- unitid
-
{"value"=>"20721", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 64", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b11848367", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1973-1992", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1973/1992"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Frank Silvera Writers Workshop records"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"141 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"58.58 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop was co-founded by Garland Lee Thompson in October 1973, to provide support, guidance, and developmental assistance to Black playwrights. Records contain administrative files, production files, and more than one thousand play scripts."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Frank Silvera Writers Workshop", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop (FSWW) was co-founded by Garland Lee Thompson, famed actor/director Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen, and journalist Clayton Riley, in October 1973, as a living memorial to the late actor, director, teacher, and producer, Frank Silvera (1914-1970). Its initial mission was to provide support, guidance, and developmental assistance to Black playwrights, programs that were lacking at the Actors Studio and similar organizations. While acting as a laboratory for playwrights, the Workshop gradually expanded its program to include directors and technicians. Hundreds of works have been presented by the Workshop and many of them, such as Richard Wesley's <span class=\"title\">The Last Street Play</span>, later renamed <span class=\"title\">The Mighty Gents</span>, and Charles Fuller's <span class=\"title\">The Brownsville Raid, (A Soldier's Play)</span> have gone on to achieve commercial success. Some of the programs provided by the Workshop include the Reading/Critique series, in which new plays are read, the readings are rehearsed but not staged, and the presentation is followed by a critical analysis from an audience of peers, under the guidance of a moderator; and the Writers/Directors Series of Staged Projects, which is a series of staged readings of new works and works in progress. These productions are designed to enhance directorial skills with an emphasis on the writer/director relationship. Additionally, there is the Artistic Technical Assistance Collective (ATAC), which concentrates on the development of technical and stage craft skills. It serves professional technicians while developing apprentices in all aspects of stage production and they in turn design, construct, and service the Writers/Directors Series productions. The Larry Neal Memorial Playwriting Seminar Series, in which established playwrights, such as Ed Bullins, Owen Dodson, Charles Fuller, Adrienne Kennedy, and Charles Wesley, discuss structure, characterization, and play development as well as marketing and other commercial and artistic aspects of the business. Finally, the Workshop offers the Open House series, which are orientations and open houses for the general public. Files for most of these programs are included in the collection.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection contains administrative files; production files, including contracts and set designs; and more than one thousand play scripts from the Writers/Directors series and the Larry Neal Memorial Seminar Series. Scripts are chiefly unpublished and unproduced and were written by members of the workshop. They are cataloged separately under playwrights' names, but included here under the \"Scripts\" series. Among the playwrights included are Mari Evans, Billy Graham, A. Marcus Hemphill, Larry Neal, Vinnette Carroll, Ruby Dee, Owen Dodson, Charles Gordone, Charles Fuller, Laurence Holder, James De Jongh, Clifford Mason, Ntozake Shange, Ed Shockley, Garland Lee Thompson, Richard Wesley, and Samm-Art Williams.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop records are arranged in eleven series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637637'>History</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1984</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series mostly consists of Board of Directors material, such as meeting minutes, but there is also an interview with Garland Thompson, one of the co-founders of the Workshop, printed matter, and membership information.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637638'>Administration</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1986</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains financial information, press releases, reports, personnel files, memos, and other matter related to the day-to-day operations of the Workshop.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637639'>Grants</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1975-1983</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains grant applications, grant reports, and some correspondence with grantors.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637640'>Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1974-1985</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637641'>Productions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1974-1985</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes Reading/Critique Series, in which new plays are read; readings rehearsed but not staged; and a critical analysis from an audience of peers, under the guidance of a moderator, is provided.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637642'>Writer/Directors Series</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1974-1986</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637643'>Artist files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1975-1985</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637644'>Organizations</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1972-1985</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637645'>Press files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1975-1983</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637646'>Subject files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1985</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20721#c1637648'>Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1964-1997</div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into 11 series: I. History; II. Administration; III. Grants; IV. Correspondence; V. Productions; VI. Writer/Director Series; VII. Artist files; VIII. Organizations; IX. Press files; X. Subject files; and XI. Scripts.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Frank Silvera Writers Workshop, 1978-1992.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: art and artifacts.</p> <p>Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Surveyed by Janice Quinter, 1987; accessioned by Mary Yearwood, 1988. Individual playwright catalog records made possible through the Schomburg NEH Humanities Resources for African and African Diasporan Studies Access Project.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Series I-X are closed because they are unprocessed.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photocopying of scripts requires permission of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2021 February 8"}
- date_start
-
1973
- keydate
-
1973
- date_end
-
1992
- date_inclusive_start
-
1973
- date_inclusive_end
-
1992
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Frank Silvera Writers Workshop records, Sc MG 64, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}