attempt to make the production of the fall of 1964. which she directed. serve the need for both finan- cial and artistic success: We do need money to survive. We need money to con- tinue doing some Of the things that we enjoy doing. like our workshop things. And just because we do things like Come Blow Your Horn or Once Upon a Mat- tress I don't think that' s bad as long as we don't get into tOO much of a rut and as long as we know that this is going to be a temporary situation. This year I think we are giving our audience a var- iety. Maybe I'm prejudiced. but I think Madwoman 2: Chaillot - although I'm going to make it enter- taining - is also going to be something that is good for the audience. I wouldn't tell them that but I think it's a good play - it's good theatre.1 Viewing her chief responsibility as a board member and a past president of the organization as one of resolving conflicts which develOp between the Opposing factions. HOpe has described the relationship between the conservatives and liberals as "a constant cold war.” Her own role of director Of The Madwoman pf Chaillot was due to an Open conflict in the "cold war" which develOped during the Spring of 1964 over the choice of production for the fall Of that year. The conflict became quite serious when the liberals presented a check for $1500 which they had raised from a local philanthroPist to support a production of Archibald MacLeish's. J.§.. which they considered to be a more appro- priate production choice than the Broadway comedies being 1Ibid. 166 discussed for the fall production. That action was con- sidered by Stan. a conservative. to be an insult. since he was the person originally named by the Board of Direc- tors to direct the fall production: and he was strongly in favor of having the play selection committee and the Board Of Directors choose a Broadway comedy. After much argument over the fall production. which ended in Stan's resignation. HOpe volunteered to direct the pro- duction. After securing an agreement by the board Of directors to eliminate both Stan's choices of plays (sup- ported by the conservatives) and’£.§, (supported by the liberals). HOpe selected from the plays submitted by the play selection committee. Egg Madwoman pp Chaillot. which she felt would satisfy both groups. the liberals because it was a reputable play and the conservatives be- cause it was a comedy. HOpe'S recognition of the importance of resolving sub-group conflict as a function of leadership was stated in this way: The young members have to be shown that the older members have valuable experience behind them in solving many of the problems of the organization and the old members have to be shown that the young members have many good ideas. They are not just hot-rodders. but have many fresh ideas which the group can benefit from. This is a large part of the job of leadership. keeping these two groups working together.1 1Telephone conversation with HOpe. August 3. 1964. 167 Hope is the unquestioned leader of the organiza- tion. In addition to her overwhelming vote as tOp leader by the general membership. other leaders of the organiza- tion described her qualities as a leader in separate inter- views. Ed. himself a leader of the organization. and a follower of Hope. described her leadership qualities by saying: She knows if She wants something badly enough - she knows how to sell her point well enough so that people can see the rational aspects Of it - of course this is her living - selling. and she's good at it:1 Dawn. who followed HOpe in the presidency and identifies with the liberals. called HOpe the personification of the good leader. stating: I thought Queen City Little Theatre was absolutely defunct until that girl took over and all of a sudden 'wham. we will do this.’ and wham they did! Describing the qualities that make HOpe a good leader. Dawn stated: She has dedicated drive and ....the ability to listen to everyone's complaints and gripes and growls without taking sides. but yet being a good iisgening board. She has that. I hOpe I'll have Cy. who. like Ed. is a leader in the organization and a follower of Hope. had this to say. "HOpe was really head. horns and tail Of Queen City Little Theatre before the last election. She is a person with tremendous drive. She has 1Interview with Ed. Aug. 17. 2Interview with Dawn. Aug. 10. 31bid. 168 l a way of getting peOple to do things.“ Eve. leader of the conservatives. feels that HOpe tends toward the liberals. but described her as. ”The very best president. for fine leadership for advancing the 2 group. She is so versatile.“ and June. another conserva- tive commented on Hope by saying. "HOpe is a leader... she is a dynamic person and peOple just have a tendency to follow whatever She starts." HOpe's own comments on leadership and its function. taken from an interview of August 19. 1964 reveal the following: A leader really mirrors the organization - an elected leader - because as a member aren't we saying as we vote for somebody. this person I'm: voting for because he's going to follow through with things I believe in? SO the personality of the group is reflected in this lea er. Leadership in community theatres is not very different from leadership in other organizations. I think that there may be some minor things. but basic differences no. Speaking of Official leaders of the organization. she said: Leaders in Queen City Little Theatre are the fun- nel - the head to which things go. They are ex- pected to be. well. the organizer - to keep things moving, to get peOple to work. to get the giganization to work. to make peOple happy doing S. As former president of the organization Hope commented on ‘1'. lInterview with.Cy. Aug. 31. 1961:. 2Interview with Eve. Aug. 24. 1964. 3Interview with June. Aug. 25. 1964. 169 the Office of the presidency by saying: The Queen City Little Theatre expects quite a bit from its president. It's the Spark - the president has got to be the Spark of the group. The secretary should be efficient at taking notes and writing letters. and should be depend- able. but that doesn't mean that the person needs to be a ball of fire. A leader in order to remain a leader has got to participate. He has got to be around. You don't have to direct the show or take the lead part or produce the Show. but you've got to show that you're interested. It helps if you have skill or ability to act or direct or produce.,but it's not necessary. A lead- er has to be a salesman who gets out to eXploit their skills. A leader should have contacts with the community. It's good to know the person who handles OOpy at the newspaper and television. It's good to know some- one who haS a trucking concern. It's not necessary that all the leaders know influential peOple in the community. but the more the merrier and if you have many who have contacts you're better Off. This is not taken into consideration when leaders are selected. Selection may be based on personal appear- ance - for purposes Of talking to a group. but not because of his community contacts. Now most Of the peOple on the board have good community contacts. Some Of Hope's power as a leader comes from the fol- lowership of Ed and Cy. who have already been described as leaders themselves. With HOpe. Ed and Cy round out the leadership Of the middle sub-group. Neither Ed nor Cy has a Specific followership. Thus. the three function as a leadership nucleons. each supporting the policies Of the other and then passing them on to the largest sub- group. which in turn acts as a pressure group to gain the followership of the entire organization. It must be recog- nized. however. that each of the other sub-groups exerts pressure against the middle group. which to maintain its strength. will yield in one or another direction. HOpe. therefore. has three functions: (1) to give 170 leadership to her sub-group. (2) to Observe and react dip- lomatically to the pressures from each of the other sub- groups. yielding to their pressures or exerting hers when- ever and however it is politically apprOpriate or eXpedient to keep the group Operating and (3) to marshall the power Of Ed and Cy and thereby maintain the strength of her sub- group. Of the two. Cy is the stronger and would slip toward the conservative group if he were to move away from the middle group. It is largely for that reason that the con- servative group tended to be stronger than the liberal group in past season. Cy's status is high in the organization. having placed third in the general members' identification Of those who give the strongest leadership to the organization and having been nominated several times for the presidency. but having always declined. each time accepting the vice- presidency instead. As a follower Of HOpe. he serves as an adviSor to her and to the group as a whole. His chief functions. therefore. are (l) to lend his influence to Hope to help her to maintain her leadership position. for which She permits him to function as (2) adviser to her and the group. Thus. HOpe and Cy form an Operational team to maintain power within the organization and to give leader- ship to the organization. A.lawyer by profession. Cy has gained the role Of ad- visor through his service as legal counsel for the Queen City Little Theatre Corporation. through his authorship 171 of the corporation by-laws. and through his careful and thoughtful research approach to group problems. As a team. HOpe furnishes the dynamic drive quality. while Cy furnishes the quality of thoroughness and care in the solv- ing of group problems. decision making. and action in- itiation. HOpe described Cy as: ...a status symbol for the group. He is dignified and won't get his hands dirty on scenery or prOps. but he is well known in the community and reSpected by the group. Of course he thinks clearly. too. He doesn't waste words when he talks. and he thinks things out very clearly. He makes a good vice— president and lends his status to the group. Every- one likes Cy and listens to what he has to say. Of course he knows parliamentary procedure. too. You can always look at Cy and say. "What do I do now?” and he can eXplain how a thing is done.1 Ed. the third member of the middle sub-group. described Cy's function as an advisor-overseer of group policy and activity: I think as far as policy making is concerned. in terms Of the group. I think Cy. you might say acts as a kind Of advisor to things. He Sits there waiting to see if something is going in a particularly unfortunate girection. and if it is. he screams bloody murder. The following dialogue reveals June's attitude toward Cy as a leader of the group: June: A great many peOple feel that Cy is a leader. I feel that he is a passive lead- er. He doesn't exert himself unless an issue is something that he feels quite strongly on. but I think that he is a per- son that is depended on by the group. 1Conversation with HOpe. Aug. 3. 1964. ZInterview with Ed. Aug. 17. 196a. Jim: June: Jim: June: Jim: June: 172 What kinds of issues does he usually feel quite strongly about? When he sees a split. He is apt to feel that there is only one path to take. DO you mean a split among the members of the organization? Yes. Does he take one side or does he attempt to bring the two groups together with some kind of compromise? (long pause) Is he a peace- maker? Yes. I think he is. because peOple to respect whatever way he thinks. 1are apt In contrast to June's acceptance of Cy as one Of the strong leaders Of the organization. Eve does not believe Cy to be a leader at all. Ann's description of Cy's role in the group. however. implies Cy's Objectivity and status in theeyes Of others: Ann: Jim: 5 He has a great deal of influence... He's not as embroiled in this as many of the others are... He's an actor. He doesn't paint sets or privies... For two years they have asked him to take over the presi- dency and he never would. Why do you suppose he wouldn't? 2 I don't hink he feels that he has the time. Cy's unwillingness to accept the presidency. as well as his reluctance to participate in dramatic production in any other way than as an actor. can be explained by his genuine lack of time. Not only do his professional re- Sponsibilities keep him busy. but in addition. he is active 1Interview with June. Aug. 25. 1964. 2Interview with Ann. Aug. 17. 1964. 173 in many other community organizations. In an interview on August 31. 