ABSTRACT
Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist, fictionist, biographer, and journalist Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) may remain best-known for her one-act play Trifles (1916) and its short-story counterpart, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917), but she also served from 1936 to 1938 as the Director of the Midwest Play Bureau of the Federal Theatre Project, part of the United States Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. In this capacity, Glaspell played a pivotal role in enacting National Director Hallie Flanagan's vision of the project by seeking out, encouraging, and producing emerging midwestern writers in a time when those outside of New York City were marginalized. In the speech included here, Glaspell makes a compelling case for new work, regional playwrights, and the enormous potential of Chicago to become a central force in theatre moving forward.
