The Marionette Theatre of Martin & Olga Stevens: in a repertoire of exclusively adult entertainment

              PRESENTING


THE Marionette Theatre of MARTIN & OLGA STEVENS In A Repertoire of Exclusively Adult Entertainment JOAN OF ARC THE NATIVITY THE PASSION PLAY



REDPATH
 KIMBALL BUILDING CHICAGO




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The Marionette Theatre of MARTIN & OLGA STEVENS
In A Repertoire of Exclusively Adult Entertainment JOAN OF ARC THE NATIVITY THE PASSION PLAY



Room 1401 — 2 W. 45th St. — New York City



Author, CLEM D. EASLY





Musical Director


HOLLACE A. ARMENT




Technical Directors


THE BROTHERS MCELROY




Lighting Equipment


HAROLD R. SOLOMON




Sound Equipment


SOUND SYSTEMS, INC.






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Mr. Easly discussing the play with Martin and Olga Stevens



The New American Theatre Personalities



M
ARTIN & OLGA STEVENS, those incredibly versatile artistes of the legitimate theatre, have established a new idea in the entertainment scene:  a theatre in which their makeups are not grease-paint and pads, but are sculptured, living, three-dimensional bodies called Marionettes.  Through these personally controlled figures they project the play's emotions unhampered by physical limitations, interpreting character upon character, changing from one to another with the speed of thought,—actually being that impossible thing; a dozen people at once, and making every one of them live before you.



To compass this modern miracle, a professional stage, complete with every theatrical facility, is erected in your auditorium.  Beautiful, breathtaking scenery is hung.  Elaborate lighting and sound systems are installed.  Then Martin & Olga Stevens personally inspect their supporting cast of marionette actors.  Each of these has been designed and created especially for his part in this play; built on the most recent scientific developments of balance and action.  As carefully made, as delicately tuned as a violin, they are the visual instruments on which the artistes play as they speak the lines the author has written for them.



The author is Mr. Clem D. Easly, admittedly the most powerful dramatic writer in the Theatre of the Marionette to-day.  A masterful technician, a dynamic personality, his years of successfully producing and directing his own plays give him a superb background for such magnificent themes as The Nativity, The Passion Play, and Joan of Arc—all three of which were written exclusively for Martin & Olga Stevens.



A singer as well as a composer, Mr. Arment has very definite ideas and theories about incidental music.  He was able to demonstrate these ideas when he wrote the incidental music for The Passion Play.  Following the example of Mozart and DeFalla, he has composed the first American puppet opera, Choice Enchanted, for Martin & Olga Stevens.  This opera is now in production.



To bring you completely cast, full length, beautifully staged productions under circumstances prohibitive in any other medium requires a technical staff of the highest order, and in the Theatre of Martin & Olga Stevens this staff is headed by The Brothers McElroy.  Their genius causes the glorious light to play about the Christus on the Cross, makes visible the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, and burns Joan at the stake before your very eyes.  Never before have such effects been offered you in the Marionette Theatre.


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Hollace Arment, A. B.; B. M.; M. Mus.



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The Brothers McElroy at work on a model of Joan for the burning at the stake.




This Company in this Play was chosen to represent American Puppetry at the International Exposition — Paris 1937

MARTIN & OLGA STEVENS present JOAN of ARC A Drama of Courage



Written by
 CLEM D. EASLY



C

ATERING
 exclusivey to adult audiences, Martin and Olga Stevens—who have met with universal acclaim for their handling of The Nativity and The Passion Play—turn their talents to that great theme which has intrigued playwrites, thespians, and audiences alike for centuries, pouring into it the wealth of their experience, ability and understanding, through the medium of Mr. Easly's script.  Through two acts and eight scenes, it depicts the brilliant and tragic career of the Maid of Orleans, from her brave start in Lorraine, through the coronation of King Charles, to her martyrdom at the stake at Rouen.  One hour and forty-five minutes of tight-packed, glowing drama.



What's courage for if not to understand Being anvil as well as hammer of the hand




JAMES DALY



Photos by

PAUL BRIOL


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The Passion Play

Written especially for Martin and Olga Stevens by CLEM D. EASLY

M

ARIONETTES
 received their name from the Church.  The name itself meant a small image of the Virgin Mary, when Miracle Plays were performed by these animated figures on Feast Days.  What, then, could be more interesting—more worth while—than a continuance of this good use of the universally loved 
little people
?  So though Martin & Olga Stevens when they set out in 1933 to re-create the PASSION PLAY in this Art form which is a combining of all the Arts.  And they have succeeded in producing a moving spectacle, so beautiful that the thousands who have seen it have been moved to the most extravagant praise of its historical accuracy, its adherence to the Word, and the aura of reverence which surrounds it.



With dignity, with deep understanding, the scenes move from the house of Simon to the secret chamber where Judas haggles with the High Priests over his thirty pieces—to the Last Supper, to Gethsemane, to a street scene of the building of the cross.  Then to the trial before the High Priests—to the Roman procurator, Pilate, and at last to Golgotha, a tableau reminiscent of a Church painting of the Middle Ages—three bleak crosses standing against a lurid and darkling sky, and Mary, the Mother, weeping.  And then the final blaze of glorious light which radiates from about the head of the Christ, and illumines the entire sky—the entire world.  As one reviewer said, 
Until that last flash, all is extremely human, but human with a reverence which would be denied to actual flesh-and-blood actors.



READ THESE COMMENTS



K. Brent Woodruff, Grace Episcopal Church, College Hill, Cincinnati:  
I am sure that any misgivings which those who came had about the PASSION PLAY done with marionettes had them swept away by your reverent and splendid presentation.  I can truthfully say some who 'came to scoff remained to pray.'  All types of people, men, women and children, were deeply impressed.




