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unitid: {"value"=>"1063494", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1949-1993", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1949/1993"}

{"value"=>"1960s-1980s", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1960/1989"}

{"value"=>"undated", "type"=>"inclusive"}
unittitle: {"value"=>"Play Scripts"}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The Play Scripts are organized into five categories: Full-Length Plays; Musicals; One-Act Plays; Adaptations and Collaborations; Ten-Minute (or less) and Incomplete Play Scripts and Outlines. Childress's full-length plays include four of her best-known works, Gold Through the Trees, Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedian, Trouble in Mind, and Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White. The files for Gold Through the Trees (1952) contain various drafts, as well as a flyer for the production at Club Baron in Harlem, and a contract for Helen Martin, one of the actresses who appeared in the production. Files for Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne, are particularly rich with information about the genesis of the play, and the copyright infringement case Childress brought against Clarice Taylor in 1987. The files begin with versions of the play script, and include casting call lists, correspondence, contracts, programs and reviews of the first staging at the Green Plays Theatre in Lexington, New York in 1986, and at Hudson Guild Theatre in 1987. There are also research materials about Jackie \"Moms\" Mabley, several drafts, (mostly with annotations, some incomplete), rehearsal scripts, and the transcription of an oral history with one of Mabley's sons. The rest of the files relate specifically to the Childress vs. Taylor lawsuit. There are a number of legal documents included here such as affidavits, briefs, depositions, memorandums of law, and a copy of the judgment. In addition there are files of correspondence, copies of the two play scripts, Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne, by Childress and Moms: The First Lady of Comedy, by Ben Caldwell and Clarice Taylor, annotated by Childress, two of Taylor's play scripts, An Evening with Moms, and An Evening of Comedy with Jackie 'Moms' Mabley, which were sent to Childress via her lawyers for review in order to verify that Taylor created an original work. The files for Childress's first major success, Trouble in Mind (1956 — 1992, undated) include several undated scripts with annotations, correspondence, contracts, notes, programs and reviews of performances in New York, Ohio, Florida, Washington, DC, and London. An annotated play script for Eight in a Box (undated), an early version of Trouble in Mind, can be found in this section. The next largest set of files in the Play Scripts subseries contain information on Childress's best known play, Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White (1962-1992, undated) Included in this file are over a dozen versions of the play script with annotations, some relating to performances in New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Norfolk, Va., New Brunswick, and Philadelphia; drafts, correspondence, programs, pages of a diary discussing producers, potential cast members, and rewrites; and production notes relating to the first production of the play at the University of Michigan in 1966. Favorable reviews of the play when it was broadcast on ABC Theatre in 1974, as well as reviews for other productions, can be found here. The files for Lady in the Backyard (circa 1961), My Carolina (circa 1961) and The Wings of Time (undated), all appear to be early versions of Wedding Band, and can be found in this section. Other plays in this series include: Copra: A West Indian Drama, undated, A Host of Friends, 1980, 1981, 1993; Man Bearing a Pitcher, undated, and The Penny Pinchers, undated. Childress wrote several musicals, three of which were produced. Her most well known musical, Gullah (formerly called Sea Island Song) (1977-1981) contains several versions of the play script with annotations, sketches, programs and reviews of the performances in South Carolina and Massachusetts, both in 1984. Materials in the Gullah files directly relate to the play's resurrection in 1984 under that title. The Sea Island Song files are filed separately. The files for Sea Island Song (1977) were found together and are differentiated from the latter version of the play, Gullah, by virtue of their date and performance. Play scripts, outlines, performance schedules for the play in Dillon, South Carolina, and research about the Carolina Sea Islands and Gullah culture can be found here. The research files for the play are particularly rich and contain a report titled Doctor Can't Do Me No Good: Social Concomitants of Health Care Attitudes and Practices Among Elderly Blacks in Isolated Rural Populations, that focuses specifically on the elderly residents of the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, as well as songs, folklore, studies and clippings about life on the Islands. Files for Childress's first and only attempt at writing an opera, The Sun Like Gold (1970-1971), with music by Ulysses Kay, is a drama about the life of Harriet Tubman. One of the twentieth century's most prominent African-American composers, Ulysses Kay was known in his lifetime mostly for his symphonic and choral writing. The files contain correspondence, the libretto, handwritten notes, outlines, research, and clippings. Childress often used real-life incidents as fodder for her work. Her play The Trial of Emile Zola is a dramatization of the French novelist's article, \"J'Accuse! (I Accuse!)