Lafayette Players

Anita Bush

Anita Bush

Anita Bush was an American stage actress and playwright. She founded the Anita Bush All-Colored Dramatic Stock Company in 1915, a pioneering black repertory theatre company that helped launch the careers of Charles Gilpin, Dooley Wilson, Evelyn Preer and others.-Biography:Bush was born on August...

, a pioneer in African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 theater, began an acting company after seeing a show at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

. She wanted an all-Black group that performed Broadway plays

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, to combat the popular “racial stereotypes of African Americans as singers, dancers, and slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 comedians." According to Bush, she wanted to prove that Blacks can do the same thing as whites. They were called the Bush Players. After performing at the Lincoln Theater for two years, the owner, Marie Downs, wanted to change their name to the Lincoln Players. Anita refused and took her company to the rival theater, The Lafayette Theatre

Lafayette Theatre (Harlem)

The Lafayette Theatre, also known as "the House Beautiful," was an entertainment venue located at 132nd Street and 7th Avenue in Harlem, New York. It was the first New York theater to desegregate, as early as 1912. Here, African-American theatergoers were allowed to sit in orchestra seats instead...

.

In 1916, due to financial difficulties, Bush sold her company to the theater. One of the actors, Charles S. Gilpin, took over the players and helped establish the Lafayette Players Stock Company, which became the first legitimate Black stock company in Harlem. That same year Robert Levy

Robert Levy

Robert Levy may refer to:*Robert I. Levy , American psychiatrist and anthropologist*Robert Joseph Levy, American writer*Robert A. Levy , American lawyer, pundit, and entrepreneur...

, an American Jew, became involved with the Lafayette Players through the formation of the Quality Amusement Corporation, which managed both the theater and the acting troupe. Later, Levy used the talents of the players in the movies he produced. Reol Productions Corporation had a goal to product high-class pictures with colored actors, which created continuous employment for Black performers.

The company consisted of only black actors who were casted as serious dramatic roles--something that was unheard of at the time. White playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

s, who intended to have white actors playing them, wrote many of these roles. This allowed serious black actors transcend the stereotyped and comedic roles, which they were normally expected to play. The Lafayette Players began performing for almost exclusively Black audiences. The plays they would perform were shows that were popular in the white theater repertory as well as the classics. Some examples of these are performances: Madame X, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

, which had been directed by Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

. The Players performed anything that was being done on Broadway. They performed short plays, shortened versions of popular Broadway success’—most which were melodramatic. Sometimes they would perform musicals like Darktown and Shuffle Along

Shuffle Along

Shuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:...

. Some Harlem figures, like W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois attended Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate...

, opposed this choice of materials because it did not promote the work of black playwrights.

By 1924, the Players were divided up into four different groups. The original cast stayed at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. A new group was created in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Then two traveling groups formed—one that traveled throughout the South, and one along the East coast. These groups only played in theaters that allowed Black’s. The groups, combined, performed over two hundred plays that had never been performed by a black cast. Their job was not only to make a point against the mainstream theater and society, but also to educate the Black audience around the country.

Some actors who were casted in the Lafayette Players: Edna Morton, Lawrence Chenault

Lawrence Chenault

Lawrence Chenault was an American vaudeville performer and silent film actor. He appeared in 22 films between years 1920 and 1934.-External links:*...

, Canada Lee

Canada Lee

Canada Lee was an American actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, he died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He became an actor after careers as a jockey, boxer, and musician...

, Rose McClendon

Rose McClendon

Rose McClendon born Rose Virginia Scott McClendon, was a leading African American Broadway actress of the 1920s....

, Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films...

, Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years, and appeared in more than 150 movies.-Life and career:Born in...

, and Charles S. Gilpin. The arranger James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...

 was involved for a while as well as the famous director Edgar Forrest.

When the Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 started taking its toll, the performers were one of the first to get hit. In 1928, a white company bought the Players and relocated them to Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. Here they performed till 1932.

Ida Anderson Players (1917–1928)

Ida Anderson got her start working for Anita Bush and after two years in the Lafayette Players she started her own players. The Ida Anderson Players got hired at the Lincoln Theater. The Anderson Players resided there till 1928, when Anderson was fired over a salary dispute. After her termination, the troupe was renamed The Lincoln Players.

Negro Players (Hapgood Players) (1917)

When W.E.B. Du Bois saw a production of the Negro Players performing Ridgely Torrence

Ridgely Torrence

Frederic Ridgely Torrence was an American poet, and editor.-Life:Son of Findley David Torrence and Mary Ridgely Torrence.He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Princeton University....

’s Three Plays for a Negro Theater in 1917, it influenced him to write, “The present spiritual production in the souls of Black folk is going to give American stage a drama that will lift it above silly songs and leg shows.”

Players’ Guild (1919)

When the Circle for Negro War Relief had developed a branch in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New York, they also established a theater company named the Players’ Guild. The Players’ Guild had several performances during the 1920’s at the local Harlem YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

. One of these productions helped the actor Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

 rise to stardom. After the Guild made the YMCA their home, the place became a new venue for Black drama. The Guild was admired for creating a substitute from the cheap musical comedy and melodramatic works that were taking over Harlem theaters.