1964. after stating that he thought membership longevity and competence in theatre arts were not important to leadership in Queen City Little Theatre. Cy made the following statements concerning his role as a leader of the organization: If I have any leadership qualities it is perhaps be- cause I have been in the group a long time. which I previously said wasn't important. and because I have some competance in theatre. which I also said wasn't important. I seem to be stating the things which I previously said were unimportant...I'm Older than some Of the group and for this reason I may be considered a leader in the group. I am not pp; leader in the group. I don't think I would ever be the president. I wouldn't be right. I don't think I would ever take it. I'm Spread out in too many directions. I think sometimes they listen to me be- cause I'm a lawyer. I'm probably able to present a point of view with some degree Of comprehensibility and force.... I really think Of HOpe as pp; leader. That may be partly because she gap the last leader. On the subject of the relationship between leadership in theatre groups and leadership in other organizations. Cy. like HOpe. saw more sameness than difference. He said: I think there is more in common with leadership of other organizaflons and leadership in little theatre than there are differences. There are more traits that are the same between the leaders of theatrical groups and other groups than traits that are differ- ent. Cy described the following traits as being. in his Opinion. the important traits: The ideal leader should be someone with initiative. imagination... one who has that ability to get others to do things. One who has a certain kind Of strength. Cy described the following leadership traits as being of less importance than are usually so considered: 174 I don't think that a leader needs to be warm and friendly. He can be successful without those qualities. The drive to get things done is very important. Length of membership in the group is not important. A brand new freshman would not be apprOpriate. but otherwise. length of membership is not important. Skill in the endeavor in which the organization is engaged is not particularly important. Contacts within the community is help- ful. but not indiSpensable. Speaking more Specifically Of Queen City Little Theatre Cy stated: This little theatre is not likely to pick as its leaders the dearest of them all. but are likely to pick the person who has the drive to get things done. One who does not participate in a production loses some of his or her effectiveness as a leader. The group is not strongly dependant upon a strong leader. The group does depend upon its leader. but not entirely. Group democracy is very important in an organiza- tion such as this. In answer to the question. "How important is group democ- racy in a theatrical production?" Cy answered. It isn't very... I think a good many peOple understand this dichotomy of approach. Most Of our peOple understand and accept the idea that autocracy prevails in a Show. Democracy has a funny way of creeping in though. Ed. as the third person giving leadership to the middle group. has less power than either HOpe or Cy and is clearly a follower Of Hope. He serves a useful function to the leadership Of the middle group. however. Though he A 1See Chapter VI. pp. 148-149 for an explanation of the Operation of the casting committee and pp.150-154 for members Opinions concerning the Operation of the commit- tee. 175 was rated sixth as a leader by the general membership. he serves to bind HOpe and Cy. both actors and directors. with the members interested in the technical aspects Of production. As a designer and scene painter. skills de- velOped through his profession as art teacher at Queen City High School. he gains the reSpect of the technicians and maintains necessary rapport with them. Where Cy tends toward the conservatives. Ed. a neigh- bor and very close friend of Ann. tends toward the liberals. while still maintaining his middle of the road identity. Hope described Ed in the following way: Ed. above all. enjoys the peOple in the community theatre. He seems to like you. He may be on one side now and later shift his position. but he is a loyal member Of the group1 He chomps on his pipe and is very dignified. June described Ed as one who. "...is not a dynamic 2 type Of leader. ...PeOple do seek his advice. though." Ed's views on the function of leadership in a com- munity theatre are revealed by the following dialogue: Jim: Do you think leadership requirements are different in a community theatre than in other kinds of organizations? Ed: Leaders are hard to come by. To find someone who is going to work and do and yet at the same time be aware of the organization and of the sensitive points of the individuals within it... This business of dealing with peOple and how to make them feel well about what they're do- ing is very important. llnterview with HOpe. Aug. 19. 1961:. 2Interview with June. Aug. 25. 1964. 176 Jim: How is this different from other volunteer or- ganizations? Ed: I think in any creative field you're on sensi- tive ground to Begin with because peOple who have any creative Spark within them are. at least in some aSpects of their personality. sensitive. ‘ Jim: What kinds of peOple are usually selected as leaders? Ed: ...I think in terms of leaders that we look to over and over again for leadership it is... the ability to. to use a nasty phrase. manipulate peOple.1 The chief function Of the leaders of the middle group. there- fore. is to keep the organization Operating as smoothly as possible by resolving sub-group conflicts. The resolving of sub-group conflicts is largely a matter of diplomacy on the part Of the middle group leaders which involves (l) maintaining a large enough following to have the power to intercede successfully in a conflict sit- uation. and (2) being sufficiently non-committal in terms Of policy to be able to shift to either side of an argument as occasion or circumstances demand. This is achieved by having a leader who appears to take no sides in conflict Situations and is therefore re- Spected by leaders of both sides and the general member- ship: by having two subordinate leaders who seem to fall on either side Of the tOp leader. without actually iden- tifying with either of the extreme groups: and finally. 1Interview with Ed. Aug. 17. 1964. 177 by having two leaders. HOpe and Cy. of the middle sub- group with qualities associated with good leadership by the leaders of the two extreme sub-groups. The qualities possessed by Hope are: salesmanship. dedicated drive. ob- jectivity. and active participation in theatrical produc- tion. The qualities possessed by Cy are: status and con- tacts in the community. thorough and objective handling of group problems. and active participation in theatrical prO- duction. Ed's qualities. also of some importance are friendliness and active participation in the group's thea- trical productions. The Liberal Group The liberal group is under the leadership of Ann. who placed fifth in the general membership poll on Queen City Little Theatre leadership. Following Ann and also giving leadership to the sub-group is Dawn. who placed eleventh in the poll. Following Ann and Dawn are the younger mem- bers of the organization. most outSpOken of whom are Al. Joe. Ray. and Jean. The platform of the liberal sub-group has already been stated as the presentation of more than one major pro- duction each year and the selection of good quality dramat- ic literature for those productions. In addition some members Of the sub-group. including Ann. advocate the appointing of a paid professional director. abolition of the casting committee. and a more active fund raising pro- gram through patronmemberships. While not all persons 178 following the liberals agree with all of the reforms. all agree on expanding the season Offering and improving the quality of play selection. The principal arguments Offered publicly for the stand taken by the liberals are. as expressed by Ann: The expansion Of the season will help meet the cost. Also more productions provide more Oppor- tunities for participation and would encourage recruiting. which we haven't been very good at. We opuld provide more variety in our season. too. The prOposed production of g,p. has already been dis- cussed as an attempt on the part of Al and other followers Of Ann and Dawn to force the organization to produce a better quality of drama during the 1964 season, Acceptable also to the liberals would have been the presentation of two major productions during the 1964 season. one to have been g.p. if the group chose not to abandon the Broadway 2 comedy under consideration. The form of pressure brought to bear by the liberals during the conflict was the threat of forming a splinter group to produce the play if the mother organization was unwilling to produce it. While the conservatives pre- ferred to have the liberals Splinter. the middle group. realizing the importance Of enthusiastic and talented participation of the younger liberals. believed it nec- essary to give them a hearing on their prOposal. Although the prOposed production was not acceptable to the rest 1Discussion with Ann. September. 1964. 2Interview with Al. April 25, 1961+. 179 of the organization. the liberals did not carry out their threat. the reason being the need on their part for the organizational stability Of the middle group. Had they proceeded to separate. the production may well not have succeeded. resulting in a defeat for the liberals and a victory for the conservatives by proving the soundness of "conservative" thought in the organization. Although Al was chief spokesman for the proposal to the general membership and both Ann and Dawn denied direct leadership in initiating the prOposal. Ann was the chief Spokesman for the prOposal before the Board of Directors and the only member of the Board who voted in its favor. Dawn. it should be noted. was not a Board member at the time. What the proposal did achieve was to force the re- signation of Stan as director of the fall production and to encourage the selection of Tpp Madwoman pi Chaillot. under the direction of HOpe. Dawn's comment on the selection of Tpp Madwoman.p£ Chaillot was. “I feel that psychologically. perhaps. we've made an inroad in the choice Of Madwoman because we have something above and beyond the trite..."1 Ann. as a leader of the liberal group. maintains rapport with her followers largely through a perpetual Open house which she and Frank. her hsuband. maintain. As an informal meeting and stopping Off place. it has 1Interview with Dawn. Aug. 10. 1964. 180 become a place where younger members. according to Ann. "are welcome to discuss theatre and new ideas as they choose.” It is difficult to make an accurate study of the interaction of the group Since meetings are un- scheduled. It is clear. however. when Speaking with members of the sub-group that many repeat ideas expressed by Ann herself at other times. At formal meetings Ann appears to be more middle than liberal. Characteristic of Ann's public "middle Of the road" position while maintaining an active liberal policy was her behavior at'the first formal meeting at which the g.§. prOposal was presented. All twenty-two members present seemed to know in advance. as did the investigator. that the proposal would be presented and that some from among the conservatives would Openly oppose it. Both Dawn and Ann Spoke favorably about the prOposal until it became evident that many at the meet- ing had serious doubts about it - largely due to the un- diplomatic presentation of the proposal by Al. Follow- ing the formal presentation. Ann Spoke only generally. in terms of the need for the group to do more and better plays rather than Specifically. in terms of the need to produce g.§. Two months later. after the g.p. prOposal had been finally rejected by the Board by a vote Of six against. one abstention (Stan). and one for (Ann). Ann informed the investigator that her chief objective in the conflict was not to get g.p. produced. but. "to be certain that the kids received a fair chance to present 181 1 their prOposal and have it considered by the Board." Ann's rather high ranking in the leadership poll (fifth) was probably due to her tendency to be less out- SpOken and seemingly more "middle Of the road" than Dawn. Her leadership in the organization tends to be less ag- gressive and makes more use of suggestion than direct action when compared with Dawn's more outSpOken leader- ship. Dawn on the other hand ranked eleventh on the leader- ship poll. The explanation Of that fact has to do in a large measure with the sub-group's relatively small size and the seemingly more extreme liberal positions taken by Dawn. as well as the fact that Dawn is newer to the present group than Ann. Thus. Ann might be considered a leader by the liberals and some middle sub-group follow- ers. while Dawn would be considered a leader by fewer middle sub-group followers. Dawn. however. is the potential leader of the total organization due to her election in May of 1964 to the presidency. Two factors. diffusion of leadership and availability Of time. have been given as reasons for Dawn's election to the office.2 In addition. Dawn's election was by default. The organization preferred Cy. with Ann as their second choice. Cy declined: and 1Conversation with.Ann. August 28. 1964. 2See Chapter II. pp. 68-69. 182 although Ann accepted. She was forced to enter the hos- pital and SO withdrew. Dawn was then nominated and ran for the Office unOpposed. HOpe described Dawn's leadership qualities by stat- ing: Dawn's qualities as a leader are the ability to work hard. enthusiasm. to get the job done at all costs. She's a mover- a door. She sometimes for- gets that the end does not justify the means - that you have to pave the way. She is aggressive. She has a following - the avante garde liberal element.l HOpe described Ann as. ”Ann switches. but She is more of a liberal than any- thing. She is a hard worker and is willing to do anything. She is not just an actor. but gill pour coffee or clean up the place or anything.“ Eve. the most outSpOken leader of the conservatives. does not consider either Ann or Dawn to be real leaders Of the organization. June. also a conservative. but much more ”middle" than Eve. described the two leaders of the liberals as follows: June: Dawn has a following. Dawn has a way Of appealing to the younger group. Ann has a following. Jim: Who are some who follow her? June: Well. Ann and Hope are good friends. but I don't think that either one follows the 1Interview with HOpe. Aug. 19. 1964. 2Ibid. 183 other as far as following is concerned. I think probably Ivy... and Gay.... and Ed.... and Al.1 Speaking of her service to the group as president. Dawn explained her function as. "Keeping everybody working and everybody happy." To achieve that Objective Dawn ex- plained: The format for the fall is already set for me. Considering that the cast of Madwoman is large and I have a good sized production staff. too. the mechanical problem of keeping everybody busy is already taken care of for me - that's done. I know that they will be busy and naturally I hope thag the jobs they have will be pleasing to them. Explaining the importance of diplomacy and tact in handling group conflicts and the excellent use of diplomacy and tact by HOpe. Dawn said the following in answer to a question as to whether conflicts ever arise between the purely recreational-oriented members and the more serious theatrical-oriented members: Dawn: Yes. sometimes. and you just hope. as a board member. that diplomacy and tact will reign in the end. Jim: Have you seen such diplomacy Operate re- cently? Dawn: Yes. I've see? it with HOpe. I think she's done it well. The diplomacy to which Dawn refers is clearly illus- 1Interview with June. August 25. 1964. 2Interview with Dawn. Aug. 10. 1964. 