Photographer Unknown, c.1930s

FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECTS (NTP) c.1930. Vintage silver gelatin print, image size, 240 x 190mm, archivally mounted.

In 1935, as part of the New Deal program subsequent to the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Administration created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Theatre Project (FTP). This included Negro (sic) units, also called The Negro Theatre Project (NTP), which were set up in 23 cities throughout the United States. This project, which was eventually ended in 1939, provided employment and apprenticeships to black actors, directors, playwriters, technicians, and so on and represented a significant boost for African American theatre during the Depression era.