"both MI5 and the Special Branch maintained a watch on the couple because of their support for the Communist Party of Great Britain. Littlewood was precluded from working for the BBC as a children's programme presenter and some of MacColl's work was banned from broadcast. In the late 1930s Littlewood and MacColl formed an acting troupe called the Theatre Union. This was dissolved in 1940, but in 1945 many of its former members joined Joan Littlewood's new venture, the Theatre Workshop. In 1948 the company toured Czechoslovakia and Sweden. Touring was not successful for the company, and in 1953 Joan"
"often staged at the historic Oldham Coliseum Theatre. The Oldham Theatre Workshop is now managed by the Education and Cultural Services Department of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Many well-known actors began and developed their interest in the performing arts at the Theatre Workshop, with previous members including: Oldham Theatre Workshop The Oldham Theatre and Music Workshop is a youth theatre group based in the north west of England. Founded by David Johnson in 1968, the Oldham Theatre Workshop has a purpose-built studio located in its own building off Oldham's Union Street, in company with a gallery, a museum and"
"costing $40 million. The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is led by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham. The venue opened in 1967, mounting the world-premiere production of the musical ""Hair"" as its first show. The Public is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in Lower Manhattan. The building holds five theater spaces and Joe's Pub, a cabaret-style venue used for new work,"
"an episode of the NBC crime drama series ""The Eddie Capra Mysteries"" in 1978 and portrayed Doctor Walcott in the 1980s television series ""Dynasty"". The Group Theatre Workshop (GTW, 1964): Founder. A performing troupe and tuition free training program for Manhattan teens. Alumni include Antonio Fargas and Hattie Winston. (New York City) The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC, 1967): Co-Founder (along with Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald S. Krone) & Executive Director/Producer. The Group Theatre Workshop was folded into the training arm of the NEC. (New York City) The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (BAAL, 1969-1972): An original Board Member,"
"The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is led by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham. The venue opened in 1967, mounting the world-premiere production of the musical ""Hair"" as its first show. The Public is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in Lower Manhattan. The building holds five theater spaces and Joe's Pub, a cabaret-style venue used for new work, musical performances, spoken-word"
"In 1936, after a failed attempt to move to London, the couple returned to Manchester, and formed the Theatre Union. In 1940 a performance of ""The Last Edition"" – a 'living newspaper' – was halted by the police and Miller and Littlewood were bound over for two years for breach of the peace. The necessities of wartime brought an end to Theatre Union. MacColl enlisted in the British Army during July 1940, but deserted in December. Why he did so, and why he was not prosecuted after the war, remain a mystery. In an interview in June 1987, he said"
"Rockford. There is now a preservation order on the facade of the building. Torch Theatre, Dublin The Torch Theatre was a theatre located in Capel Street, Dublin, which operated from 1935 to 1941. It was founded by husband and wife team Charles L. Keogh and Evelyn Lund and opened on February 27, 1935. The building had previously been used as the headquarters of the United Trades Council, with the meeting room being converted into the theatre space. Another founding member was the artist Lilian Davidson, who under the stage name ""Jennifer Maud"", designed scenery and was a co-director in 1936."
"the group. Unity Theatre, London The Unity Theatre was a theatre club formed in 1936, and initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London NW1. In 1937 it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town in the London Borough of Camden. Although the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975, productions continued sporadically until 1994, when the site was sold for social housing. Unity Mews is today on the site and a bronze plaque commemorates the theatre. It had links to the Left Book Club Theatre Guild and the Communist Party of"
"has since then been called Theatre Arts Workshop – a theatre for enthusiasts in drama and allied arts. Thus in 1966, Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) was founded by Raj Bisaria, as a president and artistic director, with the aim of creating interest in dramatic arts among the young, and help them to develop an insight into acting, direction and allied arts. The name ‘Theatre Arts Workshop’ is unit for theatre and allied performing arts; its members are to be exposed to workshop methods of representation. TAW was to be a training organization and then a performing group, with its motto"
"Theatre Workshop, John McGrath and Elizabeth MacLennan and their company, Welfare State International, and Ann Jellicoe founder of the Colway Theatre Trust, now known as the Claque Theatre and run by UK practitioner Jon Oram. Community theatre in the Netherlands came about after the ending of the ""theater-in-education"" movement. This ""theatre-in-education"" movement lasted from 1970-1985. The big theatre in the Netherlands which was created originally for ""theatre-in-education"" and subsequently community theatre is the Stut Theatre. This theatre idea was started in 1977 by Jos Bours and Marlies Hautvast, who when they first starting creating plays at the Stut Theatre, realized"
"Unity Theatre, London The Unity Theatre was a theatre club formed in 1936, and initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London NW1. In 1937 it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town in the London Borough of Camden. Although the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975, productions continued sporadically until 1994, when the site was sold for social housing. Unity Mews is today on the site and a bronze plaque commemorates the theatre. It had links to the Left Book Club Theatre Guild and the Communist Party of Great Britain."
