Black Broadway Theatre History ~
Our Moments and Circumstances
A look at important moments in
the History of Black Theatre
Created, Researched and Edited
by Dale Ricardo Shields
BFA – MFA, Ohio University
Educational Purposes Only [No Copyright Infringement Intended]
Images may be subject to copyright.
“Black theatre, in the United States,
dramatic movement encompassing plays written by, for, and
about African Americans.”
African-American people have been an integral part of Theatre since its beginnings. On John Gassners charts that outline the development of the Theatre in the Western World, it is shown that Theatre had its beginnings with the Passion Plays of Egypt and Asia Minor in 2000 B.C. Historically speaking, Mr. Gassners charts confirm Loften Mitchells undocumented statement that Theatre had its beginnings more than 6000 years ago, on the banks of the Nile. One need only note the Sphinxs Black features to determine the race of the ancient Egyptians.
The first American production of a play was sometime during the middle of the seventeenth century. The play, Prince of Parthia, patterned its form from neo-classicism as all Theatre in America would until the Minstrelsy period. The Black man was introduced as subject matter very early in American drama. In 1769, a character with the name of Mungo, a West Indian slave, was a profane clown of little authenticity in the play entitled Padlock. Two years earlier, a Black character with the name of Raccoon appeared in Thomas Forrests play The Disappointment. With few exceptions, the plays that followed and used Blacks as characters gave Black actors two options: (a) accept the comic role or, (b) create a Theatre of his own. The second option was logically taken.” – Howard University
The minstrel shows of the early 19th century are believed by some to be the roots of Black theatre, but they initially were written by Whites, acted by Whites in blackface, and performed for White audiences. After the American Civil War, Black actors began to perform in minstrel shows (then called “Ethiopian minstrelsy”), and by the turn of the 20th century they were producing Black musicals, many of which were written, produced, and acted entirely by African Americans. – BRITANNICA
“In 1841, Dan Emmett and Frank Brower, blackface performers with the Cincinnati Circus Company, became friends. Two years later they formed the Virginia Minstrels with two other blackface comedians, Dill Whitock and Dick Pelham. They were the first real minstrelsy troupe, to perform full-length concerts.
In 1845, the Ethiopian Serenaders appealed to a more refined audience by cutting out some of the bawdy elements of minstrelsy but it was the Christy’s Minstrels who were responsible for establishing the three-act formula which came to define minstrelsy shows. The first act would begin with a song, dance, and tambourine music; the second act put on a variety of performances, including the popular stump speech and the final act featured a sketch about life on the plantation.
By the 1850s, the subject matter of the minstrelsy shows was becoming nastier, reveling in depictions of the racist and sexual abuse that occurred on plantations. However, when the abolitionist novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ was published in 1852, illustrating the real plight of slaves, the pro-slavery minstrel shows reacted by focusing once more on the myth of the idyllic plantation lifestyle. But by that time the wheels of the impending American Civil War were already in motion.
Three years before the war, William Wells Brown, an abolitionist lecturer, and novelist published ‘The Escape,’ also named, ‘A Leap for Freedom.’This is regarded as the first Black play ever published.
William Wells Brown‘s ”The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom” was the first known play by a Black playwright to be published in the United States, in 1858.
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The first American production of a play was sometime during the middle of the seventeenth century. The play, Prince of Parthia, patterned its form from neo-classicism as all Theatre in America would until the Minstrelsy period. The Black man was introduced as a subject matter very early in American drama.
In 1769, a character by the name of Mungo, a West Indian slave, was a profane clown of little authenticity in the play entitled Padlock. Two years earlier, a Black character by the name of Raccoon appeared in Thomas Forrests’ play The Disappointment. With few exceptions, the plays that followed and used Blacks as characters gave Black actors two options: (a) accept the comic role or, (b) create a Theatre of his own. The second option was logically taken.
Following the civil war, genuine Blacks became regularly involved in Ethiopian Minstrelsy although they would generally follow the same conventions as the whites, including applying blackface.”
What does black symbolize in theatre? The color black is usually associated with darkness; it is used to represent destruction and death.
What is Black consciousness theatre?
Black theatre in the main was to break a Eurocentric frame of reference and attempt to develop an Afrocentric approach to the Arts. Black Theatre as an expression of Black Consciousness assumed a Negritude by living it and having lived it sought for a deeper meaning of the Arts.
What are the themes of the Black Theatre?
Slavery; search for equal rights; the utopia of a fresh beginning as free Blacks in another country; and the lives of historical personalities that have marked the Blacks’ struggle for freedom are also among the themes that the early Black theater has handled recurrently.
Classic and foundational playwrights
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August Wilson (1945–2005): A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the most celebrated American playwrights. He is best known for his ten-play series, The Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicles the Black American experience throughout the 20th century.
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Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965): The first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun. Her work highlights themes of racial segregation and the aspirations of Black families.
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Amiri Baraka (1934–2014): A key figure in the Black Arts Movement, Baraka wrote provocative and political plays like Dutchman that explored racial tensions in America.
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James Baldwin (1924–1987): Though primarily known for his novels, his plays such as The Amen Corner explored themes of race, sexuality, and identity.
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Alice Childress (1916–1994): An influential playwright and novelist who wrote Trouble in Mind, a critique of racism in the theater industry.
