The Rockefeller Roundabout of Funding. : Severino Montano and the Development of Theatre in the Philippines in the 1950s

For more than two decades after World War II, the Rockefeller Foundation supported theatre outside the USA. This essay focuses on the promotion of the Philippine writer, theatre practitioner and pedagogue Severino Montano in the 1950s. Montano received individual and institutional subsidies from the Rockefeller Foundation between 1949 and 1960 to ‘develop drama in the Philippines’ – on the basis of his work in theatre education and his practical theatre work, especially his large-scale project “Arena Theatre” at the Philippine Normal College in Manila. Although the Rockefeller Foundation’s total funding for Montano is relatively small, it continued at a steady rate for a decade. The article first examines the Rockefeller Foundation's funding policy in the field of theatre in the USA and abroad in general and, in the main part, focuses on the promotion of Montano and the foundation’s funding strategies in particular. The paper works with primary sources from the funding context, in particular with the files of the Rockefeller Archives Centre

Editorial

This special issue of the Journal for Global Theatre History focuses on the role(s) that the university, the humanities, the academy, and higher education played in and for the Cultural Cold War. After 1945, in a world of emerging nations, the development of academies, curricula, and university institutions was high on the agenda of cultural policy and diplomatic efforts. Educational institutions also proved to be powerful tools of cultural diplomacy and soft power influence. The papers in this volume are revised presentations from the international symposium, “Cold War University. Humanities and Arts Education as a (Battle)field of Diplomatic Influence and Decolonial Practice”, jointly organized by Judith Rottenburg and Lisa Skwirblies in the context of the ERC project Developing Theatre (GA No. 694559)

Editorial

TheatrescapesGlobal Media and Translocal Publics (1850-1950) Editors Christopher Balme and Nic Leonhardt Volume 1, Number 2, 201

Editorial

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Editorial: Translocating Theatre History

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Editorial

Editorial Journal of Global Theatre Histor

Introduction: Theatrical Trade Routes

An Introduction to the focus issue "Theatrical Traderoutes"

The Rockefeller Connection

This article examines how the Rockefeller Foundation funded theatrical initiatives in develo- ping countries: the Philippines and Nigeria. Using visualization software, in this case the open source application Gephi, we demonstrate how personal and institutional networks underpinned the cultural, specifically, theatrical development strategy of the foundation. It discusses the principles underpinning historical network analysis and analyzes two case studies, Severino Montano’s Arena Theatre in Manila, and the establishment of a School of Drama at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria

The Workshop

This paper explores how the workshop, one of most ubiquitous terms and practices of contemporary life, has its origins in early twentieth century experimental theatre. It traces its shift from the nineteenth century shopfloor, where it was replaced by industrial factories, to pre-World War 1 university seminars in the USA. The famous 47 Workshop of George Pierce Baker at Harvard, a playwriting seminar, created a model for a theatre laboratory that slowly gained a following outside the academy. From there the workshop becomes a catchword for experimentation in the theatre and the new media radio and television. The paper provides a specific focus on how American philanthropy promoted the workshop idea in the 1950s and 1960s both home and abroad. The history and dissemination of the term and practice can be traced to a particular conjunction of factors within the US academy and philanthropy, which supported the rise of modernist theatre. This led in turn to a global distribution of workshop thinking. In this way the particular format developed by and associated with non-conventional theatre forms permeated contemporary thinking and pedagogical practice