"The civic theatre idea, as a distinctive issue, implies the conscious awakening of a people to self-government in the activities of its leisure. To this end, organization of the arts of the theatre, participation by the people in these arts (not mere spectatorship), a new resulting technique, leadership by means of a permanent staff of artists (not of merchants in art), elim ination of private profit by endowment and public support, dedication in service to the whole community; these are chief among its essentials, and these imply a new and nobler scope for the art of the theatre itself.° Mr. Percy Mackaye, author of Civic Theatre' from which the above lines are taken, deplores the severance of joy from labor under modern commercial conditions, and conceives the one answer to the workers' protests to be in "Art, the recreative labor of leisure.° His favorite phrase, his slogan and the subtitle of his book is, "the redemption of leisure.° To the now swiftly increasing body represented by Mr. Mackaye the reorganization of leisure is not alone a fine aim in itself, but the real goal, the focus, of all the striving of the age, the fulfil ment of the deepest instinct of humanity, the need for happiness. In the spirit of his illus trious British prototype, William Morris, he pleads for a theatre endowed as the public schools, universities, churches and libraries are already endowed.
On the other hand, the opponents of the community festival movement, while acknowl edging the fine disinterestedness of its leaders, do not recognize any pulsing life in the pag eantry of to-day, so far as it relates to America; they deny real interest on the part of the people, and maintain that we have no traditions upon which to found a vital community theatre com parable to the same in Europe. For an able
expression of this view, consult °Modern Pag eants not Spontaneous)) (in (The Nation,' Vol. XCV, p. 245. New York 1912).
The supporters meet these disavowals by reminders of our native Indian, Spanish, French, Colonial and Post-Revolutionary lore, and partly admitting a tincture of artificiality and crudeness incidental to the early stages of the cultivation of the form, point to the amazing growth of the movement among all classes over all the States. Particularly have they sought and found expansion, where alone vitality can be reached in any concern touching the genius of the mass, in the co-operation of the industrial and rural folk, as well as in that of the children. In point of fact no country or district in Europe, or any other part of the world, can show wider or more enthusiastic interest in community drama, especially on the part of the young people and educationists of all grades, than has been demonstrated by the United States. Indeed, in this form of the drama, and in this alone, can the United States show herself more forward than Europe. This holds good not only in respect to organization and scope but also to actual performance. See