Today In Theatre History: AUGUST 11

By Robert Viagas
August 11, 2008

1867 Actor-producer Joseph Weber, of Weber and Fields, is born today.

1924 Raunchy songstress Sophie Tucker opens at the Palace.

1924 Also tonight, Helen Hayes opens in Edgar Selwyn and Edmund Goulding's play Dancing Mothers about a girl who decides to become a -- gasp! -- "flapper" over the objections of her parents. It stays for 312 performances and is later filmed with Clara Bow.

1933 Birthday of avant garde Polish director Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), whose techniques will enjoy a great vogue in the 1960s after publication of his book, "Towards a Poor Theatre."

1999 Cheryl L. West's Jar the Floor opens tonight at Off-Broadway's Second Stage. The play looks at four generations of African-American women who gather to celebrate the family's great grandmother's 90th birthday. The connections between the various mothers and daughters are exposed when the youngest member of the clan arrives with an unexpected guest. The production stars Irma P. Hall, Regina Taylor, Lynne Thigpen, Linda Powell and Welker White.

More of Today's Birthdays: Arlene Dahl 1928. Jerzy Grotowski 1933. I. M. Hobson 1935. Ian McDiarmid 1944.