1. Headline: The Birth of the Federal Theater Project Guest Author: James Shapiro On April 14, 1936, the Lafayette Theater hosted an integrated crowd for the premiere of an all-Black production of *Macbeth*. This era-defining moment was made possible by the Works Progress Administration under Harry Hopkins, who launched Federal One to employ artists during the Great Depression. Hopkins believed in putting people back to work in fields that suited their skills rather than manual labor. He recruited Hallie Flanagan, an experimental theater professor from Vassar College, to lead the newly formed Federal Theater Project, which eventually reached millions across twenty-nine states. (1)

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