farce, 'The Winning of General
Jane.'

One hundred and seventy-nine manuscripts were received. The judges were
Prof. Geo. P. Baker, Walter Hampden, and Francis Powell. Ten plays,
five comedies and five serious plays, were reserved from the contest for
production at the Bijou. As far as settings are concerned, the plays
are well produced. Unfortunately, the acting is not all that one could
desire, but with the limited resources at command the results are
remarkably satisfactory. Such authors as Upton Sinclair, Hermann
Hagedorn, Percy McKaye, Hermann Suderman, Pauline C. Bouve, Gerald
Villiers-Stuart have permitted their plays to be given at the Bijou,
which speaks for the quality of the work.

THE LITTLE THEATER

The LITTLE THEATER, in New York City, under the management of Winthrop
Ames, is the first theater in America designed for intimacy. It was
carefully planned, and has been well executed. Such theaters are known
abroad, but this playhouse is a decided novelty, and an advance in
America. The distance from the front of the stage to the rear of the
last row of seats is a trifle over forty feet. There are no balconies
and no boxes. The lighting is by an indirect system, which suffuses the
auditorium with a soft, restful glow. The lobby, the retiring room, and
the smoking room are all done in quiet, pleasant fashion. The auditorium
decoration again is novel. There is paneling in dark-brown birch, with
inserted tapestries above and a curtain in gobelin blues and carpet of
gray.

The lighting system for the stage is most complete, as are all the
arrangements behind the scenes, dressing rooms, flies, and bridges. The
chief novelty on this side of the playhouse is the use of the Japanese
idea of a revolving platform for the stage. The revolving stage has been
used largely in Germany, but this is one of the few instances where it
has been used in America. Its value is shown for sets that require no
great depth, and it permits quick changes of scenery. The circular stage
is thirty feet in diameter.

Mr. Ames said in advance that his aim was to create a house of
'entertainment for intelligent people.' Behind this vague statement lies
a force which has already proved that the Little Theater can entertain
and at the same time show itself worthy of the best ideals in drama. Mr.
Ames has produced Galsworthy's admirable comedy, 'The Pigeon'; Charles
Rann Kennedy's 'The Terrible Meek,' and the same author's translation of