New Play in Manhattan

Black Pit (by Albert Maltz; Theatre Union, producer). The didactic purposes of the Theatre Union, a theatrical little Red schoolhouse near Union Square, are two: 1) to reveal to the laity how the other half lives by staging exciting instances of social injustice; 2) to impress some of the broader party policies on Communist comrades by dramatic examples. Stevedore was supposed to demonstrate that black and white workers should and could present a united front. Sailors of Cattaro emphasized the need of centralized direction in Communist organization. Black Pit, another class drama, preaches the need for stern sacrifices to the cause.

Coal Miner Joe Kovarsky (Alan Baxter), jobless because he had been wrongly accused of participation in a plant bombing, is given a cruel choice. Either he must turn stoolpigeon on his fellow-workers, or the mine boss will deny Joe's wife the services of the company doctor in childbed. Joe does the human rather than the idealistic thing. His treachery is ultimately uncovered by his associates, and Joe departs from home and friends, a remorseful exile.

Less rousing than those of its predecessors is Black Pit's finale, with the militant laboring men about to stage a big strike and the Dawn of a New Day not far distant.

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