The featured images coming up in the June 2025 issue of the Dead Mule come from the Library of Congress (as per our usual). While searching for a decent raccoon illustration for Blair Kinsey’s creative non-fiction essay, I came across these fabulous drawings from the Federal Works Project. If ya’ll don’t peruse the Library of Congress files, let me recommend the website to you. loc.gov The illustration for this post is of Orson Wells’ costume from the New York production of Dr. Faustus, 1934.
From Wikipedia (about the Theater Project)
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States. It was one of five Federal Project Number Oneprojects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration, created not as a cultural activity but as a relief measure to employ artists, writers, directors, and theater workers. National director Hallie Flanagan shaped the FTP into a federation of regional theaters that created relevant art, encouraged experimentation in new forms and techniques, and made it possible for millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time.[1] Although The Federal Theatre project consumed only 0.5% of the allocated budget from the WPA and was widely considered a commercial and critical success, the project became a source of heated political contention. Congress responded to the project’s racial integration and accusations of Communist infiltration and cancelled its funding effective June 30, 1939.[2][3] One month before the project’s end, drama critic Brooks Atkinson summarized: “Although the Federal Theatre is far from perfect, it has kept an average of ten thousand people employed on work that has helped to lift the dead weight from the lives of millions of Americans. It has been the best friend the theatre as an institution has ever had in this country.”[4]
Feed the hungry. House the poor. Provide healthcare for all. Educate the masses. FEMA. Our federal government provides a safety net. Here’s hoping the United States of America remains strong, caring, and responsive to all her citizens.
All new Mule on the 15th. Ya’ll come back now, hear?