31bid. 184 trated by a comment by Hope concerning Bill. a workshOp production director during the summer of 1964. who was having problems getting peOple to rehearse regularly. HOpe thought that Bill. being new to the group. needed reassurance: and she informed the investigator: I think I had better have a talk with Bill and explain that this is not a usual problem in Queen City Little Theatre and reassure him that he is doing a wonderful job. About Dawn's administration. Cy said. "I can't help feeling that Dawn is not going to turn out to be the dyna- mic leader that HOpe was."2 The function of the liberal sub—group is to serve as a pressure group to force. or give support to. reforms which will change organizational policy and practice in the direction of more and better quality productions. The group is small. but outSpOken and aggressive. Its most recent success was the change in choice of production for the fall of 1964. Its biggest success was the initiation and develOpment of the workshOp program. resisted. at first. by the conservatives but now accepted by them. Another success which may prove to be of great signifi- cance is getting Dawn. one of their leaders. elected to the presidency. The liberal sub-group achieves its Objectives large- 1Telephone conversation with HOpe. Aug. 15. 1964. 2Interview with Cy. Aug. 31. 1964. 185 1y by explOiting its own youthful vigor and enthusiasm. All members of the sub-group are enthusiastic participants in the theatrical productions of the organization. Both Dawn and Ann maintain their leadership in the sub-group by identifying with the younger members and furnishing them with an avenue to the middle and conservative sub- groups. who are older. more experienced. and tend to ig- nore the interests and ideas Of the younger members. (In addition. Dawn and Ann serve the organization by pro- viding the channel through which the enthusiasm of the younger members can be exploited. Dawn and Ann are acceptable in their roles and main- tain their leadership position (1) byteihg enthusiastic. hard-working participants themselves. and (2) because of their ages (early Thirties). which are apprOpriate for the maintenance of rapport with both the enthusiastic younger group and the more careful planners of the strong- er middle group. Thus. One of the important functions of the two leaders is as a communication channel through which the younger and the Older members of the organiza- tion can be brought closer together. Ideological leadership comes from both Ann and Dawn. but it has been Ann who has been most frequently instru- mental in providing entree for the liberal ideas into the administrative Board of Directors. Ann's original nomination to the presidency and Dawn's subsequent election to that Office may be interpreted as a tendency 186 for the whole group to move in liberal directions in the future. If that happens. it would represent another lib- eral success. The Conservative Group The conservative sub-group is larger than the lib- eral sub-group. but its size has declined in proportion to total organization membership: in addition. it has de- clined in power during the course of 1964. It is dedi- cated to the maintenance of the ppapug-quo. which in terms E of the chief areas of intra-group conflict are (l) the I preservation Of the policy Of presenting a Single major production to the general public each season and (2) the maintenance of financial solvency through the selection Of an ”easy to sell" Broadway comedy for that production. The chief argument for the conservative view is that their experience with the Operational aSpects of the organization indicates that the community will not support more than one major production and will not support the production of good dramatic literature. While it has been suggested by some liberals that the conservatives are more commercially oriented with re- gard to play selection. it should be pointed out that such interests apply only to the pgjpp productions. The conservatives favor good quality drama for the workshOp program as evidenced by their support of such workshOp productions as The American Dregp. Three Penny Qpera. 187 and a concert reading of Aftep the Egii. In addition. the conservative view of the importance Of the workshOp as a place wherein other than purely entertaining drama might be presented is illustrated by the following con- versation between Eve. leader of the conservatives. and the investigator: Jim: NO. I haven't. Eve: If you can get a capy. would you read it and give me your Opinion. It has to do with this Civil rights thing. and we should be doing sometEing here - maybe as a workshOp production. It is believed by the investigator that the workshOp program. originally promoted by the liberals as a means Of producing better drama. has served the conservatives even better by helping to pacify some liberals and by dis- couraging the promotion of other than Broadway comedies as major productions. The conservatives have not been totally successful in this reSpect. however. since some Of the liberals are still pressuring to produce better quality drama as major productions. The prOposed g.p. production. as a case in point. would have been acceptable to the conservatives as a workshOp production. but the liberals held out for a pgjpp production of the play. I It can be Observed that the conservatives have had less training in theatre and. in general. are less highly skilled in the arts of theatre than are the newer and lconversation with Eve. Aug. 6. 1964. 188 younger liberals. This. it is felt by the investigator. is one of the hidden reasons for the conservative advo- cacy of fewer major productions and for plays of lesser quality as major productions. With more productions of better drama there-may be still more recruitment of young- er. better trained actors and technicians to replace the older members. This interpretation is consistent too. with the lack of systematic recruitment to the organi- zation. Eve. as leader of the conservative sub-group. Offers to her followers her outSpOken support of the status-app. which. in turn. protects their status and pos- ition in the organization. June. a conservative leader. who is more articulate than Eve. treasurer of the organi- zation and very thorough in her job. and less outSpoken. is closer to the middle group than Eve and thereby gains some support from the middle group for the conservative platform. In the organizational leadership poll taken in May Of 1964. Eve ranked fourth. and June ranked second. HOpe described the two leaders of this sub-group as follows: Eve is outSpoken. She never hesitates to say what is on her mind. She is a good organizer and peOple usually like Eve because she is appreciative of work done. The new peOple particularly like Eve. If you do a good job.you will usually get a note in the mail the next day expressing her appreciation for a job well done. She is a very thoughtful per- son. If you give Eve a job. it will be done on time and with no problems. June is not a salesman in the sense that she will pound the table and state what she believes in. 189 She is a very efficient. dependable. intelligent woman with a good business mind. She has held the job of treasurer and business manager of the group for three or four years. She's done it more than adequately. When she stands up and says something. everybody listens because it makes sense. She doesn't always please everybody because She has a cost accountant's mind. June holds the positiin of the "Rock of Gibraltar" type in the group. Cy. a leader of the middle group who tends toward the conservative Side and himself a very objective analyst Of group policy and practices. does not consider Eve to be a real leader. June. however. was described by Cy as. ”... a leader. She's a fiscal leader. She helps with money 2 matters and does very well with it." Ed. a leader Of the middle group who tends toward the liberals. described Eve as follows: I think. in terms of theatre her interest is very genuine. I think she is hardly what you would call venturesome. but at the same time I do think that her ideas are good. however conservative. Even if Eve came up with an idea that basically was so good that there was no argument about it. there are some in the group whg would say "no" to it merely because Eve said it.‘ About June. Ed said: Financially she makes all the decisions. Without question we've learned to rely on her. Ann made no mention of Eve as a leader: but about June she said. in discussing group finances: 1Interview with HOpe. Aug. 19. 1964. 2Interview with Cy. Aug. 31. 1964. 190 ...she has absolutely the last word. If she says we can't afford it. we can't have it....June's value isn't only as Financial manager. She does anything. She strikes a set Single-handed. flies a light boom. she can do anything. and everything 1 She does. she does with love and complete devotion. Eve described her own function as bringing her background and experience to bear on any issue and. ...Speaking out at a board meeting or a general meeting as I see the overall picture Of Queen City Little Theatre...I have been merciless as far as Speaking out what I thought. right from the very beginning - and I don't think I have lost too many friends. About this business of not recognizing our limitations. I am the one who stands up and points out the things that are prohibitive... 'Remember that we don't sell tickets or remember that we are lacking here or there.'2 She also sees herself as one who can "do much leg work. because I am home." Speaking about her own role in the group. June said: but I've never considered myself as a leader...When I was first elected treasurer of the grgup. it was because no one else wanted the job. about Eve. June said: Another person who is a leader. but a different type of leader is Eve. because she is more or less a political leader. She gets peOple stirred up and She can get them feeling that they're the only person that is important. that she seeks their advice and their advice is the only advice that she can possibly accept. She has a quality that is hard to define.5 In answer to the question. "DO you think that 1Interview with Ann. Aug. 17. 1964. zlnterview with Eve. Aug. 24. 1964. 31bid. “Interview with June. Aug. 24. 1964. 51bid. 191 leadership requirements are different in a community theatre than they are in other organizations?." Eve states. Yes. I honestly do. because I think you get more temperament actually. for. sometimes dog-eat-dog - sort of thing [as tape recorded] I honestly think you get more in expressing this type Of art. I think there is disharmony in all ciganizations. but especially in a theatre group. June. on the other hand. does not consider leadership in community theatre to be different than in other organi- zations. On leadership. she said: Leaders are dependable peOple. When you give them a job they get it done...and eventually peOple become dependent on their ability to get something done. To illustrate this. June referred to Al. one of the more outSpOken liberal followers. Al has a know-how that some of the others don't have. but he is no leadeg. Al is not a dependable person in some reSpects. Referring to Queen City Little Theatre. June said: 7 Each one Of the peOple in Little Theatre who are leaders have (sic) a different type of leadership. I think there are very fewuwho get right up and rally a group around them. June explained further that in Queen City Little Theatre. contacts within the community are helpful and 1Interview with Eve. Aug. 24. 1964. 2Interview with June. Aug. 25. 1964. 32212- 4%. 192 are a function Of individual leaders. As the only member Of the organization who is also a member of a regional theatre association. she considers contacts with theatre outside Of the community to be helpful. but not a function of leadership. Although Stan has resigned from the organization. it is worthy of note that he had been one of the leaders of the conservative group. His role in the organization is noteworthy because (1) he is considered by some as one who will shortly return to the organization and (2) his resignation is believed by many members to have been due to the conservative - liberal conflict over the pro- posed production of g.p. Concerning Stan's possible return to the organization. HOpe. who considers him to be a leaders said. "Stan will return to the group. He is already serving as liaison with the high school for use Of the auditorium."1 The role which Hope described can be interpreted in another way. however. As director of dramatics at Queen City High School and as manager Of the Queen City High School audi- torium. Stan has the reSponsibility to serve in such a capacity between the school and any organization which rents the auditorium. The investigator's Observations of Stan's "liaison” indicated that he served no more. nor 1Telephone conversation with HOpe. Aug. 3. 1964. 193 less. than any theatre manager would. given his pro- fessional responsibility. In explaining the liberal - conservative conflict over g.p. as the reason for Stan's departure. Eve. too. mentioned that he will eventually return to the organiza-. tion: Stan was hurt by all this business. A1 said he wouldn't do g,§. as a Queen City Little Theatre production because he didn't like the policies of the group. TOO many people bent over back- wards tO keep Joe and Al in the group. This hurt Stan. but he is all right now. It will take time. but he will find his way back into the group. Eve further explained Stan's resignation as being based upon the fact that the argument was detrimental to Stan's professional position as dramatic's teacher at Queen City High School. She explained that the‘g.§. ad- vocates considered Stan's taste in dramatic literature to be frivolous and that someone had called his principal anonymously. declaring that Stan was unfit as a high school teacher of dramatics. Stan's own explanation for his preference for Broad- way comedies for Queen City Little Theatre was. "I deal with significant literature as part of my job. Community theatre to me is an avocation - a time to relax and have 2 fun.” 1Telephone conversation with Eve. Aug. 3. 1964. 2Stated by Stan at the Board of Directors' Meeting. March. 1964. 