Excerpt from At the New Theatre and Others, the American Stage: Its Problems and Performances, 1908-1910During the seasons of 1908 - 09 and 1909 - 10 the most interesting developments in the American dramatic world have been the steady rise to strength of an opposition to the so-called Theatrical Syndicate and the opening of the New Theatre in New York. The New Theatre is still, after one season, an experiment. It is not truly an endowed Institution, but a private playhouse depending for its support on the continued good will of its wealthy founders. It was not democratic in its inception nor planned by men shrewdly versed in the difficult craft of the theatre. It has labored under a great handicap. Its future usefulness, if not its very existence, will depend upon how well those at its head learn the lesson of experience. But its field of possible achievement is mighty, it repre sents a significant effort to place the drama in this country upon a level with the other arts, above the truck of commerce. The rise of an opposition to the Theatrical Syndicate has been, in a different way, no less signifi cant and, so far, very much more successful.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.