PREFACE

The one-act play became a theatrical outcast. The waif roamed from door to door but no one bid the poor thing enter. Since the very beginning when Voltaire wrote and played short pieces for the Princes of France—pieces of that nature have encountered innumerable difficulties. They were always appendages of some sort or other. The going was particularly hard in America, until vaudeville and the Little Theatre provided a home for the tabloid play. Then the short dramatic works of eminent authors came into their own. Such writers as Barrie and Synge and Dunsany and Zangwell gave as much to the one-act play as they did to their longer efforts or novels. But the supply did not equal the demand. Everybody began to write one-act plays and soon they had deteriorated to the extent that there was no public for them.

The Little Theatre, having outgrown its babyhood, considered short plays beneath their dignity. Vaudeville discarded them almost entirely. The waif of the theatre became a wanderer, but just as the wanderer was about to curl up in some dark corner and expire, “The Undercurrent” put in an appearance.

For the first time in years, an author had taken the one-act play seriously, attempted to write a piece of dramatic literature that as far as technique was concerned and drama was concerned, was as complete and as much an entirety as the play intended for a full evening’s entertainment.

“The Undercurrent” was not the work of an established author. Writers of that ilk had been weaned away from the short play and would have nothing to do with it. Schools and colleges of course were paying considerable attention to the one-act play, but as the kindergarten of playwriting. The very first step in the course and to be abandoned just as the alphabet and spelling book make way for more advanced studies.

When Mrs. Fay Ehlert announced that the one-act play to her mind deserved serious consideration, she was laughed at, but Mrs. Ehlert is not the kind of a woman who may be laughed at with impunity. She not only stuck to her guns, but determined to prove the accuracy of her marksmanship.

“The Undercurrent” was the result. Writing a short play that treated a serious thought seriously; one that transposed a slice of actual life to paper and the stage in an interesting, virile and vital manner, was the least of her difficulties. Having written such an opus her real troubles began.

“The Undercurrent” found no ready and waiting “welcome on any mat.” It went from one door to another, only to find no latch string hanging out. Mrs. Ehlert was schooled in diplomacy. She is the wife of a Chilean Consul. Patience therefore was one of her many assets. She waited but worked as she waited; and finally succeeded in having “The Undercurrent” entered in the Chicago Little Theatre Tournament of 1928. The rest is a matter of history. “The Undercurrent” won first award. Seldom, if ever before, has a one-act play been in such great demand. And this is as it should be, for certainly not since the short play bowed out of the dramatic picture, no one has written a better, more interesting, or more entertaining playlet than this one.

Vaudeville, always quick to take advantage of opportunity, swept down on “The Undercurrent” like an eagle with the result that the longest consecutive tour ever arranged for any act went to this one of the “untouchables.”

Little Theatres and the innumerable societies who produced plays for social and educational purposes, insisted that they be allowed to present “The Undercurrent.”

Mrs. Ehlert, both because of her ability as a writer and her belief in the fact that drama is drama, regardless of its length, has done a big thing not only for herself but for the theatres in general. She has rekindled an interest in the short play. She has reestablished a public for the short play. She has demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that even a miscellaneous audience appreciates something really worth while. She has reopened a road that will undoubtedly be traveled by many followers.

The one-act play has again come into its own. Because of Mrs. Ehlert and “The Undercurrent” the serious one-act play will again command the attention of established writers. There will again be a place for its presentation, and what is of even greater importance, is the fact that probably no longer will the one-act play be considered a proving ground for better things. “The Undercurrent” has turned the tide.

John Pollock

“The Undercurrent,” winner of The Drama League Cup at the Chicago Little Theatre Tournament, May 1928, was presented by the Town and Gown Play Shop of Northwestern University.

The following is the cast of “The Undercurrent” upon its first professional appearance at the Palace Theatre, Chicago, June 24th, 1928.

Pa Fishyer C. Russell Small

Ma Fishyer Harriet Allyn

Annie, their daughter Gladys Pfeffer

Emil, their son Charles White

Mrs. Floyd, a neighbor Helen Sanford

Miss Page, a social worker Ethel Rogers Swift

Time: The Present Place: New York City