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CONNECTIONS
Each signature may be linked to the others by up to 53 thematic connections. Some are common to many signatures; others highlight unusual, yet notable, associations and interests. Friendships are not represented because so many signers were friends. Go to "The Bohemians" to view and interact with all 53 connections.
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THE DOOR
This tag encompasses door signers connected to the Washington Square Players as well as the Theatre Guild, the group that grew directly out of the original group in 1919. The Washington Square Players was an influential little theater group was founded by Lawrence Langner and others at the Liberal Club, next door to Albert and Charles Boni’s Washington Square Bookshop, in 1913. A description of the group in The Bookman in 1915 captured its early spirit: “Nothing could be more utterly non-commercial than the project of the Washington Square Players. This is an organisation of amateurs of the theatre, who have banded themselves together for the purpose of having a thoroughly good time in writing plays, acting them, producing them, designing and executing scenery and costumes, and attending to details of business management. The Washington Square Players pay no royalties to their authors and no salaries to their actors: both plays and acting are contributed, con amore, by members of the organisation; and anybody who is capable and willing to contribute is welcomed as a member.” The Theatre Guild, founded by three key members of the Washington Square Players, Lawrence Langner, Phillip Moeller, and Helen Westley perpetuated many of these ideals, though it was not as experimental in aesthetics as the Washington Square Players. The Theater Guild sought successfully to produce work outside the conventions of Broadway at the time, but with the goal of helping to transform those conventions. It succeeded very well at this goal, transferring many of its productions to Broadway and helping to reshape the boundaries of the theater. The Theatre Guild still exists today.