"in Theatre Workshop, they were more formalised. Littlewood was the sole producer and MacColl the dramaturge, art director and resident dramatist. The techniques that had been developed in the Theatre Union now were refined, producing the distinctive form of theatre that was the hallmark of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as the troupe was later known. They were an impoverished travelling troupe, but were making a name for themselves. During this period MacColl's enthusiasm for folk music grew. Inspired by the example of Alan Lomax, who had arrived in Britain and Ireland in 1950, and had done extensive fieldwork there, MacColl"
"Manchester Youth Theatre The Manchester Youth Theatre was a youth theatre which operated in Manchester from 1966 until 2003. It was founded by Geoff Sykes, the lifelong friend of Michael Croft founder of The National Youth Theatre who served as its Artistic Director until his death. Geoff and his wife Hazel, ran Manchester Youth Theatre staging plays, musicals and devised shows which featured at the local theatres in Manchester. Mike Leigh, then a lecturer at the Catholic women teachers training college ""Sedgley Park"", devised and directed two big-cast projects for the Manchester Youth Theatre- ""Big Basil"" and ""Glum Victoria and"
"of the touring company Theatre Workshop, she also wanted someone who could build theatre sets and drive the lorry. Greene resigned his teaching job the following day, and moved to Manchester to join the Theatre Workshop, often earning less than £5 a week from the company's takings. In 1949, he changed his name to Harry Greene by deed poll. After two years the company moved to a new base at the near-derelict Theatre Royal music hall in Stratford, London. After Greene designed and organised the theatre's reconstruction programme, the first production was ""Twelfth Night"" in late 1953, for which Greene"
"Workshop"" as a sign of their interest in polishing performance skills and honing them in group critique. From its start in a loft above a judo academy on Divisadero Street, the Workshop expanded over the years to a warehouse on Elgin Street and eventually occupied two simultaneously running houses, the Marines Memorial Theater and the Encore Theater. The guiding artistic vision of the Workshop was a legacy of the Group Theatre of the 1930s, with the troupe's eyes firmly on social responsibility and ensemble principles. Among the company's most lauded productions were the plays of Miller, Tennessee Williams, Bertolt Brecht,"
"Group Theatre (London) The Group Theatre (London) was an experimental theatre company founded in 1932 by Rupert Doone and Robert Medley. It evolved from a play-reading group in Cambridge that Doone had been involved with during his years studying with the Festival Theatre there. The Group Theatre was active from 1932 to 1939 and reformed as The Group Theatre Ltd. in the early 1950s. The Group performed plays written for it in the 1930s by W. H. Auden, both alone and in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood, Louis MacNeice, and Stephen Spender. It also produced plays by T. S. Eliot and"
"as Ewan MacColl. After joining his troupe, Theatre of Action, Littlewood and Miller were soon married. After a brief move to London, they returned to Manchester and set up the Theatre Union in 1936. In 1941, Littlewood was banned from broadcasting on the BBC. The ban was lifted two years later, when MI5 said she had broken off her association with the Communist Party. She was under surveillance by MI5 from 1939 until the 1950s. In 1945, after the end of World War II, Littlewood, her husband the communist folk singer Ewan MacColl, and other Theatre Union members formed Theatre"
"the Workshop was evicted from Elgin Street to make room for a new freeway. The company had an option to renew its lease on the Marines' Memorial Theater but no money. A young Canadian, Alan Mandell, who as volunteer Business Manager (and ""de facto"" chief executive with Irving) helped inaugurate the first subscription season for the Actor's Workshop. Irving and Blau were insistent idealists who developed the Workshop in the tradition of the Group Theatre of the 1930s; they and key company members were dedicated to principles of social responsibility and ensemble artistry. The troupe's repertoire focused initially on Miller"
