Ossie Davis, the creator and star of “Purlie Victorious” in 1961; Leslie Odom Jr, the star of the play’s revival in 2024. Rose McClendon, who made her Broadway debut in 1926; Audra McDonald, who made her Broadway debut in 1991 and has received extra Tony Awards than every other performer in historical past.
Beneath, in honor of Black Historical past Month, I as soon as once more current a gallery of theater created by Black New Yorkers over the past two centuries, as chronicled within the collections of the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress.
A flyer from the African Firm, the primary skilled Black theater group in America, which was based in 1820 and carried out on the African Grove, at Bleecker and Mercer Streets in downtown Manhattan.
The theater’s founder, William Alexander Brown, is credited with having written the primary play by a Black author produced in America, “The Drama of King Shotaway,” based mostly on an riot by Black Caribbeans in opposition to the British in 1795 on the island of St. Vincent.
The theater additionally launched the profession of Ira Aldridge, who was born a free African American in New York in 1807 and went on to turn out to be one of many best Shakespearean actors of his time — though, because the African Grove was short-lived, his profession shortly shifted abroad. Over 4 many years, Aldridge toured extensively and to nice acclaim in Europe, (Adrian Lester portrayed him a decade in the past in a play entitled “Pink Velvet.“)
William Wells Brown‘s ” The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom was the primary recognized play by a Black playwright to be printed in america, in 1858.
Bert Williams in 1911, the yr he launched a profitable solo profession that included changing into the one Black performer solid yr after yr within the Ziegfeld Follies. Williams was, based on his good friend W.C. Fields, “the funniest man I ever noticed and the saddest man I ever knew.” Williams was in all probability the most well-liked African-American entertainer on the flip of the 20 th century, a person of many skills, and lots of firsts.He and his accomplice George Walker created 4 musicals on Broadway between 1901 and 1908, together with “In Dahomey,” 1903-1904, Above, Hattie McIntosh, George Walker, Ada Overton Walker, Bert Williams, and Lottie Williams carry out a cakewalk
Angelina Grimké, whose play Rachel, produced in 1916 and printed in 1920, considerations a younger lady who’s so horrified by racism that she vows by no means to deliver youngsters into the world. It was one of many first performs written by a Black creator about Black points.
Charles Gilpin within the stage manufacturing The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill, 1920, a job that Paul Robeson would play within the film adaptation. (Gilpin’s profession is the topic of a current film, The Black Emperor of Broadway.)
A publicity nonetheless from “Shuffle Alongside,” a 1921 Broadway musical created by 4 Black males — it was composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissel and a guide by the comedy duo of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles — and that includes an all-Black solid, together with the Broadway debut of Paul Robeson, at age 23. ( George C. Wolfe remade the musical on Broadway in 2016 )
Paul Robeson within the 1924 Broadway manufacturing of “All God’s Chilun Obtained Wings” by Eugene O’Neill, and within the title position of “Othello,” in 1943
Langston Hughes’ play “Mulatto: A Tragedy of the Deep South, produced on Broadway in 1935, tells the story of a mixed-race boy’s self-acceptance after his white father rejects him.
Rose McClendon
Rex Ingram in “Haiti.” 1938, a play by William DuBois dramatizing the ultimate yr of the Haitian revolution in 1802. Ingram was a graduate of Northwestern College medical faculty when he was recruited by Hollywood, initially showing in silent Tarzan motion pictures, however happening to many memorable roles, resembling The Journey of Huckleberry Finn reverse Mickey Rooney. He was a veteran of greater than a dozen Broadway performs and musicals, together with Cabin within the Sky in 1940 with Ethel Waters, and Ready for Godot in 1957.
Jack Carter performed the title character within the 1936 all-Black manufacturing of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, staged by Orson Welles, and set within the “Jungles of Legendary Island Resembling Haiti within the West Indies.”
Frauline Alvor and Maurice Ellis in “The Case of Philip Lawrence,” 1937, a play written by George MacEntee a few faculty graduate (Ellis) who’s unable to search out trustworthy employment, goes to work in a numbers racket, and is framed for the homicide of a white gangster.
Frances Smith, blues singer, in a scene from The Case of Philip Lawrence
From “Turpentine,” 1936, written by J. A. Smith and Peter Morell, a few rebellious collective of African American staff within the turpentine swamps of Florica. On this scene, a straw boss meets a delegation of turpentine staff who’re demanding larger pay and higher working situations
One other scene from “Turpentine.” Shine Sommers, portrayed by Louis Sharp
Doe Doe Inexperienced, Lester Palmer, Sybil Moore, “Aggie”, and Clifton Davis in “Horse Play,” 1937 The play is a humorous fantasy by Dorothy Hailparn coping with the adventures of 1 Hiram, an previous farmer and his horse, “Aggie.” Doe Doe Inexperienced, the “Gabriel” within the unique stage manufacturing of “The Inexperienced Pastures” portrays the main position of Hiram. Perry Watkins designed the settings, and Byron Webb the lighting results. Evelyn Ellis directed the play.
A Negro Unit manufacturing of George Bernard Shaw’s “Androcles and the Lion”
A poster of the manufacturing in San Francisco (“Sensational Success Sizzling From New York”)
Three of the performers from Swing Mikado, a jazz model of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
Pinocchio, 1938
The Negro Unit’s manufacturing of George Kelly’s The Present Off, 1937
The Harlem Renaissance was a fertile time for Black theater, climaxing within the dozens of productions by the “Negro Unit” of the Federal Theatre Undertaking within the 1930’s.
Theater throughout the Black Lives Matter explosion in 2020, obtainable then (since in-person theater was closed) solely on-line.
Performs on Broadway by Black playwrights within the 2022 to 2024 seasons have been a mixture of revivals and unique works. Above, clockwse from high left: “Topdog/Underdog,” the revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize successful play; “The Piano Lesson,” the revival of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize successful play; “Ain’t No Mo’,” by Jordan Eooper, marking the playwright’s Broadway debut at age 27; “Ohio State Murders” by Adrienne Kendy, marking the playwright’s Broadway debut at age 91, within the James Earl Jones Theater, one of many three Broadway theaters (re)named after Black theater artists.
Beneath. Within the present season,Jocelyn Bioh’s “Jaja African Hair Braiding,” a few group of West African immigrants to New York, was the primary Broadway present to make use of “African” in its title in 120 years; and a revival of Ossie Davis’s “Purlie Victorious,” which provides the subtitle “A Non-Accomplice Romp By way of the Cabbage Patch.” It ends its run on Broadway tomorrow.