Acme Players (1922–1924)

The Acme Players developed out of a performance by the National Urban League

National Urban League

The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...

 at the Lafayette Theater in 1922. In May of 1923, under the direction of a white woman named Anne Wholter, the Players gave a performance at the Harlem YMCA. Here they performed two of Frank Wilson’s short plays—A Train North and The Heartbreaker.

When Wholter realized the Players’ success, she developed the National Ethiopian Art Theater, which later became a school. Both, the Acme Players and the Ethiopian Art Theater furthered the three goals of creating a black theater, improve black actors, and performing black drama.

National Ethiopian Art Theater (NEAT) (1924–1925)

The National Ethiopian Art Theater grew out of the success of the Acme Players. It was a short-lived cast and a school the encouraged playwriting and dramatic performances by African Americans. The teachers at the school included the organizers of the theater; Anne Wholter and Henry Creamer

Henry Creamer

Henry Creamer was an American popular song lyricist. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in New York. He co-wrote many popular songs in the years from 1900 to 1929, often collaborating with Turner Layton, with whom he also appeared in vaudeville.Creamer was a co-founder with James Reese...

. The first public performance put on by NEAT was on June 19, 1924. The performance included choral singing and dance numbers. Another known performance of theirs was at the Lafayette Theater, where they performed three one-act plays; Cooped Up by Eloise Bibb Thompson, Being Forty by Eulalie Spence

Eulalie Spence

Eulalie Spence was a African American female writer, teacher, actress and playwright from the British West Indies. She was an influential member of the the Harlem Renaissance....

, and Bills. The school was disbanded in 1925.

Krigwa Players Little Theater Group (1925–1928)

In 1925, W.E.B. Du Bois and Regina Anderson co-founded the Krigwa Players for the sole purpose of advancing African American playwrights and practitioners. W.E.B. Du Bois wanted to create a theater that followed his belief of “for us, by us, near us, about us,” which meant he wanted a troupe of black actors, performing pieces or shows written by Black playwrights. Krigwa, became an acronym for "Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists". When Krigwa was developed it was immediately affiliated with the NAACP, because of their importance on political theater

Political theatre

In the history of theatre, there is long tradition of performances addressing issues of current events and central to society itself, encouraging consciousness and social change. The political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres, had considerable influence on public opinion in the...

. It was a way to communicate to the community new ideas and new messages, without the support of moneyed theatergoers and club owners. In the 1930’s the group’s impact was felt through out the African American community in Harlem and Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, where they had built an extension group.

In the summer of 1926, the Krigwa Players Little Negro Theater had found a home at the public library on 135th street with Du Bois as chairman of the group. Besides giving opportunities to actors, Krigwa held competitions with prizes for black dramatists. The prizes would sometimes include providing space for training and rehearsals, and put on productions that were intended to uplift and educate the audiences. In 1928 the Krigwa Players Little Theater Group dwindled and evolved into the “Negro Experimental Theatre”

Aldridge Players (1926)

The Aldridge Players were a short-lived acting company that was formed by playwright Frank Wilson. He named them the Aldridge Players to pay tribute to the famous Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge

Ira Aldridge

Ira Frederick Aldridge , was an American stage actor who made his career largely on the London stage and in Europe, especially in Shakespearean roles...

. Wilson formed the Players to present three of his one act play

One act play

A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. In recent years the 10-minute play known as "flash drama" has emerged as a popular sub-genre of the one-act play, especially in writing competitions...

s: Sugar Cane, Flies, and Color Worship. The group became active in 1926, performed as guests of the Kringwa Players at the Harlem Library Little Theater. The company included: William Jackson, Agnes Marsh, Charlie Taylor, Charles Randolph, and Frank Wilson, who directed.

Alhambra Players (1927–1931)

Before the twenties, the Alhambra Theater only allowed blacks to sit in the balcony and failed to pick up any Black acts. In 1920, the treasurer was arrested for not selling two Black men seats down in the orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

. By 1925, the Alhambra Theater catered to its Black audience memebers. One of its highlights was when the theater held a Harlem premiere of Blackbirds

Blackbirds of 1928

Blackbirds of 1928 was a hit Broadway revue with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It contained the songs "Diga Diga Do", the duo's first hit, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", and "I Must Have That Man" all sung by Adelaide Hall....

of 1926. It was a six week engagement musical revue that was produced by Lew Leslie

Lew Leslie

Lew Leslie was a Broadway writer and producer. Although white, he was the first impressario to present black artists on stage...

 to show off the talents of Florence Mills

Florence Mills

Florence Mills, born Florence Winfrey , known as the "Queen of Happiness," was an African American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.-Life and career:A daughter of former enslaved parents, Nellie and John...

. The show that followed starred Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

In May of 1927, the Alhambra Theater introduced their new stock company—The Alhambra Players. They were briefly billed as All Star Colored Civic Repertory Company. Their first production was Goat Alley by the white playwright E.H. Culbertson. The company was known to perform nonracial shows, like The Cat and the Canary or Rain.

