Alice Childress, University of Michigan – Black theater matters

While the transition from page to stage for any play is difficult, Black playwrights have had to beat additional obstacles on this pursuit. Their work will not be perceived as industrial enough to justify the hassle, and the themes of their plays could also be described as too difficult for traditional theater-going audiences to know (TRANSLATION: white patrons). In a world where state legislatures are drafting bills to ban books and accurately teach American history, warts and all, it’s hard to imagine that a black author who desires to represent black lives and thoughts has any likelihood of making it. So it’s clear that in Women’s History Month we must always admire the achievements of playwright Alice Childress.

Ms. Childress is the one African American woman to jot down, produce and publish plays for 4 consecutive many years. She was more prolific than more famous writers akin to Zora Neale Hurston, her contemporary Lorraine Hansberry, and Ntozake Shange. Despite these significant skilled achievements, her path to success was never certain or easy.

Born on October 12, 1916 in Charleston, South Carolina, Alice lived through the influenza pandemic that was sweeping much of the world on the time. At the age of nine, she moved to Harlem, New York together with her grandmother Eliza Campbell White after her parents separated. Although her grandmother had no formal education because she was born into slavery, she encouraged Alice to pursue her love of reading and develop her writing skills. Childress dropped out of highschool after her grandmother died and took odd jobs to support herself. In 1939, she began studying theater on the American Negro Theater (ANT), performing there and producing her first one-act play, “Florence.” Thanks to ANT, she developed her passion for interpreting “ordinary” people, because – as she said – “they are not ordinary”. This desire brought her to Michigan for a time.

In 1965, ten years had passed since Childress held opening night. The Off-Broadway premiere of her first full-length play, “Trouble in Mind,” was a dramatic comedy that explored the secondary status of black actors within the American theater. The show was a critical hit, attracting interest from Broadway producers. Shortly thereafter, a proposal to transfer the play to Broadway was discussed. However, these producers wanted revisions made to the script before moving forward. These revisions would have significantly modified the ending of the play. When Childress refused to make changes, the Broadway show was canceled.

Ms. Childress submitted her second full-length play, “Wedding Band,” to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, submitting it for production through the Professional Theater Program (PTP).

The university had began PTP 4 years earlier. Under the leadership of Robert C. Schnitzer, who served as executive director, and Marcella Cisney, who was artistic director, the couple brought a number of skilled touring firms to campus, including the American Conservatory Theatre, Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and the Phoenix Theater. As part of the New Plays series, PTP presented original works, including “An Evening’s Frost” by Donald Hall, “Amazing Grace” by Studs Terkel, “The Castle” by Ivan Klima and “The Conjuror” by Evan Hunter.

Mrs. Childress thought “The Wedding Ring” can be perfect for the New Plays project. She graduated in 1962, but couldn’t discover a New York theater that would stage it. The play was produced by New Dramatists in October 1964 on Broadway starring Diane Sands, however the production never got here to fruition. Some believed that this was as a result of the high realism of the art. “Wedding Band” reflects many of the themes that characterize Childress’s writing; Black women’s empowerment, interracial politics, and working-class life.

“The Wedding Band” takes place in Childress’s hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, in the summertime of 1918. The play is the love story of Julie, a black seamstress, and Herman, a white baker. The show begins on the tenth anniversary of their relationship. They often discuss marriage, but never get near their alters. At the top of the play, Julia must face the prejudices and ignorance hidden in American culture.

Marcella Cisney fell in love with the script. The production was scheduled for December 1966, directed by Ms. Cisney. Ms. Childress began turning to skilled actors she knew in New York to fill out the 12-person solid. She managed to get stage and screen actress Ruby Dee to play the role of Julia. Dee was a detailed friend who looked back on his time on ANT.

“Wedding Band” opened on December 7 on the Lydia Mendelsohn Theater and played seven performances through December 11. The solid included John Harkins as Herman, Moses Gunn, Abbey Lincoln, Clarice Taylor, Minnie Gentry and Katherine Squire.

A review published within the Ann Arbor News said: “Alternately warmly tender and terrifyingly shocking, Alice Childress’s art teeters between beauty and ugliness, reality and dreams, desire and the inevitable.” Later within the article, the reviewer stated that the play “is a drama of greatness until the very end.”

The successful world premiere in Ann Arbor sparked interest in one other production in Chicago. However, its New York premiere didn’t happen until after it was presented on the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1972. The play was later filmed and broadcast on ABC in 1974, but eight of the network’s affiliates refused to broadcast the play and 4 more delayed broadcasting as a result of the subject and topic.

On Sunday, August 14, 1994, Alice Childress died of cancer at Astoria General Hospital in Queens. She was 77 years old. In the fifty years because it was performed on the New York Shakespeare Festival, “The Wedding Band” has change into her most often performed play. Despite the circuitous route it took to the stage, its premiere on the University of Michigan was the catalyst for all its success.