Hallie Flanagan (1890-1969) was a director, playwright, and educator who headed the Federal Theater Project, America's first national, federally-funded theater organization, from 1935 to 1939.

Born in South Dakota on August 27, 1890, and raised in Iowa, Hallie Flanagan attended Grinnell College where she subsequently taught drama. She first gained notice as a playwright when she won a regional contest sponsored by the Des Moines Little Theatre Society with her play The Curtain. Her successful productions at Grinnell College eventually led her in 1923 to a position as production assistant in Professor George Pierce Baker's creative Workshop 47 at Harvard University, where she also completed a Master's degree. Returning to Grinnell, she directed for its experimental theater. Her productions there continued to win her recognition as an innovative director and led to her appointment as professor of drama and director of the experimental theater at Vassar College in 1925. A year later she received a...