194 It Should be further noted that Stan's work in dra- matics at Queen City High School is of the highest calibre. as evidence by the school's having been chosen as the out- standing state high school drama group and having won tOp awards in regional contests as well. It may well have been that the g.p. conflict provided a good excuse for Stan to avoid directing the fall production. Eve considered Stan's function as a leader to have been one Of complete dependability and his ability to "get a show on the boards.” June described Stan as: ...a person that was dynamic. There were persons that felt that they could not follow Stan as close- ly as HOpe. for instance. He made a marvelous contribution to Queen City Little Theatre. The public image he created was good. Of course he does have some background in this. It is the work he does in school... He felt very strongly about the public imagi and Hope felt strongly about the internal group. Ed's more liberal view is somewhat different than June's. Comparing all three conservative leaders. he stated: ...We as a group are more apt to listen to June than we would to either Eve or Stan. because both of them - well now they might be having a rational moment. but then again this may be the result of some hysteria that we don't know about. Consequently we are more apt to listen to June be- cause we know that she doesnt get excited very Often. If she does. we want to look and see what made i that way because there is something very wrong. 1Interview with June. Aug. 25. 1964. 2Interview with Ed. Aug. 17. 1964. 195 It has been previously stated that the conserva- tive group's primary function is to defend the status qp_ - particularly with regard to play selection and the number of major productions per season. The chief arguments used to preserve the ptatgp quo are those concerning finances. The conservativasbelieve that the organization cannot afford to produce more than one major production each year and also that the single major production should be a come- dy. The argument by the liberals. that the group can be as successful financially with each of several major pro- ductions as it presently is with one major production. is countered by the argument on the part of the conservatives that the community will not support more than one major production and further. that the group hasn't the resources. including membership. for more than one major production. By these means the conservative group. like the lib- eral group,brings pressure to bear upon the middle group to force the total organization to function as far in its direction as pressure will provide. Its techniques may include. in addition to argument alone, the threat of resignation by key members. as was the case with Stan. The skills Of its leaders must. therefore. include the knowledge of just how far the middle group will be pushed before that group elects to ignore either of the extreme groups. While the liberal group members have as their chief weapon. their theatre skills which can be withheld from 196 group service. only Stan in the conservative group has this as a weapon. In the play selection conflict of the spring Of 1964 it was used. and proved successful. i.e. §.§. was rejected as a major production. The other members of the group. however. must rely upon other means of persuasion. The sub-group feels that its principal means of persuasion rests in its experience in the Operation Of the organization which is. in turn. the result of longer membership. The leaders of the sub-group are Eve and June and previously. Stan. Eve functions as Spokesman for the group. She gains reSpect from her sub-group. as well as from other members. by her three chief qualities Of (l) dependability. (2) participation. and (3) dynamic drive. Stan also possesses these qualities: but having resigned from the group. he is no longer a leader. June's chief qualities are (l) dependability. (2) participation. (3) intelligence. and (4) efficiency. She lacks the dynamic drive of Eve. but substitutes dependability and efliciency for it. Thus. the leaders Of this group. like the leaders of each of the other groups. form a team. with one leader serving as the thinking. planning unit. using the skills Of careful. thoughtful judgment. while the seemingly more extreme leader gives voice to the argument. plan. or ideas being promoted by the sub-group. - . J2.“ mum .~ I- Vim-'13:. 1' 197 Summary of Leadership Although Eve and Ed expressed a belief that leader- ship is different in community theatre organizations than in other organizations because of the sensitivity of thea- tre peOple when compared to others. the consensus Of the other leaders of Queen City Little Theatre was that leadership in the organization is not really different than leadership in any other volunteer association. Leadership in Queen City Little Theatre. therefore. will be summarized in terms of two of the three basic theoreti- cal frames Of reference outlined by Ross and Hendrey and discussed in chapter one Of this study.1 The two frames of reference selected for analysis are (l) traits of leaders. which views leadership as personal qualities possessed by the leaders and identified by the leaders themselves as important leadership qualities in Queen City Little Theatre. and (2) leadership as a func- tion of the organization. which views leadership as a structure within the organization with leaders playing roles within that structure. Since this study of leader- ship has focused upon one situation -- the conflict which exists over the programming of a season of major product- ions -- and since leadership as a function of the situation 1See Chapter I. pp. 31-41. V'i'Io-"fi.;'~ ~ 198 requires a comparative study Of situations. an analysis Of leadership as a function Of the situation has been omitted. Leadership Traits: The qualities generally thought by the leaders of Queen City Little Theatre to be impor- tant to leadership and which were most consistently attri- buted to current leaders in the organization were partici- pation and the ability to get things done. Participation may be in the form of (l) organizational administration. (2) actively working in some area of play production in the organization. or (3) both. It is felt by the leaders Of Queen City Little Theatre that technical skill in theatre arts is helpful. but unnecessary for leaders. As has been suggested by leaders Of the organization. par- ticipation does not guarantee that one will be a leader. but one cannot be a leader without actively participating in the organization. The ability to get things done is most frequently identified as dependability and dedicated drive: which is the willingness of individuals to exploit their abilities and to make personal sacrifices to complete a task or the exploitation of one's administrative skills and the ability to manipulate other peOple to complete a task. Implied in both qualities is the availability Of time and the willingness to work toward the continued well- being of the organization. In terms of all of these qual- ities. the organization becomes dependent upon the leader 1' 355.1“ I )7 1", mimics... ..4‘ 199 and. therefore. needs the leader. Leadership §ppppppp_: In general. the extreme sub- groups are differentiated in terms of age and longevity in the organization. with the conservative Older members protecting the traditional patterns of Operation and the younger liberals advocating progress and change. The middle group. composed of the uncommitted members Of the organization. serve as arbiters in diSputes between the two extreme groups. The leadership structure of the total organization is largely in terms of the leadership given the three sub-groups. Both sub-group membership and sub-group leadership is diffuse. however. with mem- bers. and occasionally leaders. changing sides in certain situations. The ranking Of leaders by the total membership indi- cates that members tend to rank more highly as leaders in the total organization. those whom they follow as sub- group leaders. In addition. middle group leaders are Often identified as organizational leaders by persons in the extreme sub-groups. Finally. of the extreme sub- group leaders. those who are less outSpoken are considered organizational leaders by persons in other sub-groups. while those who are more outspoken are considered less frequently to be tOp organizational leaders by members of other sub-groups. FHJ 200 Figure 3--The relative positions of Queen City Little Theatre leaders as ranked by the general member- ship Of the organization and the relative poaition of lead- ers along the conservative-liberal continuum. CONSERVATIVE MIDDLE LIBERAL Con Con serva- serva- Middle tive tive Con- Middle Middle Liberal Liberal Out- Restr-serva- Uncom- Liberal Restr- Out- 4‘" Rank Spoken ained tive mitted ained Spoken I E l HOpe E 2 June I 3 Cy a 4 Eve :9- 5 Ann 6 Ed 7 8 9 0 1 Dawn a. For the method of arriving at rank order Of lead- ers. see Table 10. Chapter VIII. p. 206. Each leader in Queen City Little Theatre functions differently in his service to the organization than does each other leader. That functional specialization should be expected to change as changes take place in the total organizational structure. During 1964 the leaders func- tioned as follows: HOpe. ranked as tOp leader of the organization by the general membership. functioned as overall administra- tor. diplomat. and peacemaker for the internal organization. As Spokesman for the middle sub-group She maneuvered the largest sub-group to positions of compromise with both of the extreme groups and attempted. thereby. to keep 201 the extreme sub-groups actively involved in the total organization. Cy. ranked third as a leader of the organi- zation by the general membership. lent status to the or- ganization and. thereby. served as a contact with the community. In addition. he lent status to the middle group and. as liaison with the conservative group. served to diffuse the differentiation between that group and the middle group. He also functioned as advisor to HOpe and to the entire organization. Ed. ranked sixth as a leader of the organization by WIK‘I.II “I- I. 1:”-’ the general membership. supported the peacemaking activi- ties Of HOpe and the middle sub-group and served to dif- fuse the differentiation between the middle group and the liberals. ’ Ann. ranked fifth as a leader by the general member- ship. assisted Ed in diffusing the differentiation between the middle and liberal groups by serving as liaison for the liberal group with the middle group. As Opinion leader of the liberal group. she was also of service to the organization by introducing prOSpective changes in the policies and practices of the organization while. at the same time. controlling the sub-group so that changes would occur systematically and democratically without loss of liberal members through the process of Splintering. Dawn. ranked eleventh as a leader by the general membership. served as action initiatorcf liberal group changes by providing leadership to the more outSpoken members. namely Al and Joe. 202 June. ranked second as a leader by the general membership. served as the counterpart to Ann by assisting Cy in the diffusion of differentiation between the conser- vatives and the liberals. AS the more rational conserva- tive she serves. as well. to lend credibility to the conservative point of view. She also serves as financial Specialist to the organization. Eve. ranked fifth as a leader by the general mem- bership. serves as the counterpart to Dawn. She is an out- Spoken defender of the status-quo and serves as the mili- tant leader Of the conservatives. Conclusion The primary goal of Queen City Little Theatre during 1964 was to keep the group functioning as a financially solvent organization wherein the greatest number of mem- bers were kept active and happy. Other group purposes or goals were subservient to the primary goal. It was the principal function of the middle sub-group. under the leadership of HOpe. Cy. and Ed. to achieve the primary goal by exploiting the best qualities Of the extreme sub- groups. The principal function Of the conservative sub- group. under the leadership of Eve and June. was to support the traditional Operating policy to achieve the primary goal. The traditional policy establishes that a single major production is to be presented each 203 year with the choice being a recent Broadway comedy. The primary Opposition comes from some of the younger members. under the leadership of Ann and Dawn. who have been termed "liberals." Their purpose is to promote change in the organization in the direction Of better quality play selection and an expanded season Of major productions. It is this sub-group that points i the way to the fulfillment Of the aims of the community theatre as it is described by the chief analysts Of the community theatre movement. The direction in which the group will move in the future will be a result of (1) changes in the balance of power among the three sub-groups. (2) the decisions of leaders of the middle sub-group as to which of the extreme sub-groups must be more highly rewarded to be kept in the organization. (3) the power of persuasion by leaders of each Of the sub-groups. and (4) the beliefs of all leaders concerning the function and purposes of the community theatre in.America. A report on an investigation Of the latter question will be the subject of Chapter VIII of this study. CHAPTER VIII LEADERS' OPINIONS CONCERNING THE FUNCTION OF COMMUNITY THEATRE Introduction The aims of Queen City Little Theatre. according to the statement Of purpose in its by-laws Of 1963. have been summarized as: (l) the develOpment of skills in the 5 arts of theatre. and (2) the develOpment Of public appre- ciation of dramatic works through the presentation of such works.1 Thus far. however. the present study has Ed revealed that only to the degree that the two aims are recreational are they consistent with the current inter- ests of most members and the current Operating policies of the organization. General satisfaction with the present recreational orientation Of the group. however. has not obscured the presence of some interest in change in group policies and practices.2 While it has not been established that the motivation underlying the changes being advocated is based upon other than recreational interests. it can be Observed that the prOSpective changes advocated by the liberal sub-group are more consistent with the organiza- tion's stated purposes than are current practices. if 1See Chapter III. pp. 76-77. 