2-945-113 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Mikado, Chicago, 1938. 'Great Northern Theatre...Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan - Modern Version'. Poster for a musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Mikado, with music arranged by Gentry Warden. The setting was transposed from Japan to a tropical island. The show was first staged by an all-black company in Chicago, Illinois, in 1938. The Federal Theatre Project, created by the U.S. Works Progress Administration in 1935, was designed to conserve and develop the skills of theater workers, re-employ them on public relief, and to bring theater to thousands in the United States who had never before seen live theatrical performances.