Joseph and His Brethren: A Pageant Play/Note
NOTE
The term Pageant Play, which is new, may require a word of explanation. A Pageant Play, as I conceive it, is a play written on the same principles as my English Pageants. In those the towns in which they took place were the heroes. In my Pageant Plays the hero is some outstanding figure: Drake—Joseph. As in my pageants I told the entire history of the town, so in these plays I attempt to tell the entire history of the man. The so-called unities of time and place are therefore of no consideration; but are replaced by a much more important unity: the unity of idea. I should like to add that under no circumstances is what is commonly, but wrongly, understood as pageantry introduced for its own sake; nor scenery either. There is, for instance, no unnecessary display of scenery in "Joseph," any more than there is in "Drake." On the contrary, the scenery in both plays is of the simplest nature, or the play could not be represented. It happens, however, to be extraordinarily well painted. Joseph and His Brethren was first performed under the management of Messrs. Liebler & Co. at the Century Theatre, New York, on Saturday, January 11, 1913.
I reprint the programme of the first performance because I am very grateful to this large body of artists, and because I hope they will be glad to have a permanent record of what was, to us, a memorable occasion.