Once more with feeling

Hallie Flanagan taught theater at Vassar College and had studied the operation of
government-sponsored theatre abroad for the Guggenheim Foundation. Flanagan was
chosen to lead the Federal Theatre Project by WPA head Harry Hopkins, who had been
a classmate of hers at Grinnell College. Roosevelt and Hopkins selected her despite
considerable pressure to choose someone from the commercial theatre industry; they believed
the project should be led by someone with academic credentials and a national perspective.

(This corresponds to the January 8, 2026 newsletter)