2See Chapter V1 for the areas of group practices where changes are advocated or the status quo is sup- ported. See also. Chapter VII for the sub-grouping Of the organization in the interest of maintaining or changing the status quo. 4 20 205 the purposes are to be interpreted in other than purely recreational terms. Thus. while Queen City Little Theatre appears to function principally as a recreational organization. group purposes according to the by-laws and the persuasion of a minority Of liberals could help to promote practices which would tend to elevate community service as an important L organizational function. The degree to which such a change will take place. however. is dependent to some degree upon the acceptance by the present leaders Of the dual-function of the organization as a long-range goal. The present chapter is a report on an investigation Of the possible longer range achievements Of Queen City Little Theatre as they are embodied in the current leaders' statements regarding what they believe to be the function or purpose Of a community theatre. The testimony reported in this chapter was collected in the form Of tape-recorded. scheduled interviews with the seven leaders identified in the preceding chapter as the leaders Of the three sub-groups. Since the concern here is with the future develOpment Of the total organiza- tion. each leader will be identified in terms of his leader- ship position in the total organization as revealed by the leadership poll taken on the questionnaire' of May. 1964.1 1See Table 10. p. 206. for a summary of the ques- tionnaire poll and a summary of each leader's beliefs con- cerning the functions or purposes of community theatre. 206 .Nm a Q .msnB .aonamso mas» .«o mHNNa so SOSHHAHO ma .mpsobcao Oaxaca on: .839 no scamsaoaa 236 .eoamapsOoa omoma no soda opoHQSOO on» ad mmoH no obey oousaosN no encoded Benson nomads moans meaawnsoameSU Nm on» NO mN sons oommm.o .soHpmmdmwwno on» as encoded humanoua no: use oneness on» no ooams.n .oommu mamas aasmncnsos Hope» on» an mnoomoa pmowsoapm on» No modemONNanooa on» son: oommm.m n .. n H N N N same cad so as N H 0 0.“ a w .. a N .. me we use m .. N H .. ma ma can a .. H m N as am so m .. a N .. ma mN case N .. N m H mN om Odom a mpaNaom one ounce once seemed soaaamom- Headmaao no .more as Home noon seam ace issuance ace assessesoa soaposvoam mumoaoc now use pass on» No one on» 90 one use soapmp :sH .soo scammena uo>oaaaH on on Season on on acumen isoadnoawm no .aoam :Hm maem uaom wsdaoeamsoo msHuoonsoo oopsoauo I. tummoamm! . ._:~Hm¢wdmmmmo_ msommom no * msomaom no * combacm oodehom Icav popcoano cupmosa auasssaoo nacho no “How .monpeom» andssssoo No momoaasa no maoapossu can wsdoaswou msoasNAO .mnoecOH use scapswasmmno Hence on» ad soapamoa adamaoueoqiuoa Manda 207 TO gain a longer range view Of the possible future achievements of Queen City Little Theatre. the questioning began with the general purpose or general function of com- munity theatre rather than with the specific purposes or functions of Queen City Little Theatre. In an ever-chang- ing social system. the more Specific organizational pur- .“l poses may be Short lived. If. on the other hand. the more 55m} general question. "What do you consider to be the purposes or functions of a community theatre?" is asked. the answers give a picture. broader in scope. of the frame of reference swims... within which the leader may function as the organization grows and develops. It establishes. in other words. the limitations Of the thinking of individual leaders rather than the more Specific current policies of the organization as the leaders interpret them. Follow-up questions were designed beforehand as either probe questions to get more deeply into the infor- mant's views on the relationship between current develOp- ments in Queen City Little Theatre and his views on the functions or purposes of the community theatre in general. It may be observed from the verbatim reports which follow that some informants chose to deal only with Queen City Little Theatre and its function rather than with the com- munity theatre in general. Still others dealt primarily with the local organization in terms Of current conflicts in ideology. It was believed by the investigator that much Of the testimony of informants which dealt with the 208 local case was useful as a simple test Of the validity of conclusions which were drawn from other data concern- ing the organization. The editing of transcripts was an attempt to elimi- nate information which has no relevance to the SSpect Of the study being reported in this chapter. Where probe questions were used extensively. both questions and an- swers appear in this report. Testimony of Leaders Hope: Hope. as described in the preceding chapter. is the leader of the middle sub-group and is recognized by the membership as the strongest leader in the organizatbn. Of the thirty-two members who identified leaders Of the or- ganization. thirty considered her to be one Of the tOp ten leaders. while twenty-five considered her to be one of the top five leaders in the organization. Of nineteen persons who ranked the leaders. thirteen considered her to be the tOp ranking leader Of the total organization. HOpe's testimony regarding the function or community theatres be- gan generally and became more Specific in terms of the local case: I think that there are really two big reasons and I'm not sure in which order. I think. number one. a good community theatre is. in a sense. a school - a training ground for peOple who are interested in theatre. For peOple who have never experienced the wonder of theatre or for people who have training and background and have gone into other fields and still enjoy it as a hobby. they learn. they further their growth in theatre. AS an individual and as a group they learn about'plays and they learn about productions. 209 Then. number two. how this group reacts to its outside influences. or. in other words. what it should contribute to the community. A com- munity theatre should present to its audience a variety Of plays. musicals. or entertainments that will entertaip and. we hOpe also. will in- form the audience. Referring to persons with training who want to improve themselves. HOpe further stated: It's just like if you were a tennis player and you enjoy playing tennis. You know that you're not going to get any better unless you go out and start knocking those balls over the net. If a person is interested in any one thing - whether it's a hobby or a Special project - if they want to improve themselves. I think it's exciting for them. Referring further to persons with no theatre background. she stated: We have many peOple in our organization today that five years ago had never had any back- ground in theatre - had never even been in a high school play - and sort Of came in with a friend. or for a variety of reasons. Then they became interested in one of the facets Of thea- tre - one Of the projects that go into the mak- ing up of a theatre ... In all of us. if you join a team and you know you are valuable to that team - that your niche is important - we're all like that. We all need to be a part Of some- thing — so know that we are accomplishing something together. Referring tO community service. HOpe stated: 1Interview with Hope. Aug. 19. 1964. 2Ibid. 3Ibld. 210 I think that right now we are at a beginning Of a new era of develOpment. . I think that within the last few years we have recognized the function of the training ground in which we hOpe to improve ourselves and others that want to join. through the workshOp and meetings where we're trying to dispense more information. As far as what we have been doing for the community - this is debatable. It is debatable because - any community theatre. in order to be strong. unfortunately has to have money and some- times I know some people feel that we are prosti- tuting ourselves by doing a slam bang bedroom farce that's going to bring in the tired business man. I don't think we really feel that way. I think we've got to keep an eye on the box Office. be- cause right now we need money to survive. We need money to continue doing some of the ihings we enjoy doing. like our workshOp things. Hope recognizes the community service function of a community theatre. but rationalizes Queen City Little Thea- tre's lack of contribution to that function by emphasizing the importance of the organization's financial solvency. It is also evident that She is most articulate about the recreational function Of the community theatre. and if self-improvement is to be considered recreational. the recreational function Of community theatre received the greatest emphasis in her discussion.2 HOpe's further implication that the major production (which is Open to the public and usually plays to about one thousand persons) serves primarily as a fund raising Operation to help support the workshOp (which plays to ‘ 11bid. 2It seems particularly apprOpriate to consider self- improvement as being recreational since HOpe has further called attention to the self-satisfaction and excitement of self-improvement. 211 Small. select audiences of about eighty persons) further emphasizes her view Of the function of Queen City Little Theatre as being primarily recreational. since it is the workshop program that she believes to be most enjoyable to herself and other members. It seems likely. therefore. that in the future she might tend to advocate expanding the workshOp program rather than expanding and improving upon play selection in the major production program. Such eXpansion of the workShOp would force even more emphasis upon the commercial approach to the major production pro- gram. HOpe's view of the primary purpose of a community theatre. therefore. is its service as a recreational or- ganization for its own members. wherein those who possess theatre Skills may practice them and those who have no theatre background or skills may develOp an interest in theatre. Its secondary purpose is to serve the community by bringing live theatre to the community. but not at the expense of its recreational function or the maintenance Of its financial strength. gppp: In the Opinion of the members of Queen City Little Theatre. June is the second strongest leader of the organization. Of the thirty-two members who identified leaders in the organization. twenty-eight considered her to be one Of the ten strongest leaders. while nineteen of these considered her tO be one of the five strongest lead- ers. The following dialogue between June and the investi- 212 gator took place in response to the question. "What do you consider to be the functions or purposes of community theatre?" June: Jim: June: Jim: June: Jim: June: Jim: June: Jim: One Of the purposes of a community theatre group is to entertain the public. You are not going to entertain the public if they are not going to come. I think that in- stead of saying that you're going to enter- tain them with good theatre and heavy drama and then not have anyone there. you do it in reverse order. You give them something that they think they want and you gradually wean them into what you feel you ought to have. Why bother weaning them? You mean give them what they want all the way through? Why not? I suppose you could. I just feel that it would be a good idea to change their habits a little bit. Does it necessarily follow that they've got to have serious drama from the community theatre? NO. I think primarily that a community group's first purpose is to give live theatre to their community. Maybe it doesn't matter what kind it is. I believe that their Obligation is to see that as many peOple are exposed to live theatre as possible. Why? Maybe it's just that peOple who like live thea- tre feel that they should immerse everyone in it. I don't know. but it seems to me that there's a thrill in live theatre that you can't get from the movies. It may be a thrill for you or me or for 30 other peOple in Queen City Little Theatre. but what if it SO happens that there isn't this thrill. or it is not evident that this thrill exists in the Queen City community? 213 June: SO then you feel that there must be some other reason for the community theatre? Jim: I don't know whether there is or not. I've often wondered why community theatres ex- ist at all. They take an awful lot of work. June: But there is a certain small group of peOple who are willing to work themselves to death because they just get a great deal Of satis- faction Out Of performing. Jim: Aren't we talking about something else now? June: What we're talking about here is. there is a nucleus of peOple who want to perform - who want to put on theatre. and they are hOpeful that they can get ihe rest of the peOple tO come and see them. While June recognizes personal expression or per- sonal satisfaction on the part Of participating members as strong motivationislkeeping the community theatre Oper- ating. her view Of the primary purpose Of community theatre is to provide the local community with live thea- tre. According to June this purpose is Obligatory. Since June recognizes the members' motivations as the de- sire to perform. those motivations should be consistent with the overall purpose. "...to see that as many people are exposed to live theatre as possible." Two questions need further exploration. however. The first is. "How many is it possible to expose to theatre": and the second is. "At what point does the organization be- gin weaning the public to better drama?" June's belief. as frequently revealed in business meetings. is that the group as it now exists can present only one major produc- 1Interview with June. Aug. 25, 1964. 214 tion each year and that the community is not yet ready to be "weaned” from current Broadway comedies. June. therefore. might be expected to support changes which promote more -- or better -- drama for the community providing (1) the motivation of members will not be intefered with. (2) she can be convinced that the organization can effectively produce more than one major production each year. and (3) She can be convinced that the community is ready to be "weaned." 