Clare Tree Major

Clare Tree Major (1880 – 10 October 1954) was a stage director, playwright, producer of children's theater, and actress.[1][2] She first acted in London, but in 1914 she came to New York to perform with the Washington Square Players.[1] She was the first British actress to tour America from coast to coast.[3] From the 1920s on she worked exclusively on theater for children, writing plays and sending professional actors on tour to perform them.[1]

Major circa 1915

Biography

Clare Tree Major was born in 1880 in England. She emigrated to the United States in 1914.[4]

In 1924, she started the Children's Theatre of New York The following year, she produced The Little Poor Man. She founded the Clare Tree Major Theatre Company in 1927 in Pleasantville, New York.[1]

Personal life

Clare Tree Major married publisher John D. Kenderdine; the couple resided in Westchester County, New York.

She died on 10 October 1954 in Manhattan, aged 74.[5]

Legacy

The Clare Tree Major papers, 1912-1954, are held in the New York Public Library.[2]

References
  1. James Fisher; Felicia Hardison Londré (2 September 2009). The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism. Scarecrow Press. pp. 297–. ISBN 978-0-8108-7047-5.
  2. "ArchiveGrid : Clare Tree Major papers, 1912-1954". Beta.worldcat.org. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. "TV Effects Studied; Mrs. Clare Tree Major Favors Scrutiny of Programs For Youth". Reading Eagle. Reading, Pennsylvania. 1 January 1951. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  4. "Clare Tree Major Devotes Life To Children's Theater". Milwaukee Journal. 15 December 1938. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  5. "Clare Tree Major, Play Producer, 74. Actress Founded Children's Theatre in 1924. Staged Dramas Throughout U.S." The New York Times. 10 October 1954. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
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