Page:Rolland - People's Theater.djvu/106

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THE PEOPLE'S THEATER

Committee met a dozen times in the offices of the Revue d'art dramatique, between November, 1899, and February, 1900. A delegation was sent to Minister Leygues. This gentleman recognized the importance of a People's Theater in Paris, but the only aid he offered was that of words; while he bent every effort to keep the projects of the People's Theater out of the hands of so advanced a party as the writers on the Revue d'art dramatique. They had asked for a delegate to study people's theaters abroad; the Minister appointed M. Adrien Bernheim. M. Bernheim was present at a meeting of the Committee in December, 1899, but agreement was impossible. M. Bernheim left for Berlin, and the Committee proceeded with its task. Much more solidarity in the Committee would have been necessary to struggle successfully against the meddling of the State; and the Committee disbanded at the end of three months, after having reported on the prize contest. Twenty manuscripts had been submitted, out of which four or five were of interest, while that of Eugène Morel was remarkable. Three prizes were awarded. Morel's work was published in December, 1900,[1] in the Revue d'art dramatique. To this day it remains the most original plan of its kind so far as the physical conditions are concerned. To the same review, Remain Rolland contributed a study on the moral conditions and repertory of the People's Theater, and on the 30th of December

  1. Eugène Morel, Projet de Théâtres populaires (published by the Revue d'art dramatique).