Hallie Flanagan

Hallie Flanagan
Flanagan in 1940
Born	Hallie Ferguson (1890-08-27)August 27, 1890 Redfield, South Dakota
Died	June 23, 1969(1969-06-23) (aged 78) Old Tappan, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University, Vassar College, Grinnell College
Occupation	Theatrical producer, director, playwright, author
Known for	Directing the Federal Theatre Project

Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1890 in Redfield, South Dakota – June 23, 1969 in Old Tappan, New Jersey) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Hallie Flanagan was born in Redfield, South Dakota, and was raised in Grinnell, Iowa. She attended Grinnell College where she majored in Philosophy and German, and was an active member in the dramatic club. During her time at Grinnell she met husband, Murray Flanagan, also a member of the Grinnell dramatic college. After college, the two exchanged vows, and had two sons, Jack and Frederick Flanagan. Murray was diagnosed with tuberculosis; the disease took his life in 1919. Soon after, the eldest son, Jack, died of spinal meningitis in 1922. Hallie and Frederick moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where she enrolled in George Pierce Baker's famous 47 Workshop dramatic production studio at Radcliffe College/Harvard University. This class, one of the first of its kind at an American university, taught playwrighting. Baker was so impressed with her, he decided to make her the director of the workshop's actors' group in 1923. While at Radcliffe and later at Vassar College, Flanagan began developing her own ideas for experimental theatre.

When Flanagan came to Vassar, there was no theater and all drama courses were taught in the English department. Flanagan's official title at the school was "Director of English Speech". In 1926, Flanagan became the first women awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study theatre around Europe for fourteen months. While there, she met some of the most influential figures in theatre including John Galsworthy, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Edward Gordon Craig and Lady Gregory. Flanagan especially shared a special connection with the Russian theater. She later goes on to write a book, Shifting Scenes of the Modern European Theater,tbased on her travels. After returning to Vassar, she began to institute many of her new-found ideas with the Vassar Experimental Theatre, which she created. The first play she produced was Anton Chekhov's "A Marriage Proposal", using the original Chekhov style, an expressionistic style, and Meyerhold's Constructivist techniques throughout the three acts. Over the years, she pushed the administration to start an independent major in drama, but it wasn't approved until after Flanagan had left. Flanagan rose to national prominence after producing the theatrical adaptation she co-wrote, Can You Hear Their Voices?, based on the short story written by Whittaker Chambers for The New Masses in 1931.