m the opportunity to continue to monopolize Broadway. To help them out, Lee Shubert himself put in five million of his own money to help them through their!
             troubled times. They also began to book their theatres to companies for free up-front in return for box office gains. Many companies were so desperate for space that they would take the Shuberts up on this 'bargain.' As a result, the Shuberts had an even larger stake in Broadway Theatre. They owned 17 theatres during the Depression, and over 60% of the plays on Broadway during the worst of the Depression were produced, co-produced, or presented in Shubert theatres. As the Depression eased its grip upon America, the Shuberts immediately started buying more theatres, and in the late 1930s, they owned a piece of roughly 90% of Broadway. The Shuberts, in further decades, were charged with monopolizing Broadway theatres and using unfair ticket practices. This court case eventually made it to Supreme Court, where they were forced to give up twelve of their theatres nationwide and stop their booking business all together. With the Broadway stage monopolized by the Shuberts, !
             it proved a tough case for anyone to go up against them and hope to compete. Those theatre groups that had more artistic than economic vision often could not last because their money sense was not up to par. This was seen in the dissolvement of the Guild Theatre, the Group Theatre, and the Mercury Players to name a few. But for the Playwright's Company, their tenacity and vision outlasted this theatre monopoly.
             Although the Shuberts were not the only producers affecting Broadway, they serve as an excellent example of the commercialization that was taking over the streets of New York City. Another popular producing group was the Theatre Guild. In the twenties, the group had become a dynamic and creative force in American Theatre (Atkinson 207). Their original goals were all ar...