George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
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FINDING AID AUTHOR
Repository
George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
Identification
C0199
Title
J. Burke Knapp papers 1960s
Quantity
3.45 Linear Feet, 8 boxes
Creator
Knapp, J. Burke (Joseph Burke), 1913-2009
Language
English
.
Abstract
Collection contains materials relating to various financial matters of the Arena Stage during the 1960s.
Arena Stage was an early leader in the resident theater movement. One of the first not-for-profit theaters in the United States
as well as a pioneer of the regional theater movement the Arena Stage was the first regional theater to transfer a production
to Broadway, the first invited by the U.S. State Department to tour behind the Iron Curtain and the first to receive a Tony
Award. Co-founded in 1950 by Edward Mangum a teacher from the George Washington University, and Zelda Fichandler one of his
students, Arena Stage was opened in Washington D.C. to fill the void left by the closing of the National Theater in 1948.
Deriving it's name from the idea of "theater in the round," Arena Stage became one of the first resident theaters in the United
States, beginning with a company of only eight actors. Today, Arena performs to over 250,000 patrons during a September to
June season and employs nearly 200 theater professionals and craftpersons, who are responsible for all the costumes and scenery
seen on stage. Many now- famous actors took part in Arena Stage productions during the early part of their careers. Some of
them include Robert Prosky, Morgan Freeman, Dianne Weist, James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Christopher Guest, Yeardly Smith
and Samuel L. Jackson.
Mr. J Burke Knapp was an Economist for the Federal Reserve Board, 1940-44; adviser on German economic affairs, U.S. Department
of State and German Military Government, 1944-45; special assistant to the chairman, Federal Reserve Board, 1945-48; director,
Office of Financial and Development Policy, Department of State, 1948-49; economic adviser U.S. delegation to NATO, 1950-51;
U.S. president of the Joint Brazil-U.S. Economic Development Commission, 1951-52; and assistant director, economics department,
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 1950-52, director, Western Hemisphere department, 1952-56, vice president,
IBRD, 1956 and President of the Washington Drama Society.
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