Harry G. Hill, New Thought Temple of Cincinnati:  
I would recommend the PASSION PLAY as you present it to any church or religious group, and I am sure that both young and old will be profoundly and profitably impressed.




L. J. Hillhouse, long-time Times-Star Dramatic Critic, Cincinnati:


It is almost unbelievable that for an hour and a half your puppets could so thoroughly dominate the scenes and become so humanized.




Rev. Francis D. Gressle, St. Elizabeth's, Norwood, O.:  
What thrilled all of us was the very devout and reverent manner in which this epoch of our Blessed Savior's life was presented.  I feel that wherever you give this play, you will do untold good.




The Passion Play and the Nativity, as presented by this company, are adult fare, and performances are not given to juvenile audiences.  Children may attend, but only when accompanied by their parents.  Churches, universities, religious organizations are now engaging these productions, not as a somewhat alarming innovation, but as a definitely vital and beautiful interpretation of the Scripture.




MARTIN & OLGA STEVENS



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The Nativity

A Play written especially for Martin and Olga Stevens by CLEM D. EASLY


T

HE
 Nativity is Holy Mary's story.  The action begins with the Virgin weaving in the Temple; choosing the worship of God rather than the meaningless gaiety of the other maidens.  Comes the time when, having dedicated herself to the Lord alone, she refuses to obey the law of giving herself in marriage; the miracle of the dry rod that blossomed, which solves the dilemma of the priests, but does not silence the criticism of the people.



Meanwhile distant Rome demands taxes.  There must be a counting of the Jews.




The journey through the cold night to crowded Bethlehem; herd them in—pack them in—all must be registered by tomorrow.



What?  No room?  No place within the walls?  The time is near—is there no hovel, no shelter from this biting wind?  Where to turn—?  To the humble, the lowly—?




Yes, it is all here; in eight lovely scenes presenting beautifully and authoritatively the atmosphere of the Holy Land; bringing to life the familiar names—Joseph, Elizabeth, the Shepherds, Herod and the rest.  It is a sermon, but more than a sermon it is an experience you will always remember.  A drama of Faith—a presentation that has moved its countless spectators to a new and fuller understanding of the beginnings of Our Blessed Savior's earthly life—The Drama of the First Christmas.



READ THESE COMMENTS



Rev. I. M. Ahmann, St. Aloysius, Covington, Ky.:  
I came to protest against the use of what I considered to be so comic a medium in so sacred a theme, and I am frank to admit I was mistaken.  It is beautiful, and everyone should see it.  I will be glad to have you refer anyone to me.




Thos. Mathers, Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Terrace Park:  
Their portrayal, paradoxically enough, is perfectly thrilling and reverent.  From beginning to end a sense of sacred expectancy enveloped the audience, which, stunned and silenced, filed silently out with a strange and holy feeling in their hearts.  I am sure they felt, as I did, the peace of the Eternal.  The consumate artistry of Martin & Olga Steven's blotted out time and space and transported the audience to the Palestine of two thousand years ago.




Edward Carberry, Cincinnati Post Dramatic Critic:  
If you are numbered among the unenlightened who think puppets fit only for rough and tumble comedy, go to see Martin & Olga Stevens' Company and be purged of your error.  Their presentation is a delicate, charming and moving thing—and under no circumstances to be missed.  Where living actors, unless superbly good, always seem a little unreal in sacred drama, these wooden folk are eminently successful in creating the illusion that they are flesh and blood.  So much so, indeed, that one is almost moved to write that Miss X was an admirable Mary and Mr. Y a fine Herod.  The manuscript used has that quality of robust faith that we associate with the Middle Ages.  We moderns have reduced our religious stories to a well-laundered primness that removes the life.  In this presentation vitality is restored at no sacrifice of reverence.





Arrangements



SPACE:  Stage at least three feet high, in auditorium with sloping floor.  Four feet high in auditorium with level floor.  Head room at least ten feet.  FLOOR SPACE:  10 feet from front to back—20 feet in width (minimum).




ACCESSORIES:  One electrical outlet—AC, 110–60.  Traveler and border, or similar masking.




ASSISTANCE:  2 men for 10 minutes; to load and unload the show—90 minutes before and 45 minutes after the performance.




ANSWERS TO USUAL QUESTIONS



Martin and Olga Stevens will supply programs for the performances.




The marionettes appear nearly life size from the audience.  There is no problem of visibility, for the best seats are those in the rear of the auditorium.




Yes, Martin and Olga Stevens designed, made, and costumed all the marionettes in these productions.  They cannot be bought.




There has never been a single adverse criticism of the religious dramas, either of the manner of presentation or the doctrinal content.




The Nativity, The Passion Play, and Joan of Arc were written for the exclusive use of Martin and Olga Stevens, and may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the copyright owners.




Room 1401 — 2 W. 45th St. — New York City





TO A PUPPET



When you were just a piece of wood,


This was the dream I dreamed for you:


That you should be a gallant knight,


Performing deeds of derring do!


Forget your wooden past, my knight,


And live the life your brief hour brings—


Your master's voice to speak through you,


Your master's hands upon these strings!


Ah, listen!  They're applauding you!


You live, you breathe for them!  And yet …


The master's hands upon your strings,


My gallant puppet, don't forget!


Behold, my little friend, the fate


Of puppet folk of flesh and bone


Who cut their Master's guiding strings


To go their rebel way alone—


Forget the part that they should play—


Forget the voice, and lose the gleam—


To find at last how helpless is


A bit of dust, without a dream.




June 6, 1937
Jean Lee Latham