Eva Allen

Eva Allen Alberti, born Evangel Eva Allen on April 4, 1856, in Alfred, New York, was an American actress, dramatics teacher, and specialist in pantomime as practiced in the American tradition. She died in New York City on March 6, 1938, at the age of 82.

Allen was the daughter of Jonathan Macomber Allen (1823–1892), who served as president of Alfred University, and Abigail Ann (Maxson) Allen (1824–1894). She had three siblings: William, born in 1853; May, born in 1860; and Alfred, born in 1866. She pursued her education at Alfred University, earning an A.B. in 1877 and an A.M. in 1879. That same year, she married Prof. William Maxson Alberti, the son of Thomas Shipley Alberti, who later became clerk of the Seventh Day Baptist Church.

Her Broadway career spanned the years 1900 to 1903 and encompassed a range of productions across multiple genres. Her credits included the musical Twirly Whirly, the play Arizona, the burlesque Humming Birds and Onions, The Little Princess, and the musical The Stickiness of Gelatine, among other productions.

Beyond her stage work, Alberti built a substantial career as an educator and institutional leader. She lectured at Teachers College, Columbia University for thirteen years, served as president of the New York College of Expression, and directed the Young People's Theater at Carnegie Hall in New York City. A notable feature of the Young People's Theater under her direction was the staging of complete grand opera performed entirely in mime, accompanied by instrumental music. The system she developed, known as the Alberti Pantomimes, employed what was described as a more universal code of gesticulation than those associated with French, Italian, or German traditions. She also made a specialty of Greek sacred dances.

Her students included figures who went on to prominence across theater and film, among them Prof. Gertrude Colby, Jane Cowl, Cecil B. DeMille, William C. deMille, Ann Harding, Fredric March, Douglas MacLean, Guthrie McClintic, William Powell, Edward G. Robinson, Anita Stewart, Stuart Walker, and Chester M. Wallace. In 1932, she published A Handbook of Acting, and in 1925 she produced a dramatic composition based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.