I put together this facsimile paper theater (from Pollock’s Toy Theatres, published in 1972) with scissors and a gluestick. The only remaining thing is to figure out what to present in it.
For a paper theater, something flat, black & white and two-dimensional seems appropriate. But if I did a Wendy Wasserstein play, I’d have to pay royalties!
So many plays, from the Federal Theatre Project to Odets to Miller, used to be “ripped from today’s papers,” including the comics sections—L’il Abner, Annie… and whatever happened to that long-gestating Mickey Rooney musical of Bringing Up Father? Well, there’s a Betty Boop musical slated for 2012 on Broadway.