Eva Le Gallienne

Eva Le Gallienne, born on January eleventh, nineteen ninety-nine, was a remarkable British-American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. By the age of twenty-one, she had already established herself as a Broadway star. In nineteen twenty-six, she made a bold decision to leave Broadway behind and founded the Civic Repertory Theatre, where she took on the roles of director, producer, and lead actress.

Le Gallienne was known for her idealism and pioneering spirit in the American theater. Her efforts laid the groundwork for the Off-Broadway and regional theater movements that would flourish later in the twentieth century. Among her notable achievements was her stage adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, which garnered significant acclaim and was staged multiple times on Broadway.

Devoted to the art of theater rather than the commercial aspects of Broadway, Le Gallienne championed the belief that high-quality plays should be accessible and affordable for all audiences. During her seven-year tenure at the Civic Repertory Theatre from nineteen twenty-six to nineteen thirty-four, she produced thirty-seven plays, collaborating with a talented company of actors that included Burgess Meredith, John Garfield, and Alla Nazimova.