9y: In the eyes Of the members of Queen City Little Theatre. Cy ranked third as a leader in the organization. but with a very narrow margin between him and June. He was ranked as one of the ten tOp leaders by twenty-seven of the members. and nineteen of these members considered him to be one of the five tOp leaders. He answered the question concerning the function or purpose of community theatre as follows: I think that one of the functions Of community thea- tre is to bring to the local community. live theatre: to bring sometimes current and sometimes histori- cally important theatrical endeavors into the local community and to give the local community an Oppor- tunity to see it live and on the stage. I don't know whether I see that as primary or not. I expect I do. Secondarily it serves a lot Of other purposes like giving peOple poise and being able to be on their feet and to appear before the public to develOp techniques Of public Speaking and that kind Of thing. There's an important element of just the purely so- cial -- giving people an opportunity to be together in the group with a common objective...I also think the community theatre serves as a means of eXpression for people who might find it difficult for one rea- son or another to express themselves in other ways and let their true nature show through. 215 This is a way of doing it in a socially acceptable way. Cy's purposes for community theatre involve (l) the bringing of live theatre to the community. and (2) recrea- tion. including self improvement. for the members. His testimony. like Hope's. is consistent with the organiza- tional purposes in the by-laws Of 1963. Eve: As described in the preceding chapter. Eve fa- vors the commercial interests of the organization as a means to the end of building a stronger. more financially sound organization. She is the outSpOken leader of the Older group members and Often antagonizes the younger lib- erals. Eve was considered one of the tOp ten leaders by nineteen of the members and was considered one of the tOp five leaders by thirteen members. Thus. she was ranked asjfourth strongest leader Of the organizationturthe gen- eral membership. In answer to the question. "What do you consider to be the functions or purposes of the community theatre?" the following dialogue took place. Eve: It's a means of expression for people with- talent and without. Some peOple feel that they have talent and its a place to express... Then there's alot Of the arts involved. and for some. for a very few. it's a social thing. The number of members who attend just for the social aSpects is very small. Mostly they feel that they want to act and move in that direction. Did you ask me the purpose of community theatre? k 1Interview with Cy. Aug. 31. 1964. See also. above. "Interview with Cy." Chapter IV.. p. 107. Jim: Eve: Jim: Eve: Jim: Eve: Jim: Eve: Jim: Eve: Jim: Eve: 216 I asked. 'What are some of the purposes Of a community theatre?' Well. I feel that the arts should be repre- sented in any community and there should be a theatre group in Queen City...PeOple need this SXpression. Are you talking about the members Of the or- ganization? I think all communities should have a theatre. For those who do not want to participate ac- tively -- like to attend theatre. it's good. Do you think the primary purpose of theatre in a town like Queen City is to serve the active partipants or to bring live theatre to the community? I don't know how you can separate them. I think it serves equally. What's the value of bringing live theatre to the community ? (pause) What function does that serve? Do you mean from my personal point of view? I enjoy live theatre - came up with it from childhood. and I love it. Do you think the community possesses the same love? NO. I certainly do not...The community will support a comedy right down the line. In or- der to be sustaining we have to do a comedy in other words. Also we've had five sponsors. with this one coming up. and from their choice Of typecf play we must do a comedy. Now I know there are others who hunger for other theatre in the area but there are not enough so that we might be sustaining. How would you like to see Queen City Little Theatre change from this point forward? Or would you like to see it change at all? Oh good heavens. yes. Membership wise and financially able to do. perhaps. two pro- ductions. This would mean that we are not at the same place that we are now. When we can do this and keep the standard up. that will be a happy day.1 1Interview with Eve. Aug. 24. 1964. 217 Like the others. Eve recognized the recreational function and the community service function Of the or- ganization. Her testimony was judged by the investigator to be defensive with regard to her view on the type of plays generally chosen by the organization for major production. The key to her testimony is in her final statement regarding the ways in which she would like to see the group change. The increase to two major produc- tions is Offered. however. with the proviso that the group would increase its membership and be financially able to change. The implication. of course. is that it cannot change under the present circumstances. The question which remains is that of the point at which the group will be strong enough in terms Of mem- bership and finances to make the changes to which Eve refers. App: Ann ranked fifth as a leader in the organiza- tion. having been considered one Of the tOp ten leaders by eighteen members (one less than Eve). and ranked as one of the tOp five leaders by twelve of these members (al- so one less than Eve). She has a following among the younger members. and her testimony reveals an interest in the younger members. The following dialogue reveals her Opinions concerning the purpose Of community theatre and the dangers Of too much emphasis upon the social as- pects of community theatre: Jim: Jim: Ann: Ed: 218 To bring live theatre to the community... I don't believe it should be a social thing. I have visited community theatres that were like this. They had lovely cocktail parties: and when it came time for the play. they played that way. You don't think that this should be any part of the community theatre? No. You out yourself Off from the young peOple when you do this. I think the commu- nity theatre should be a place where young peOple can come to express themselves. The social cuts you off from your young people and you need young peOple all the time or your group will die out. DO you see any other functions of community theatre? (long pause) I'm not sure. I believe those are the main ones.1 Ed ranked sixth among all members as one who gives strong leadership to Queen City Little Theatre. Of the thirty-two members. sixteen considered him to be one of the tOp ten leaders of the organization. while six Of these considered him to be one Of the top five leaders. He explained the function or purpose Of community theatre as follows: Ed: Jim: Well. for one thing I would think it was one Of the best means Of incorporating all Of the various artistic elements in a community as far as the art groups as such -- as far as painting. dance groups. music groups -- it should be a culmination Of the whole -- all dovetailing together to make one strong or- ganization. As yet this hasn't happened in Queen City. What would be the purpose Of such an organi- zation? 219 Ed: I would think for one thing that it would give wider possibilities in terms of creativity and it would fit them together in such a way that it would serve the community in. you might say not only the recreational outlet. but also as a means Of improving the understanding Of the various members as far as the whole of what is going together to make theatre as well as the other arts. Ed. like Hope and Cy. views self-improvement as a Significant function or purpose of community theatre. His concept goes beyond the theatre. however. and includes the other arts. which. he explains. should be united. The function of the community theatre, therefore. is to bring »all of the arts of the community into one single organiza- tion. No mention is made of the service such an organiza- tion would render the total community or the ways in which the arts themselves will be served other than giving the membership of such an organization a conceptcf the inter- relatedness of all the arts. Qggp: Dawn ranked eleventh as a strong leader of the organization. Her testimony is included. however. since she has been elected president for the 1964-65 season and has been identified in the preceding chapter as One of the leaders Of the liberal sub-group. Seven Of the thirty- five members considered Dawn one Of the ten tOp leaders Of the organization. while two of these members consider- ed her one Of the tOp five leaders. The following dialogue reveals her Opinions regard- 1Interview with Ed. Aug. 17. 1964. 220 ing the function or purposes of community theatre: Dawn: Jim: Dawn: Jim: Dawn: Jim: Dawn: Jim: Dawn: Primarily the community theatre fulfills in- dividual needs. Getting back to. 'Why do members join?' 'Why do they even want to do theatre in the first place' I think that those who do objectively want to do theatre for its self sake and are not motivated by personal and social reasons are. and I am sorry to say it. are in the minority. What are some of the personal reasons for peOple joining the community theatre? Well. the raging ego. the intrinsic ham. that in the hard cold world Of economics they cannot make a living at it. give vent to it on the avocational level...Now it seems to me that the nucleus Of membership is more interested in doing theatre for its self sake. for improving themselves individually. to learn the experimental theatre. and so forth. rather than just the froth and frivol- ity which one can find in the Grange group... but. for example. why do I. why does HOpe. why does Ann. Ed. Cy -- I feel. of course. that they are the leaders -- they're the stro est ones that make it go now. and I feel hat it's sincere enthusiasm on their art for th atre. t's u t ain love of theatre. and recogn zi JtfiatpHere's an avocation. but neverthe ess we want to do it well. When they think in terms of 'doing it well' are they thinking in terms of personal needs and devebpment - their develOpment of skills and talents -Or are they thinking in terms of the audience? Both. I have quite a lot of confidence that it is both for those that I've just named. that I call the backbone of the group. Relating these purposes to the audience. are they interested in the audience for pur- poses Of displaying their skills and talents? The raging ego again? Is that it? Is the audience served in any way? I wonder if its possible to say if it's one or the other. I personally feel - I definitely feel that a community is sadly lacking if it 221 doesn't have some form of live theatre. be- cause it's a vital form of the arts and - let's have it!1 Dawn's testimony is contradictory. Essentially. however. She is more articulate when discussing the ways by which the community theatre serves its own members than in her last statement referring to the service the commu- nity theatre renders its audience. EXperimentation is mentioned. but only as something the members might learn about. Summary and Conclusions Six persons identified by the members Of Queen City Little Theatre as the persons giving the strongest leader- ship to the organization were interviewed in an attempt to determine what they considered to be the function or pur- poses Of community theatre. .A seventh person was added to the group of six because of her recent election to the presidency of the organization. It was believed by the investigator that the views of these persons would be in- strumental in directing the policies and practices Of the total organization. The results of the inquiry indicate that the folbwing purposes are given recognition by the leadership group as being of importance to community thea- tres: 1Interview with Dawn. August. 1964. 222 l) The recreational function is primary. and it includes service to persons in the community who want or need to express themselves through the theatre arts and as a social outlet where persons with similar interests. in this case theatre. may identify with one another through participation in an activity organized around the shared interest. 2) The leaders of Queen City Little Theatre recog- nize the possible role the community theatre might play in bringing live theatre to the com- munity. but eXpress this function in more general terms than they do the recreational function. Thus. this function seems somewhat farther re- moved from Queen City Little Theatre than does the recreational function. 