"Theatre Arts Workshop The Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) is a non-profit making, registered cultural organization established in 1966, in Lucknow. As well as the plays of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, TAW produces new work from living artists and develops creative links with theatre-makers. TAW will celebrate its 50 anniversary in March 2016. In December 1963, ten members organized a theatre play and put through a programme – ""An Evening with Young Actors"" – which included Edna St. Vincent Millay’s ""Aria da Capo"", scenes from ""Twelfth Night"" and ""Macbeth"", ""The Valiant"" and a dramatized reading of Hamlet, Eliot, ""The Love"
"Konstantin Stanislavski, and the company shared the socially committed spirit of the Unity Theatre movement, which brought many new voices into British theatre for the first time. Theatre Workshop broke new ground, re-interpreting the classics for a modern age, commissioning new plays from socially committed writers, and creating an ensemble capable of inventing new work, such as the now legendary ""Oh, What a Lovely War!"". Littlewood created an ensemble, who combined inspired, improvisational brilliance with method, technique, research, text analysis, and the expression of real emotions. Over the years, new training methods were evolved to strip actors of affectations, attitudes"
"planned to transform the centre of Stratford. Audiences mounted a campaign to save the theatre and for many years it remained open in the centre of a building site. In 1975 Gerry Raffles died of diabetes and in 1979 Littlewood moved to France, and ceased to direct. Many well-regarded television and stage actors began their professional careers at Theatre Workshop under Littlewood's tutelage. They included Yootha Joyce, Glynn Edwards, Harry H. Corbett, George A. Cooper, Richard Harris, Stephen Lewis, Howard Goorney, Brian Murphy, Murray Melvin, Nigel Hawthorne and Barbara Windsor. The last three were cast by the director Ken Russell"
"the upper classes, responded. There was a ban on theatre at its outbreak, but once lifted the theatre remained active throughout World War II. The company also provided groups of entertainers to tour factories and air-raid shelters. There was also an associated ""Unity Theatre School"". Unity was a volunteer theatre, neither fully amateur, nor professional (apart from a short-lived professional company founded in 1946 by Ted Willis) and loosely linked to a national network. By the outbreak of World War II there were over 250 branches throughout the country. The end of theatrical censorship in 1968 meant that mainstream theatre"
"Theatre Royal, Manchester The Theatre Royal in Manchester, England, opened in 1845. Situated next to the Free Trade Hall, it is the oldest surviving theatre in Manchester. It was commissioned by Mancunian businessman John Knowles who wanted a theatre venue in the city. The Theatre Royal operated as a theatre from 1845 until 1921, when it closed in the face of growing competition from the Palace Theatre and Opera House. The building has since been converted numerous times for use as a cinema, bingo hall and nightclub. It has been unoccupied since 2009. The theatre, which stands on an island"
"Union Theatre, London The Union Theatre is a fringe theatre situated in the borough of Southwark in London, England. It was established in 1998 by Sasha Regan, and has a reputation for staging musicals. In 1998, Sasha Regan took the initiative to convert a disused paper warehouse on Union Street near Southwark station into a functioning theatre. Set beneath railway arches, it was one of the more distinctive theatrical spaces in London. When its landlord, the publicly owned infrastructure body Network Rail, wished to redevelop the site for offices, a campaign was started to save the theatre, and also other"
"Murray Melvin Murray Melvin (born 10 August 1932) is an English stage and film actor noted for his work with Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell and Stanley Kubrick. He is the author of two books: ""The Art of Theatre Workshop"" (2006) and ""The Theatre Royal, A History of the Building"" (2009). Melvin was born in London. The son of Hugh Victor Melvin and Maisie Winifred Driscoll, Melvin left his north London secondary school at the age of fourteen unable to master fractions but as head prefect, a qualification he says he gained by always having clean fingernails and well combed hair."
