ABSTRACT
Zelda, Tom, and the Arena stockholders convert Arena from a for-profit enterprise into a not-for-profit, so that they will be able to raise the money needed to build a new 827-seat theater in Southwest Washington, which they open in 1961 with Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle. Zelda responds to the turbulent decade of the 1960s by producing anti-war plays and searching for playwrights whose work explores social movements and current events. Jane Alexander joins the Arena company at the age of 25, playing the lead in Shaw’s Saint Joan; and under Arena’s auspices, her then-husband Robert Alexander starts the Living Stage, an improvisational acting troupe that travels to underserved communities and collaborates closely with its audience. Narrators include Robin Wagner, Conrad Bromberg, Mel Shapiro, Ronny Cox, Anthony Zerbe, and Jane Alexander.
