New York Shakespeare Festival records

Home

Search Browse About

Items Collections Divisions

Digital Collections Using Images Using Data

Navigation About Filters

This collection is also available in Archives & Manuscripts
View In Archives »

Collection Data

Description: The New York Shakespeare Festival records (1954-1992) measure approximately 850 linear feet and consist of scripts, correspondence, inter-office memoranda, production materials, reports, financial records, photographs, and memorabilia. The records reflect the origin and activities of the New York Shakespeare Festival, its general administration, and the staging of its productions, including their creation, management, booking, and promotion. The files of the Casting Office, except in the form of carbon copies in other series, are not included in this archive. There are also gaps in the files of the Associate Producer. Contracts were removed and require special permission of the curator to access. Oral history materials in Series I and some correspondence in Series V are restricted until the year 2043 in order to protect the privacy of individual persons. Series XIV (Oversized Materials) is not fully processed and is currently unavailable for research.
Names: Papp, Joseph (Creator); New York Shakespeare Festival Productions (Creator); Goodstein, Gerry (Photographer); Jeffry, Alix (Photographer); Joseph, George E. (Photographer); Marcus, Joan (Photographer); Migdoll, Herbert (Photographer); Ohringer, Frederic (Photographer); Regan, Ken (Photographer); Rosegg, Carol (Photographer); Swope, Martha (Photographer); Friedman-Abeles (Firm) (Photographer)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1954 - 1992
Library locations: Billy Rose Theatre Division; Shelf locator: *T-Mss 1993-028
Topics: Gersten, Bernard; Hamlisch, Marvin; Hare, David, 1947-; Havel, Václav; MacDermot, Galt; Miller, Jason, 1939-2001; Moses, Robert, 1888-1981; Papp, Gail Merrifield; Papp, Joseph; Rabe, David; Shange, Ntozake; Sullivan, Arthur, 1842-1900; Swados, Elizabeth; Weill, Kurt, 1900-1950; Delacorte Theater (New York, N.Y.); Festival Latino en Nueva York; Heckscher Theater (New York, N.Y.); New York Shakespeare Festival Productions; New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater; New York Shakespeare Festival. Mobile Theater; New York Shakespeare Festival. New Jazz at the Public; Costume design -- New York (State) -- New York; Dramatists, American -- 20th century; Hispanic American theater -- New York (State) -- New York; Musical theater -- United States -- 20th century; Musicals; Playwriting; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Dramatic production; Stage lighting; Theater -- New York (State) -- New York; Theater -- Production and direction; Theatrical producers and directors; Theatrical productions -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century; Joseph Papp Public Theatre (Organization : New York, N.Y.)
Genres: Posters; Clippings; Contracts; Correspondence; Records (Documents); Ephemera; Legal memorandums; Photographs; Programs; Drama; Drawings
Notes: Biographical/historical: Joseph Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954 in New York City. It was initially chartered as the Shakespeare Workshop, an actors' workshop presenting Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries free of charge in the basement of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and in the Heckscher Theater. The original aim was to cultivate and encourage interest in Shakespeare and classic drama, to present an annual Shakespeare festival, and to build an Elizabethan-style stage to present Shakespeare's works. During the fifties, Papp fought to obtain financial support from the City of New York in order to establish a subsidized, free Shakespearean theater. Eventually, Papp won a court battle with New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to keep his Shakespeare productions free to the public. In 1957, the New York Shakespeare Festival flatbed truck, which toured the city parks and playgrounds with performances of Shakespeare, broke down near Belvedere Lake in Central Park. On that site they constructed the Delacorte Theater, which opened in 1962. Papp relentlessly promoted the concept of free Shakespeare. He solicited support from foundations, corporations, political officials, and individual philanthropists. During the sixties, Papp extended the reach of the New York Shakespeare Festival by bringing Shakespeare to the outer boroughs of New York City and the tri-state area. He created the Mobile Theater, which toured the public schools, religious institutions, and civic organizations. In 1965, the New York Shakespeare Festival purchased the landmark Astor Library building on Lafayette Street, and the city funded its conversion into the new Public Theater. Papp then added to the New York Shakespeare Festival's mission a new mandate: to produce new American plays. The Public Theater was inaugurated in 1967 with the production of the musical Hair. The Public Theater became the administrative home of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the laboratory for many original plays and musicals by David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Babe, Miguel Piñero, and many others. It was also home to many actors who found recognition through their association with the Festival, such as Colleen Dewhurst, James Earl Jones, Raul Julia, Kevin Kline, and Meryl Streep. During the seventies, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production schedule became increasingly prolific, moving many productions to Broadway, most notably Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Chorus Line, That Championship Season, and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (When the Rainbow Is Enuf). The New York Shakespeare Festival earned an international reputation for theatrical innovation and received numerous awards. Papp expanded the Festival into the areas of dance, music and poetry, producing new plays by young playwrights that reflected contemporary issues. In 1974, the Festival was invited to become a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. During the next four years, the New York Shakespeare Festival produced In the Boom Boom Room, Short Eyes, and The Threepenny Opera, among others, and achieved both