In June of 1927, the Alhambra Theater had to close down for a couple of months because of a lack of capital. They were only closed for two months, and re opened the house in August. The new Alhambra Players featured some actors from the Lafayette Players, like: Evelyn Preer

Evelyn Preer

Evelyn Preer, born Evelyn Jarvis , was a pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Evelyn was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."She was the first black actress to earn celebrity and popularity...

, Charles H. Moore, Edward Thompson, J. Lawrence Criner, Susie Sutton, and Alice Gorgas.

These Players performed shows like: Norman Houston’s The Panther, Why Women Cheat, The Temper, In the Underworld, The House of Lies, Mr. Squash Meets a Girl, Mighty Lak a Rose, The Ghost Returns, Carnival Girl and Monster Man. The company stayed active till 1931, when the theater transformed into a movie theater.

Negro Experimental Theatre (Harlem Experimental Theatre (HET)) (1928–1934)

Emerging from the ashes of the very popular group Krigwa Players was the Negro Experimental Theatre. It followed the same idea of a theater that was for us, by us, near us, and about us. It also aspired to continue where the old troupe left off, so they included as many of the founding members as possible. The Negro Experimental Theatre was not interested in mimicking professional theatre, although they relied on professional actors and directors, and strove for high credits from Black critics and press. The group mixed itself more into society of Harlem, and kept to the idea of providing a public service and developing artists.

When HET inherited the same library basement where the Krigwa Players performed, they focused on reaching out to the community, and collaborating with other races, and set up educational programs. HET became an inspirations to other little theater groups around the country, and encouraged serious Black theatre and Black playwrights. The group performed the co-founder Regina Anderson’s work—Climbing Jacob’s Ladder and Underground.

National Colored Players (1929)

Ida Anderson and her players reunited in 1929 to create a new company called the National Colored Players. NCP was one of the first theater troupes who allied with the new radical aesthetics. The Players usually showed showcases for revivals of past Broadway Hits. NCP moved into West End theatre

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 and this is where they present three productions: Seven Heaven written by Audtin Strong, starring Ida Anderson, Vere E. Johns, George Randol, and J. Homer Tutt, Crime by Samual Shipman and John Hymer, and The Gorilla by Harold Spence. All three shows were written by a white male playwright, and had successful runs with their shows on Broadway before bringing it to Harlem.

Harlem Suitcase Theater (1938)

After working in the war, Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

 came back to American and told Louise Patterson about his idea of a people’s theatre. She directed him to the International Workers Order

International Workers Order

The International Workers Order was a Communist Party-affiliated insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951...

 on 125th street, which would become the home of the future Harlem Suitcase Theater. With Louise Thompson Patterson’s assistance, Hughes’ goal was to create “a group of proficien actors who would present productions for labor organizations.” The mission statement that was created was about promoting interracial plays. Also mentioned in its constitution was creating a permanent repertory group that performed pieces dealing with lives, the problems, and hopes of Blacks and their relation to the American society.

The theater and players got their name from its arena staging and lack of scenic properties. The name also implies that the productions would use as much props as can be packed in a suitcase. The stage was the first theatre in the round in New York, so it was a training ground for all actors. Hughes intended to produce plays that had a variety of style, and to provide entertainment.

Hughes wrote most of the pieces that was performed here: The Slave, The Man Who Died At Twelve O’clock, or several skits that lampooned white caricatures of blacks: Em-Fueher Jones, Limitations of Life, and Little Eva's End. The program was made up of two or three skits, then the resistance piece, which was Don’t You Want To Be Free? Which became the longest running play in Harlem at the time. Paul Peters, Whittaker Chambers, Langston Hughes, and Jacob Burck all would serve as directors for this troupe.

Other pieces that Hughes wrote: Limitations of Life, The Em-Fuehrer Jones, Colonel Tom’s Cabin, Hurrah, America! (subtitled Jersey City Justice), Scarlet Sister Barry, and Young As We Is. Some pieces he did collaborate with his staff, which includes Hilary Phillips, Powell Lindsay, Dorothy Peterson

Dorothy Peterson

Dorothy Peterson was an American actress.Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota of Swedish immigrant ancestry. She made her screen debut in 1930's Mothers Cry, a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film...

, and Louis Douglas

Louis Douglas

Louis Winston Douglas, sometimes misspelled Douglass was an American dancer, choreographer, and music businessman....

. Besides and Hughes and the staffs work, people would send in their plays.

The Theater also held training sessions directed by Hillary Phillips , which trained on theatre technique.

Summer of 1939, the season was under the directions of Thomas Richardson, it was during this period that Hughes had resigned from his position and theater all together. He left the Harlem Suitcase Theater for economic reasons, and from then on the two years of success slowly decreased.

In the Fall of 1939, the theatre was relocated to the Harlem Branch Library. Here they perfomed productions such as: Don’t You Want To Be Free?, Limitations of Life, Colonel Tom’s Cabin (aka Little Eva’s End), The Em-Fuehrer Jones, Hurrah, America!, Scarlet Sister Barry, and Young As We Is.