"Torch Theatre, Dublin The Torch Theatre was a theatre located in Capel Street, Dublin, which operated from 1935 to 1941. It was founded by husband and wife team Charles L. Keogh and Evelyn Lund and opened on February 27, 1935. The building had previously been used as the headquarters of the United Trades Council, with the meeting room being converted into the theatre space. Another founding member was the artist Lilian Davidson, who under the stage name ""Jennifer Maud"", designed scenery and was a co-director in 1936. The semi-professional company that was based out of the Torch Theatre specialised in"
"Oldham Theatre Workshop The Oldham Theatre and Music Workshop is a youth theatre group based in the north west of England. Founded by David Johnson in 1968, the Oldham Theatre Workshop has a purpose-built studio located in its own building off Oldham's Union Street, in company with a gallery, a museum and a library. The workshop provides all-year-round drama training to young people, with classes ranging from the playful and fun 6–8-year-olds, to challenging, devising and practitioner study for those aged 16–25. Each year the workshop produces two large-scale productions — one in December, one in June — which are"
"Annie Horniman Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH (3 October 1860 – 6 August 1937) was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. She encouraged the work of new writers and playwrights, including W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and members of what became known as the Manchester School of dramatists. Annie Horniman was born at Surrey Mount, Forest Hill, London, in 1860, the elder child of Frederick John Horniman and his first wife Rebekah née Elmslie. Her father"
"day, while watching for acting opportunities in ""The Stage"". On New Year's Day 1954, she was one of 200 people who attended an audition at the Theatre Royal in Stratford for Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop company. The facilitator for the audition was Harry Greene, while Littlewood put her through a two-hour audition before accepting Lawrence into the company. Greene and Lawrence quickly became a couple. Theatre Workshop became such a success, that productions would later transfer to London's West End theatre, bringing both Greene and Lawrence to national attention, alongside actors including Sir Sean Connery, Sir John Gielgud, Melina Mercouri,"
"Jules Irving Jules Irving (né Julius Israel; April 13, 1925 – July 28, 1979) was an American actor, director, educator, and producer, who in the 1950s co-founded the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. When the Actor's Workshop closed in 1966, Irving moved to New York City and became the first Producing Director of the Repertory Company of the Vivian Beaumont Theater of Lincoln Center. In 1955, the Actor's Workshop was the first West Coast theater to sign an Equity ""Off-Broadway"" contract. Irving had started the Workshop with fellow New Yorker Herbert Blau, whom he knew from undergraduate days at New York"
"Maurice Browne Maurice Browne (12 February 1881 – 21 January 1955), born in Reading, England, was best known as a theater producer in the United States and the UK. The Cambridge-educated Browne was also a poet, actor, and theater director. He has been credited, along with his then-wife Ellen Van Volkenburg, with being the founder of the Little Theatre Movement in America through his work with the Chicago Little Theatre. Browne and Van Volkenburg went on to found the department of drama at the Cornish School in Seattle in 1918, now Cornish College of the Arts. Browne's greatest triumph came"
"other contemporary writers, and Elizabethan and medieval English plays. Among the artists and musicians who worked with the Group were Henry Moore, Benjamin Britten and Rupert Shephard. Group Theatre (London) The Group Theatre (London) was an experimental theatre company founded in 1932 by Rupert Doone and Robert Medley. It evolved from a play-reading group in Cambridge that Doone had been involved with during his years studying with the Festival Theatre there. The Group Theatre was active from 1932 to 1939 and reformed as The Group Theatre Ltd. in the early 1950s. The Group performed plays written for it in the"
"Workshop and registered it while staying at Ormesby Hall. The following eight years were spent touring. Shortly afterwards, when Gerry Raffles joined the troupe, MacColl and Littlewood divorced, though they still worked together for many years and Littlewood was godmother to MacColl's two children. Littlewood and Raffles were life partners until his death in 1975. In 1953, after an attempt to establish a permanent base in Glasgow, Theatre Workshop took up residence at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, east London, where it gained an international reputation, performing plays across Europe and in the Soviet Union. One of Littlewood's most famous"