3) No mention is made by any leader Of the role the community theatre might play in the develOp- ment of a more significant American Theatre and drama. ' It should be noted. too. the frequency with which SXplanations of the function or purpose Of community thea- tre are viewed by the leaders in terms of the members' reasons for joining or participating in the activities Of the organization. It is not surprising. therefore. that the function Of purpose Of the organization is thought of in terms Of its service to the internal group 223 rather than its services externally to the general com- munity and the American theatre and drama. The closeness Of the community and the contacts with the rest Of the community through everyday affairs can eXplain the community service role as one which is at least recognized by the leaders. Service to the American theatre and drama. on the other hand. requires other than face-tO-face contact among the members and leaders to understand and conceptua- lize. That service function is most frequently encountered by reading literature in the field and through participa- tion in regional and national organizations designed to bring community theatres together into a more broadly or- ganized institution. The probable lack of such contact can eXplain the lack of concern for that function on the part of the leaders. CHAPTER IX SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS To accomplish the principal task Of this study. which was to determine why Queen City Little Theatre functions as it does. and further. to determine its prob- able future service functions. it is necessary first to present a summarized description Of the organization and analyze its present service function in terms of the data collected and interpreted during the course of the investigation. Description Of Queen City Little Theatre Principal Activities: In summary. Queen City Little Theatre may be described as a volunteer community theatre organization which produces one major production each year in which the persons from the community at large may par- ticipate and which the general community may attend for a nominal ticket charge. The major production is most often a recent Broadway play. and it serves in part as a fund-raising Operation by which the organization can main- tain financial solvency and support for its workshOp pro- gram. The workshOp program involves the production of three. four. or five plays each year at less cost to the organization than the major production. The audiences of workshOp productions are made up of approximately eighty invited guests per production as compared with 223 a. 224 approximately one thousand persons who attend each major production. Greater variety of play selection is repre- sented in the workshOp program than in the major production program. and the members of the Queen City Little Theatre are provided with more Opportunities to experiment with their own Skills and talents through the workshop program. Membership: Queen City Little Theatre employs no pro- fessional help. but functions within a framework of four associated groups Of volunteers which have been described in Chapter III Of this study. The membership. which is the general decision making group and the one with which this study was concerned. totaled thirty-five during the period Of the present study. Membership is Open to the entire community for a membership fee of one dollar. During 1964 the membership was composed Of a hetero- geneous group of persons. The membership possessed a high degree of homogeniety in one element investigated. however. A large majority Of members indicate that they have had theatre training or theatrical production experience in the educational theatre. Although some interest in eXpanding membership is evident. there has been no systematic recruitment program in the organization. The organization. therefore. has maintained its membership size by haphazard replacement Of departed members. The initiative for membership comes primarily from the prOSpective new member. By these means. Queen City Little Theatre has maintained stability of 225 membership over its fifteen year life. Leadership: The administration Of the organization is under the direction Of a board of directors. composed of seven elected persons. The president Of the organi- zation. under the leadership Of the board Of directors. is reSponsible for the appointment Of standing committee chairmen. who carry out the general business Of the or- ganization. The board of directors is also responsible for the appointment of production leadership for the major productions. That leadership includes a director. a prO- ducer. and a chairman Of the casting committee. The director of each major production possesses a high degree Of autonomy once the play has been selected and cast. There is a high value placed upon organization- al democracy. however. and for that reason the board rather than the director is the authority in any diSpute which might arise. Ideologically the organization is divided into three principal sub-groups. whose leaders develOp in- formally out Of Opinion leadership and Spokesmanship on the major intra-group controversies of (1) choice of plays for production and (2) the number of productions to offer each season as major productions. The sub-group leaders organize their sub-groups into power units to promote their views on Operating policy and practice. The Function of Queen City Little Theatre It has been stated previously in this study that a 226 community theatre organization may function in one or a combination of three general ways: (1) as a recreational service organization. (2) as a community service organiza- tion. or (3) as a theatre service organization. At present. Queen City Little Theatre's function has been analyzed as being principally recreational. which em- phasizes service to the internal membership rather than community service through which good quality live theatre would be brought to the local community or theatre service through experimentation. Support for this conclusion may be summarized as follows: 1) 2) 3) 4) At no point during the study was service to the art form mentioned by members or leaders as a present function or even as a future aim. There is an emphasis upon the more recreation- ally oriented workshop program at the SXpense Of the major public production program. even though it is through the major public production prOgram that the greatest impact is made upon the community and. therefore. through which the greatest degree of public service to the com- munity is provided. The major public production is considered by many members to be a fund raising production to sup- port the recreationally oriented workshop program. Although some leaders advocate more major public productions. they do so in the interest of greater financial security for the organization rather than in the interest of community service. Although it is believed by ma members and some leaders that the organiza ion 8 not strong enough in terms Of membership to produce more than one major production each year. recruiting has been haphazard. With no systematic attempt to exPand membership to the size which will enable the or- 1See Chapter I. pp. 27-28. 227 ganization to produce more plays for general public consumption without the pressures which would be involved if more major productions were added to the season with the present mem- bership strength. Queen City Little Theatre. therefore. provides a recreational activity for those persons in the community who have the initiative to become active in the organiza- tion and who have enough leisure time to devote to it. The nominal one dollar per year membership fee also gives each member a voice in the policies and practices of the organization. and all persons are welcome as members. Thus. the organization contributes to the life of the community as a recreational service organization. One by-product Of the recreational service is a con- tribution to the cultural and entertainment dimension Of the community. That contribution. made through the major production program. provides the citizens Of Queen City with the Opportunity to attend one live theatrical produc- tion each year. Still another by-product Of the major production program is that it provides a fund raising activity for one Queen City service club each year. It must be recognized. however. that these services are mini- mal and are more accidental than deliberate. Why Does Queen City Little Theatre Function As It Does? The primary reason why Queen City Little Theatre functions as a recreational organization is simply because 228 recreation is what the members desire for themselves and. consequently. what they desire from the organization. In a less democratic organization or one composed Of some professional theatre personnel. the situation might be different. Under present conditions. however. with a high value placed upon organizational democracy and the volunteer status of the group. it is eXpected that the or- ganization will be what its members and leaders wish it to be. As their own testimony reveals. the members partici- pate for self-oriented recreational reasons. not for com- munity service or theatre service reasons. In support Of their direct testimony. the investigator has Observed that both leaders and non-leader members indicate a greater in- terest in the workshOp program than in the major production program. It can be shown. too. that there is a lack of faith on the part of the members in the probability that the gen- eral community will support more live drama of better quality if Offered by their community theatre organization. Thus. the members have no encouragement toward community service since they feel that the community does not want their service. Finally. there is a relatively weak basis for identi- fication with the community theatre movement nationally and for sharing in the service functions of other organization. Geographically. Queen City is removed from the nearest city 229 with a community theatre by approximately one hundred miles. In addition. only one member Of the thirty-five belongs to a regional theatre association which is con- cerned in any way with the community theatre in America. and there was no indication during the period of the present study that that member brought any ideas from the regional association into Queen City Little Theatre. Although the reading of theatre publications by the mem- bers could provide stronger identification with the national movement. the only publication generally'fead was Theatre Arts. With the discontinuation of Theatre Arts in the Spring Of 1964. that relatively weak identification with the community theatre movement was lost. Thus. Queen City Little Theatre has had little. and will have less. Opportunity to benefit from the exchange of ideas with other Similar organizations and will be unable to compare programs and Operations with other progressive groups. PrOSpects for the Future As has already been stated. there is no evidence to indicate that either the members or the leaders Of Queen City Little Theatre have any interest in the present or future service which their organization can render to the art form of theatre. It is doubtful. therefore. that such a service function will be characteristic of the organiza- tion in the future. except in the case of an unforseen turnover in membership or the appearance of an unusually 230 strong leader with experimental interests. It is possible. however. that the organization may improve upon its present community service function of pre- senting one live theatrical production for the general com- munity each year. This can be achieved in two ways: (1) by producing plays of better quality than those generally selected and (2) by producing more than one play each year for the general community. There is ample evidence that Queen City Little Theatre members and their leaders want to produce plays of good quality. Their interest in the workshOp program. which does produce better plays than the major production program. is an indication of that interest. It is also evident that there is some interst in the presentation of more major productions each year. particularly on the part of a minority sub-group. the liberals. To bring about more productions of better drama. however. the following conditions would have to be met: 1) Queen City Little Theatre members and their leaders would have to be convinced that the community will support more productions Of better quality drama. 2) The membership would have to be SXpanded. or the present members and their leaders would have to be convinced that such practices would not overtax them in terms Of the time investment necessary for such a program. In addition. if membership were to be expanded to pro- duce more major productions. it is believed that the older members would want some assurance that such expansion would 231 not interfere with their present status in the organiza- tion. There is some indication that the above conditions are on their way to being met. The work Of convincing the members that the community will support more major produc- tions of better quality has been taken over by a small minority of liberals. who. through the election of one of their leaders to the presidency. seem to be gaining some status and powerizrthe organization. While the expansion of the membership has not yet been achieved. the recent publication of a recruiting brochure indicates an interest in meeting that condition. Should the liberals gain more power in the organization and Should more members be re- cruited. the probability is that the season of major Offer- ings will be expanded. first to two productions and then to as many as membership size will permit. It is doubt- ful. however. that this can be done without the loss of status on the part of some conservatives. Such a loss may. in turn. mean the loss Of some conservative members. as il- lustrated already by the resignation of one conservative leader during 1964. To promote the changes necessary for increased com- munity service. the organization has as its most valuable instrument. the democratic process. which provides Oppor- tunities for all members. either individually or through organized sub-groups. to convert others to their beliefs and further, to introduce new ideas and initiate action 232 toward change. In addition. the democratic process should minimize the loss of members who disagree with changes in organizational policy and practice through the realization that whatever is changed through the democratic process can be unchanged by the same process. The democratic process is only one instrument to be used to improve upon the quality of play selection and in- crease the number Of major productions to be presented each year. Another is the already functioning workshOp program. With a minimum Of effort. workshOp productions could be Opened to a larger and broader audience until such time as membership size will permit one or more work- shOp productions to be presented as major productions. Since most members. including the liberals. are recre- ationally oriented. any plan involving eXpanded com- munity service must be develOped within the framework of the organization's recreational function and must not diminish that function Of the organization. Suggestions for Further Research The present study represents an attempt to observe, at close range.the function of an individual community theatre. The findings of the study have not been general- ized to the community theatre movement as a whole since there is no way to determine the degree to which the Queen City Little Theatre is a typical community theatre. It does