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Langston Hughes (1902–1967): A central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, his plays often incorporated jazz and blues to explore themes of race and identity.
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Charles Gordone (1925–1995): The first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which he received in 1970 for his play No Place to Be Somebody.
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Ntozake Shange (1948–2018): Best known for her choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, her work blends poetry, dance, and music to explore the experiences of Black women.
Contemporary and prominent playwrights
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Lynn Nottage (b. 1964): The only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, for her plays Ruined (2009) and Sweat (2017). Her work often focuses on the Black working class.
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Suzan-Lori Parks (b. 1963): The first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her 2001 play, Topdog/Underdog.
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Anna Deavere Smith (b. 1950): Known for her innovative documentary-style one-woman shows in which she portrays multiple real-life characters.
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Tarell Alvin McCraney (b. 1980): A MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, he is known for his plays like In the Red and Brown Water. He also wrote the script that was adapted into the film Moonlight.
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Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (b. 1985): An award-winning playwright whose works, like Appropriate and An Octoroon, offer thought-provoking examinations of race and history.
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Jackie Sibblies Drury (b. 1980s): Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2019 for her play Fairview, which explores themes of race and the gaze of the audience.
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Dominique Morisseau (b. 1978): A prominent contemporary writer whose acclaimed plays, including The Detroit Project trilogy, blend realism with poetic language.
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Katori Hall (b. 1981): A Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright known for works like The Mountaintop and P-Valley.
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Danai Gurira (b. 1978): In addition to her acting career, Gurira is an award-winning playwright with works including Eclipsed.
Take a look at the production accomplishments that African Americans have made, those stories that Black artists have created on Broadway that helped tell the American story.
Iforcolor.org
The first professional Black Theatre group in America was the African Company. Their Theatre was the African Grove, located in lower Manhattan at Bleecker and Mercer Streets. It was founded during the season of 1820-1821 by Mr. Brown, whose first name is not known. The African Companys repertoire was primarily made up of Shakespearean dramas. However, the drama King Shotaway, based on The Insurrection of the Carvas on the Island of St. Vincent, was performed. Although the script is not extant, King Shotaway is probably the first play written and performed by Afro-Americans. The company performed for mixed audiences. Simon Snipe, in his book entitled, Sports of New York remarks, the audience was composed of White, Black, copper, colored and light brown. The African Grove continued to have performances until late in 1823 when it closed after being wrecked by White hoodlums.
No one can mention the African Company without the names of James Hewlett, a West Indian Black, and Ira Aldridge, an American Black. They are considered the first and second Black tragedians, respectively. When the African Grove closed, the only opportunity that remained for Black actors was blackface minstrelsy. Not willing to settle for anything less than serious drama, Ira Aldridge, Victor Sejour, and James Bland, members of the African Company, sailed for Europe and became very successful. James Hewlett remained in Manhattan and performed Shakespeare whenever he could.
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“Loften Mitchell labels the years 1909 to 1917 as the First Harlem Theatre Movement. The first Black Theatre, The Crescent, was established in Harlem. Black shows were being moved from The Crescent to the now famous Lafayette Theatre, and The Drama Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of Washington, DC (Laura B. Glenn, Clara B. Bruce, E. C. Williams, Anna J. Cooper, Carrie W. Clifford, Georgia Frazier, E. E. Just, Montgomery Gregory, and Alain Locke) produced the first successful drama written by a Black person and interpreted by Blacks, Rachel by Angelina Grimke.
Angelina Grimké, whose play Rachel, produced in 1916 and published in 1920, concerns a young woman who is so horrified by racism that she vows never to bring children into the world. It was one of the first plays written by a Black author about Black issues.
In addition, Ridgley Torrence, a White poet in association with Mrs. Norman Hapgood presented the Hapgood Players, all Blacks, in a program of three one-act plays written for the Negro theatre. These three one-acts gave the world the first authentic drama of Black life. Mr. Torrence on seeing his plays Granny Maumee, The Rider of Dreams and Simon the Cyrenian, stated, I have sometimes imagined that the Negro, other things being equal, might produce the greatest, the most direct, the most powerful drama in the world.
The first Black drama group was also established at Howard University within the First Harlem Theatre Movement. Ernest Everett Just and a group of students formed the College Dramatic Club. The College Dramatic Club, although financially successful, had a repertoire very similar to that of the African Grove. Rather than Black plays, they presented Shakespearean dramas and other English works. It was not until 1919, almost the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance that Black drama reached its zenith in the country and at Howard University.” – HOWARD UNIVERSITY
In 1919 the drama of Black life was reaching the heights of achievement. Three different little theatre groups were at the forefront of this movement that would open the doors of the American Theatre to a succession of race plays that gave permanent recognition to Black actors. The three groups were the Provincetown Players, the Ethiopian Art Theatre of Chicago, and the Howard Players.
The Howard Players’ affiliation with a major institution is probably the cause of its longevity beyond the Provincetown Players and the Ethiopian Art Theatre. Montgomery Gregory, the first director had in mind the establishment of a National Negro Theatre. Some would say that goal was not reached; that was true in a literal sense. However, the Howard Players as late as 1997 have produced nationally known playwrights, directors, actors, and producers of African-American theatre and film. In effect, the output of the Players, the paths taken by its members as they left the ivory-covered walls, have resulted in a direct and significant influence on African-American Theatre in the United States.
