The Chosen Ones

Abstract

On a rainy June 8, 1931, they packed wives, children, friends, Victrolas, and radios into a caravan of cars, and squeezed rotund Bobby Lewis and his cello into the rumble seat of Margaret (nicknamed “Beany”) Barker’s car. They were the Chosen Ones: the 27 young professional actors that Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg had selected to share a unique destiny. The colorful caravan took off from the front of the Theatre Guild on West 52nd Street in the heart of New York City on a pilgrimage to a barn and some cottages in Brookfield, Connecticut. Here they planned to work on Paul Green’s play The House of Connelly. During that fateful summer these eager adventurers would become the Group Theatre.