AMATEUR THEATRICALS

Perhaps the most beneficial enterprise in the community work is the
amateur theater. It gives the richest opportunity for self-expression.
It includes acting, literature, singing, music, and painting. It amuses
and teaches--it reflects and analyzes the social life and directs it in
its entirety toward higher levels of achievements. Whatever the
shortcomings and the sins of the Russian Bolsheviks, in one thing they
have struck, the writer is sure, the right road. This is in placing the
stage at the forefront in popular education, if only in an experimental
and theoretical way as yet. A properly directed amateur theater is
second only to the school. In a rural community it brings together
varied elements, brings out the best in each, and unites them by
developing common aims and ideals.

The amateur country theater has made much headway in the state of North
Dakota. The State Agricultural College at Fargo took the lead in the
movement. The president of the college attributes the success of the
country theater there not only to the influence of the college
leadership, but also to the deep need for entertainment and the hunger
for social life among the prairie people who are living on farms at long
distances from one another. The fact that the population is largely
foreign-born stock and has inherited an inclination toward stage plays
is another reason.

Professor Arvold of the same college, who is in charge of the
development of the country theater, stated to the writer that their
little country theater has a strong Americanizing influence upon the
population. It brings together both native born and immigrants of
various nationalities. They learn to know one another. They learn about
America, its history, present conditions, and future aspirations more
than in any other way. The theater teaches them the country's tongue,
for the plays are given in English. He believed that every large rural
community and groups of smaller communities in the same neighborhood
should have an amateur theater.

The theater, public lectures, exhibitions, and the American outdoor
sports should be centered in and around the community hall. Such highly
varied activities in community life require a trained director. He
should be a person with a good general education, with experience in
rural life and affairs and in organizing group activities. He must be a
good mixer and a lover of the work. For his work he should receive