Margaret V. "Margo" Jones

Margo Jones was born in Livingston on December 12, 1911, finished Livingston High School at fifteen, and earned a bachelor's degree in speech at the Girls' Industrial College of Texas in Denton in 1932. A master's in psychology and education followed in 1933, with a thesis on Ibsen. In 1939 Stage magazine named her one of twelve outstanding theater directors outside New York, the only woman chosen. Her Dallas company staged Inherit the Wind in 1955 before it reached Broadway. She died on July 24, 1955, after carbon tetrachloride used to clean her apartment carpet poisoned her.

What the plaque says

Margaret V. "Margo" Jones Livingston native Margo Jones was one of the leading figures of American theatre during her brief life. A director and innovator, she played a key role in the careers of many actors and playwrights, most notably Tennessee Williams and William Inge; The Glass Menagerie and Inherit the Wind were among the Broadway shows she directed. She was an advocate for non-profit professional residential theatres and theatre-in-the-round, and she carried out her ideas both on Broadway and in her Dallas theatre. Named one of the Outstanding Little Theater Directors in America, she also organized the Houston Community Players. She died in Dallas in 1955, but her influence continues today. (2005)

Where it stands

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