\", that appeared in L'Aurore (The Dawn) in 1898, and basically took to task the French government for the 1894 arrest and (false) conviction for treason of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army. Childress dramatizes the events in musical form. The files for The Trial of Emile Zola (n. d) play include two copies of the play script with annotations. The only play that Childress ever penned that does not feature blacks is The First Three Hundred Years (undated). The story focuses on the history of Jewish people, featuring both Yiddish and English speaking characters. This file contains a play script with annotations. Behind Every Door: A Light Opera for a Working Lady (1984-1985), with music by Nathan Woodard, bears the distinction of being a finalist in a contest sponsored by the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF), although it was not performed. Included in this file is a play script, letters from the NYSF, and sheet music with annotations. Childress began writing One-Act plays as early as the late forties, among them Florence (1949-1950), the first one-act drama she wrote and produced for which there is a file. The published version of the play, which appeared in the Masses and Mainstream in October 1950, is also included. The files for the play Wine in the Wilderness (1969-1986, undated) contain a published play script, reviews for both stage productions, and the television broadcast of the play on the \"On Being Black\" series, featuring Abby Lincoln. The file for Mojo: A Black Love Story (1970) contains an earlier version of the play script, In Teddy's Apartment, is filed here, as well as a script for Mojo: A Black Love Story. Other one-act plays found here include: Billy on the Ball (undated); The Chinese Excursion - Harlem Play (undated); The Fundraisers (1955, undated); and The World on a Hill (undated) Childress crafted adaptations of several plays, novels and short stories early in her writing career, and collaborated with a number of people, particularly her second husband, Nathan Woodard. There is a small group of materials pertaining to Childress's first adaptation (and second play), Just a Little Simple (1950), based on Langston Hughes's Simple Speaks His Mind (1950). The working title for the play was All is Simple. Included are several versions of the play script with annotations, hand written drafts (all incomplete) along with a program, and a review of the play which appeared in Freedom newspaper. String, based on a short story by French writer, Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), A Piece of String, is Childress's second adaptation to be produced. Represented in the files is a copy of the version of the published play as it appeared in an anthology, early drafts of the play, the \"original\" script, a program and reviews pertaining to the Negro Ensemble Company production of the play in 1969, \"An Evening of One Acts,\" and the combined rehearsal scripts of String and Ted Shine's Shoes, for KCET in Los Angeles in 1978. The file for the dramatic adaptation of Childress's novel A Hero Ain't Nothing' But a Sandwich contains a letter to the author, and reviews for the production mounted by the Theatre Company at the University of Detroit, March 12-28, 1993. The record does not indicate who wrote the dramatization, nor indicate how involved Childress was in the production. Childress also sought to adapt William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello.... The Moor of Venice (undated) and structured her version of the play for three characters. This file contains a play script with annotations that show that Childress wanted to integrate musical interludes in the drama. Childress also collaborated with musician Irving Lord Burgie, a well-known composer and arranger, for the play Song of the Storm. Popularly known as \"Lord Burgess,\" Burge wrote the lyrics for the national anthem of Barbados. The files for Song of the Storm (1966?) include a play script, and copious notes taken by Childress about the Garvey movement. The files for So You Want to Be a Musician? (1954, 1956, c 1960) contain three plays scripts, and were initially written under the pen name, \"Eddie Franklyn.\". Throughout Childress's marriage to Nathan Woodard, the two collaborated on a number of musicals and plays with music, including Young Martin Luther King (originally titled Freedom Drum), The African Garden, Gullah, Sea Island Song, and Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Commedienne. (Young Martin Luther King is filed under Children's Books; The African Garden, Gullah and Sea Island Song are filed with Musicals, and Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne filed with Full-length Plays.). Other adaptations and collaborations include: Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven, undated (adaptation and collaboration with Serge Hovey); I Got Shoes, by Frank Merlin, 1963, undated; Joe Magarac, 1950s? (adaptation), and The White Haired Girl, by Ting Yu and Ho Chin-Chih. Included in the following category, Ten-Minute (or less) Plays, Incomplete Play Scripts and Outlines, are several unpublished play scripts by Childress. Many of the scripts are undated, yet sometimes there are clues as to when she might have penned some of them. The sketch And So They Lived was written under Childress's nom de plume, \"Eddie Franklyn,\" a pseudonym Childress appeared to use only during the 1950's. There are two draft scripts for Converstatic, one with annotations, and one with different character names. Other files include And Yet So Far, undated (incomplete); Audition Play, undated (incomplete); The End of the Civil Rights Movement, (1964?) (incomplete); Friendship Festival, undated (incomplete) and A Tapping Sound, undated (10-min.) None of these plays were produced."}
date_start: 1949
keydate: 1949
date_end: 1993
date_inclusive_start: 1949
date_inclusive_end: 1993

Play Scripts

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