{"id":5516,"date":"2016-03-04T10:31:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T15:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5516"},"modified":"2016-03-07T13:00:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T18:00:46","slug":"arena-stage-reprocessing-project-completed-by-scrc-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5516","title":{"rendered":"Arena Stage reprocessing project completed by SCRC staff!"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of work and a combined effort by many archivists and student assistants, we have finished the Arena Stage reprocessing project. \u00a0\u00a0The project culminated in the creation of a brand-new finding aid<\/a>, including a 739-box inventory, to help researchers access the riches of the collection.\u00a0 The scope of the collection covers both the administrative and artistic sides of Arena\u2019s work, documenting over 60 years of the life of a ground-breaking theatre institution.<\/p>\n

Arena Stage \u2019s impact on American theatre is hard to overstate.\u00a0 Since its founding by the indomitable Zelda Fichandler and her drama professor Edward Mangum in 1950, Arena has challenged the racial and political status quo, while pushing artistic boundaries and presenting high-caliber theatre.\u00a0 One of my favorite discoveries in the collection, one that I posted on Facebook<\/a> a few months ago, was a simple brochure advertising the 1967 premier of Howard Sackler\u2019s The Great White Hope<\/em>.\u00a0 The ad features a photo of James Earl Jones (pre-Darth Vader!) and Jane Alexander, with Alexander\u2019s head resting on Jones\u2019s shoulder (pictured below).\u00a0 \u00a0In the context of the time, this image is deeply significant \u2013 interracial marriage was illegal in the state of Virginia until the Supreme Court\u2019s Loving v. Virginia<\/em> decision in 1967, just months before The Great White Hope<\/em>\u2019s world premiere at Arena.\u00a0 An advertising image depicting an interracial couple – married or not – was a brave\u00a0choice in 1967 Washington, DC, just across the Potomac River from Virginia.\u00a0 Such courage and principle was typical of Arena, however, particularly in those years.<\/p>\n

\"C0017_09\"<\/a>

James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander. \u00a0Arena Stage Records, Box 143, Folder 27. \u00a0Collection #C0017, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.<\/p><\/div>\n

Aside from documenting Arena\u2019s incredible contributions, the collection is a treasure trove of information on actors, including a number who went on to major careers in film and television.\u00a0 The collection\u2019s personnel sub-subseries includes \u00a0headshots, CVs, and\/or correspondence from James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, Sigourney Weaver,\u00a0 Annette Bening, Ron Perlman, Henry Winkler, Edward Hermann, and many others.\u00a0 Particularly entertaining is a series of letters, headshots, and a CV from John Lithgow (also posted on Facebook<\/a>), who very much wanted to act and possibly direct at Arena Stage as a young man in the early 1970s, decades before he was on Third Rock from the Sun<\/em> and voicing Lord Farquaad in Shrek<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Reprocessing the Arena Stage collection has been an adventure \u2013 the sheer scale of the task was monumental, but it was also a source of constant discovery and surprises.\u00a0 \u00a0We hope that the reprocessed collection and the finding aid that accompanies it allow researchers to experience the incredible history of Arena Stage and make discoveries of their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After years of work and a combined effort by many archivists and student assistants, we have finished the Arena Stage reprocessing project. \u00a0\u00a0The project culminated in the creation of a brand-new finding aid, including a 739-box inventory, to help researchers access the riches of the collection.\u00a0 The scope of the collection covers both the administrative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-recently-processed"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-1qY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3272,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3272","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":0},"title":"Reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project – Playscripts","author":"admin","date":"March 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first in a new series of blog posts focusing on the reprocessing of The Federal Theatre Project collection. The Federal Theatre Project was a government sponsored large scale arts endeavor that created jobs for thousands of unemployed theatre professionals during the years 1935 to 1939. George Mason\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/swing_socko_vagabond.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8118,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8118","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":1},"title":"Reprocessing Adventures – The Zelda Fichandler Papers","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"December 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Bill Keeler, Processing Student Assistant. Bill is studying History with a focus in American History at George Mason University. Since processing the\u00a0Randolph H. Lytton Historical Virginia collection, I have begun reprocessing the\u00a0Zelda\u00a0Fichandler\u00a0papers.\u00a0I had the chance to poke around the collection and\u00a0many problems have presented themselves!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_2015.jpg?fit=827%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_2015.jpg?fit=827%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_2015.jpg?fit=827%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_2015.jpg?fit=827%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5006,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5006","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":2},"title":"A braille program from the Arena Stage records","author":"admin","date":"June 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Currently I'm working with Kerry Mitchell, one of our student assistant archivists, on reprocessing the Arena Stage records. The collection consists of approximately 675 boxes of scripts, correspondence, photographs, and audiovisual materials, so even with two people working on it, it has been a time consuming and complex project. While\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SCRC interest"","block_context":{"text":"SCRC interest","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"smallWorldBraille_ArenaStage2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/smallWorldBraille_ArenaStage2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3577,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3577","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":3},"title":"New FTP finding aid available!","author":"admin","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I am happy to announce that a new finding aid for the Federal Theatre Project collection is available! In total the collection numbers 363 boxes of material created by the Federal Theatre Project and donated to George Mason University from the Library of Congress. Originally the collection was much larger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/ftp_gifts1-169x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3318,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3318","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":4},"title":"Reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project \u2013 Programs","author":"admin","date":"March 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog is the second in a series on reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) collection. As our finding aid for playscripts and radio scripts is now arranged it also includes programs. We have decided to divide playscripts, radio scripts, and programs each into their own series. The programs series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/programs_illinoisFolder-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3461,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3461","url_meta":{"origin":5516,"position":5},"title":"Reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project – Viewshare","author":"admin","date":"June 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Digital projects are a great way to promote collections. At SC&A we having been adding new ways to interact with materials from our collections online. One online tool we are using to highlight the Federal Theatre Project collection is the Library of Congress endorsed Viewshare. Viewshare is a dynamic tool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-01-at-12.05.26-PM-300x258.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5516"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5530,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions\/5530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}