James Light

As published in the Foundation’s Report for 1929–30:

Light, James:  Appointed for a study of those theatres of Germany and Russia which are revolutionizing the methods of production and staging of plays; tenure, twelve months from July 15, 1929.

Born June 4, 1894, at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Education: Carnegie Institute of Technology, School of Painting, 1913–15; Ohio State University, 1915–17.

Stage Manager and actor, Provincetown Players, New York City, 1917–19; Director of Provincetown Players, 1919–20; Co-Director with George Cram Crook, 1920–22; Associate Director, 1923–24; and Director of Provincetown Players, 1925–29.

Production of Full Length Plays: With the Provincetown Players, at the Provincetown Playhouse, New York City: “All God’s Chillun Got Wings,” by Eugene O’Neill, February, 1922; “Emperor Jones” by Eugene O’Neill, February, 1924; “Beyond” by Walter Hasenclever, January, 1925; “Ruint” by Hatcher Hughes, March, 1925; “The Dream Play” by August Strindberg, December, 1925; “Orpheus” (opera) by Gluck, March, 1926; “Rapid Transit” by Lajos Egri, April, 1927; “The Prisoner” by Emil Bernhard, November, 1927; “Hot Pan” by Michael Swift, December, 1927; “Him” by E. E. Cummings, April, 1928; and “The Earth Between” by Virgil Geddes, March, 1929.

Play staged with Eugene O’Neill at the Provincetown Playhouse: “The Hairy Ape” by Eugene O’Neill, February, 1922.

Plays staged with Robert Edmond Jones at the Provincetown Playhouse: “The Spook Sonata” by August Strindberg, October, 1923; “Fashion” by Anna Cora Mowatt, November, 1923; and “The Ancient Mariner” arranged by Eugene O’Neill, December, 1923.

Productions of One Act Plays at the Provincetown Playhouse: “Money” by Irwin Granich, February, 1920; “Vote the New Moon” by Alfred Kreymborg, February, 1920; “Grotesques” by Cloyd Head, March, 1922; “S. S. Glencairn” by Eugene O’Neill, 1926-27; and “The Dreamy Kid” by Eugene O’Neill, October, 1919.

Productions at theaters other than the Provincetown Playhouse: “Emperor Jones” by Eugene O’Neill, September, 1925, at the Ambassadors Theater, London; “Hamlet” (in modern clothes), November, 1925, at the Booth Theater, New York City; “Jacob Slovak” by Mercedes de Acosta, September, 1927, at the Greenwich Village Theater, New York City; and “The Stairs” by Riccardo di San Secundo, October, 1927, at the Bijou Theater, New York City.