show. however. that group policies and practices 233 are not chosen arbitrarily. but are the result of organiza- tional phenomena which would be difficult. if possible at all. to observe in any way other than through a field study of this type. It is hoped. therefore. that the present study will promote more case studies Of individual community theatres and will. thereby. fill a gap which currently ex- ists in theatre research. Such studies would serve to broaden the present outlook on the community theatre move- ment and help interested persons to understand better the role of that movement in the American theatre and in Ameri- can society. It is further hOped that sociologists will join with theatre people inihvestigating community theatres as vol- unteer associations. Perhaps a team effort will provide the highest degree of SOphistication in the research. A team effort which also includes research scholars from the fields Of music and art could provide a valuable study of all of the amateur fine art associations in a given com- munity and the relationships which exist among them. During the course of the present investigation. cer- tain needs became apparent to the investigator which suggested other research projects that should be undertaken in the near future. One of these is the need for a com- munity theatre typology which will enable reserachers to view the organizations they are studying against the back- ground Of groups Of similar size. function. production 234 program. and other variables relevant to such a typology. A community theatre typology would serve. also. to enable the researcher to generalize with more reliability than is now possible. since each organization to be studied could be established as typical Of a certain pypg Of community theatre without regard for its typicality in terms of the entire community theatre movement. In addition. William Work's study Of the current trends in community theatre Operation. conducted in the late 1940's1 should be brought up to date. This represents another need felt by the investigator during the course Of the present research. Finally. the amount Of theatre education and educa- tional theatre practice in the background Of Queen City Little Theatre participants suggests a definite relation- ship between educational theatre and the community theatre. Such a relationship may be typical Of other community theatre organizations. An interesting and meaningful in- vestigation could be conducted from one Of two points Of view: (1) to investigate community theatre participants on a broader scale than in the present study and (2) to in- vestigate former participants in educational theatres to determine the degree to which they participate as volun- 1See William Work. "Current Trends in Community Thea-. tre Operation." Quarterly Journal 2; Speech XXXV. No. 4 (Dec. 1949), PP. " 9e 235 teers in amateur community theatres after leaving school. Such a study might have far-reaching implications for the educational theatre. particularly since most educational institutions place little. if any. emphasis on the com- munity theatre in their academic course work and in their co-curricular production programs. Thus far scholars have tended to neglect the com- munity theatre movement as a subject for serious research. It is hOped. therefore. that this study of Queen City Little Theatre will serve to stimulate more investigation of the community theatre in America. If such investi- gation results from this study. Queen City Little Thea- tre will have made a more vital contribution to the American theatre and American community life than its members can now realize. 236 BIBLI OGRAPHY 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Adams. Richard N.. and Preiss. Jack J. Human Organization Research. Homewood. Ill.: The Dorsey Press. Inc.. 1960. Bogardus. Emory S. Making Social Science Studies. 3rd ed. revised. Los Angeles: Jesse Ray Miller. 1925. Carter. Jean and Ogden. Jess. Everyman's Drama: A Study of the Non-Commercial Theatre in the United States. New York: American Association— for Adult Education. 1938. Dean. Alexander. Little Theatre Opganization and Manage- ment. New York: D. Appleton and Co.. 1926f Doby. John T. (ed. ) An Introduction to Social Research. Harrisburg. Pa.: Stackpole Co..—1954. Gard. Robert. and Burley. Gertrude S. Cgmmunity Theatre: Idea and Achievement. New York: Duell. Sloan. and Pearce. 1959. Gard. Robert. Grassroots Theatre: Search for Regional Arts in America. Madison. Wisc.: The University of Wisconsin Press. 1955. Goode. William J.. and Hatt. Paul K. Methods ip Social Research. New York: McGraw-Hill"BOOk Co.. Inc.. 1952 e Hausknecht. Murray. The Joiners. New York: The Bedminster Press. 1962. Henderson. Archibald (ed. ). Pioneeripg a People's Theatre. Chapel Hill. N. C.: The University. of North Carolina Press. 1945. Houghton. Norris. Advance from Broadway. New York: Har- court. Brace and Co.. 1941. Macgowan. Kenneth. Footlights Across America. New York:_ Harcourt.Brace and Co.. 1929. Mackay. Constance D'Arcy. The Little Theatre ip the United States. New York: Henry Holt and Co.. 1917. Mackaye. Percy. The Civic Theatre in Relation to the Re- demption.p£ Leisure. New York: J. J. Little and, Ives Co.. 1912. 238 McCleery. Albert and Glick. Carl. Curtains Going Up. London: Pitman Pub. Co.. 1939. Merrifield. Charles W. Leadership Ln Voluntary Enterprize. New York: Oceana Pub. Co.. Inc.. 1951. Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure: Toward the Codefication of Social Research. Glencoe. 111.: The Free Press. 1949. Parsons. T.. Bales. R. F.. and Shils. E. A. (eds.) Working Papers lg the Theory p3 Action. Glencoe. 111.: The Free Press. 1953. Pearson. Talbot. Encores on Main Street: Successful Commu- nity Theatre Leadersh_p. Pittsburg: Carnegie Insti- tute of Technology Press, 1948. Perry. Constance. The Work of the Little Theatres. New York: Russell— Sage Foundation. 1933. Rappel. William J. and Winnie. John R. Community Theatre Handbook. Iowa City. Iowa: State University of Iowa Institute of Public Affairs. 1961. Rose. Arnold. Theory and Method Ln the Social Sciences. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1954. Ross. Murray G. and Hendry. Charles E. New Understanding of Leadership: A Survey and Application of Research. New York: Associated Press. 1957. Selden. Samuel (ed. ). Organizing a Community Theatre. Cleveland: National Theatre Conference. 1945. Stratton. Clarence. Producing Ln Little Theatres. New York: Henry Holt and Co.. 1921. Warner, W. Lloyd. Meeker. Marchia. and Eells. Kenneth. Social Class ip America. Chicago: Research Asso- ciates. Inc.. 19 9. Whyte. William Foote. Street Corner Society. 2nd ed. re- vised. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1955. Young. John Wray. The Community Theatre. New York: Har- per and Brothers. 1957. Articles in Periodicals Baker. Virgil L. "The Community Theatre as a Force in Adult Education." Educational Theatre Journal. IV. (1952). pp. 227-230. ""—‘""' ——"' 239 "Community Theatres," Changing Times, XVI, no. 9 (Septem- ber, 1962). 35-6. Dietrich, John E. and Work, William. "Dramatic Activity in American Community Theatres: 19u9-1950." Quarterly Journal 9; Speech. XXXVII, No. 2 (April. 1951). pp. Douglas, Paul F. and Hutchinson. John L. (eds. ) "Recreation in the Age of Automation," The Annals Lf the American Academy Lf Political and Social Science. vol. 313 September, 19575.1-1 7. Duthie, Mary Eva. "A Directory of Non-Professional Commu- nity Theatres in the United States, 1952," Education- 3; Theatre Journal, V (1953). pp. 134-165. Gidwani, K. A., Volunjkar. T. N.. and Chowdry, Kamla. "Leader Behavior in Elected and Non-Elected Groups." Human Organization, Vol.21, no. 1 (Spring, 1962), pp. 36:E2 Hodge, Francis (ed. ). "A Symposium on the Aims and Ob- jectives in Educational Theatre," Educational Theatre Journal, VI (195u). Isaacs. Edith J. B. "The Little Theatre Movement in the United States," Encyclopoedia Britannica. 14th ed.. vol. Marshall. Norman. "Amateur Theatre in Russia," Drama, 5_ (Spring. 1960). pp. 33-35 fiatthews. w. Bushill. "The Future of the Amateur Theatre," Drama, j§ (Autumn, 1960), pp. 33-35. McKee. James B. "Status and Power in the Indsutrial Commu- nity," American Journal Lf Sociology, LVIII (January. 1953). pp. 364- -370 Merrifield, Charles W. "Current Controversies in the Theory of Leadership," Western Speech, XX (1956), pp. 83- Miller. Delbert C. "Decision Making Cliques in Community Power Structures: A Comparative Study of an American and an English City," American Journal Lf Sociology, LXIV (November. 1958), pp. 299- 310. Mitchell, Lee. "Broadway and the American Theatre Worker." Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXVII (October, 1951), pp. 337- 3&0. Polsby, Nelson w. "Three Problems in the Analysis of cemmu- nity Power." American Sociological Review, XXIV, no. 6(December. 1959), pp. 796- 803. 240 Rendle, Adrian. "Mix Me a Theatre," Drama, LXVIII (Spring, 1963). PP. 33-35. Richey, Robert L. "Theatre Management Practices," Educa- tional Theatre Journal, VIII (December, 1956), pp. 311- 315. Schoell, Edwin H. "The Amateur Theatre in Great Britain," Educational Theatgg Journal, XV, no. 2 (May 1963). pp. 151-157. . "The Drama in the Community Theatre: l9hO—l950," Educational Theatre Journal, V (1953), pp. 128-133. Smith, Alec. "A Citizen's Theatre," Recreation, LI. No. 1 (January, 1958), pp. 18-20. "Stagestruck Americans," Saturday Evening Post, CCXXXV (March 24, 1962), p. #3. Stephenson, T. E. "The Leader Follower Relationship," Sociological Review, VII, no. 2 (December, 1959), pp 0 179-195 0 Marriner, Charles K. "Leadership in the Small Group," American Journal 9; Sociology, LX, no. # (January 1955): ppo 361-369- Whyte, William Foote. "Social Organization in the Slums," American Sociological Review, VIII, no. 1 (February 1953): pp. 3h-39. Work, William. "Current Trends in Community Theatre Opera- tion," Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXV, no. 4 (December, 19497, pp. H6N:E69. Young, John Wray. "A Community Theatre Quiz," Theatre Arts, (August, 1960), pp. 16-20. Unpublished Material Brown, Ina Ladd. The History 2; Queen City Little Theatre. 1960. (typewritten). Queen City Little Theatre. "A Message from Queen City Little Theatre," February 1963. Queen City Little Theatre. ”Articles of Association and By-Laws." April 3, 1963 (typewritten). Queen Queen Queen Queen 241 City Little Theatre. "Minutes of Meetings of Queen City Little Theatre." 1960-196M. (typewritten). City Little Theatre. "Statement of Policy of Queen City Little Theatre WorkshOp." September, 1964. (mimeographed). Other Sources City Little Theatre. Personal Interviews with Queen City Little Theatre Leaders. August 196M; September, 1964. (tape recorded). City Little Theatre. Tape recordings of selected bus- iness meetings. Fall, 196Q. 242 APPENDIX 243 Please answer the following questions as accurately as you can. Don't omit any questions. All answers will be kept in strict confidence. Please do not consult with one another while answering these questions. Name Phone Address For whom do you work? What is your Job? What is your husband's/wife's job? (for the following please check the apprOpriate box) sex - Male E] Female E] Age - under 20 D 20 - 30 E] 30-40 [3 over 40 [1 Are you presently married [1 single [] divorced E] legally separated C] 1. How long have you been a member of Queen City Little Theatre? 2. What Specifically was your Job on the last major produc- tion? 3. How many workshop productions have you participated in during the past 12 months? 244 6. What is your educational theatre background (Check the apprOpriate squares) E] Course work.in high school. C] participation in high school productions. E] course work in college or professional school. How many courses? [J participation in college or professional school production. How many plays? 7. Are there any publications which you read occasionally as a source of information pertaining to theatre? If so, which ones are they? Circle the ones which you subscribe to. 8. Are you a member of any national or regional theatre or- ganizations?_ Which ones? 9. How many major productions do you feel Queen City Little Theatre should do each year? How many workshop productions? EXplain why you feel as you do. 10. In the square at the left rank (from 1 thru 6) the following types of plays in the order which you feel the types to be apprOpriate as major productions. In the square at the right of each type do the same in the order of appropriateness for workshOp productions. ma or workshOp [j Pre-Modern Plays C] E] EXperimental Plays E] E] Recent Broadway Comedies E] (cont'd next page) mm: 11. 12. 13. 245 Recent Broadway Drama Original Plays EDD Masterpieces of Modern Drama Other (specify below) Why do you feel as you do with regard to play choices? Do you favor the play selection committee system of choosing plays? Why? Do you feel that the Queen City Little Theatre should pay any of its personnel? Why do you feel as you do? Do you favor the casting committee as a means of cast- ing productions? Why do you feel as you do? l4. 15. l6. 17. 246 Why, in your Opinion, do most peOple Join and par- ticipate in community theatre? Why do you participate in Queen City Little Theatre? If you were on a committee of importance to Queen City Little Theatre, who would you want on the com- mittee with you? (name a committee of four persons beside yourself) d. Name the ten persons who, in your Opinion, rank high- est in Queen City Little Theatre in each of the fol- lowing categories. Please include yourself whenever apprOpriate. a. Persons you believe to have been members of Queen City LittleTheatre for the longest period of time. 247 b. Your closest friends. c. Persons you believe to give the strongest group leadership d. Persons you believe to participate most actively in the group. e. Persons you believe to have the most knowledge of dramatic literature. 18. 248 f. Persons you believe to be the most influential in group decision making. Now go back over each of the categories in 17 and rank all persons you have named from 1 through 10 (highest to lowest). For item 17a identify char- ter member with the symbol C. 5 7 2 8 2 8 0 3 o 3 9 " H " VII II S“ R" I H I H TI "2 “I1 H ”3 H H