notoriety and acclaim for its innovative staging of classics and production of new, often controversial plays. In 1976, the Festival Latino en Nueva York was launched through Papp's efforts and encouragement, and became an annual event. Papp was ever seeking new audiences for the theater, which he believed to be a powerful social force. In the seventies, The New York Shakespeare Festival expanded into television production with David Rabe's Sticks and Bones and several Shakespeare plays, then into motion pictures with adaptations of The Pirates of Penzance (1983) and Plenty (1985). The New York Shakespeare Festival participated in a theater exchange program with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In addition, the Belasco Project was created to expose high school students to Shakespeare on Broadway, while the PITS Program taught them how to write plays. Papp became ill in the late eighties, and played a less active role in Festival administration and productions. His last major theatrical work was his direction of Bill Gunn's Forbidden City, while his involvement in the controversy over NEA funding marked his final act of public advocacy. Joseph Papp died on October 31, 1991. Chronology 1953-1954 Joseph Papp forms Shakespeare Workshop, chartered by Board of Regents of State of New York "to encourage and cultivate interest in poetic drama with emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries and to establish an annual Shakespeare Festival. Shakespeare Workshop presents An Evening With Shakespeare and Marlowe at the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church Sunday School. 1956-1957 First season of Free Shakespeare in the Park presented in cooperation with Dept. of Parks at the East River Amphitheater. Papp moves operations to Heckscher Theater. Shakespeare Workshop opens season at Belvedere Lake with a new, grant-funded truck stage, and tours the five boroughs of New York City with Romeo and Juliet. 1958-1959 Second season of Free Shakespeare at Belvedere Lake. Papp called before HUAC. Papp battles with NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses over Free Shakespeare in the Park. Papp goes to court to protest charging admission to public. State Appellate court rules in favor of Free Shakespeare. Moses requests Board of Estimate to appropriate funds to build a Shakespeare-style amphitheater in Central Park. 1960-1961 New York Shakespeare Festival officially chartered. Board of Education funds Shakespeare in the Schools tour of Romeo and Juliet in city schools. Construction of Delacorte Theater begins; Festival temporarily relocates to Wollman Rink. Mayor's Committee for Free Shakespeare formed. 1962 The new Delacorte Theater opens with Merchant of Venice, starring George C. Scott; CBS-TV telecasts opening night performance. 1964 Mobile Theater program begins; five-trailer caravan tours the five boroughs. 1966-1967 NYSF purchases the old Astor Library building for $575,000. The musical Hair inaugurates the newly created Public Theater, dedicated to presenting contemporary works. 1968 Vaclav Havel's The Memorandum opens at the Public Theater. 1970 No Place to be Somebody wins the Pulitzer Prize. 1971 City of New York purchases Public Theater, leases it back for $1 a year. Galt MacDermot's musical Two Gentlemen of Verona opens at the Delacorte and then moves to Broadway. 1972 Sticks and Bones moves to Broadway. That Championship Season opens at the Public Theater. Tony Awards go to Two Gentlemen of Verona and Sticks and Bones. 1973 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts invites NYSF to join its constituency; first season at LC opens with In the Boom Boom Room. NYSF contracts with CBS-TV to produce Much Ado About Nothing. Contract expires before Sticks and Bones airs. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for That Championship Season. 1974 Short Eyes opens at the Public Theater and moves to Lincoln Center. NYSF contracts with ABC-TV to produce The Wedding Band. 1975 A Chorus Line opens at the Public Theater and moves to Broadway. 1976 Festival Latino begins. 1978 Bernard Gersten leaves NYSF. For Colored Girls... opens. Runaways opens, moves to Broadway. Poets at the Public program begins. 1979 Jazz at the Public program begins. 1980 Save our Broadway campaign begins. 1981 The Pirates of Penzance opens, moves to Broadway, and is adapted into film. 1982 Save our Theaters campaign aims but fails to protect the Helen Hayes and Morosco theaters from demolition. 1983 NYSF begins theater exchange program with London's Royal Court Theater. 1984 Papp tours Europe, visits Vaclav Havel, initiates theater exchange with Russia. 1985 The Normal Heart opens. 1986 Belasco/Shakespeare on Broadway Project begins. Playwriting in the Schools program also begins. 1987 Shakespeare Marathon begins, an attempt to produce all of Shakespeare's plays. 1988 NEA controversy and Joseph Papp's involvement in it deepens. 1989 Joseph Papp dies in New York City.; Content: The New York Shakespeare Festival Collection (1954-1992) measures 851 linear feet and consists of scripts, notes, correspondence, inter-office memoranda, reports, financial records, photographs, programs, brochures, posters, and productions materials including prompt books, light plots, ground plans, costume plots and bibles, set designs, electrics, prop running sheets, prop preset sheets, prop inventories, light cue sheets, and electrical layouts. The records reflect the origin and activities of the New York Shakespeare Festival, its general administration, and the staging of its productions, including their creation, management, booking, and promotion. Original stage and costume design materials are absent. Also absent are the files of the Casting Office, except in the form of carbon copies in other series. There are also gaps in the files of the Associate Producer. Contracts were removed and require special permission of the curator. Oral history materials and some correspondence are restricted until the year 2043 in order to protect the privacy of individual persons.
Physical Description: Extent: 851.5 lf. (1803 boxes)
Type of Resource: Text; Still image
Identifiers: NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b15059124; MSS Unit ID: 21550; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 8f2c4550-1293-0137-a6e1-33e54d787cc4