[Rarebooks] FS: "the most important single event in the entire history of the Negro in the American theatre, " price reduced

[Charles Agvent]

Price reduced:    Was $750   Now  $450:

TORRENCE, Ridgely. GRANNY MAUMEE. THE RIDER OF DREAMS. SIMON THE 
CYRENIAN. PLAYS FOR A NEGRO THEATRE. New York: MacMillan, 1917. First 
Edition. This collection of plays by the white playwright Torrence was 
published the same month as their first production on Broadway (with 
perhaps the first Black actors to appear in leading roles on Broadway), 
a production James Weldon Johnson in BLACK MANHATTAN called "the most 
important single event in the entire history of the Negro in the 
American theatre.... It was the first time anywhere in the United States 
for Negroes in the dramatic theatre to command the serious attention of 
the critics and of the general press and public." Raoul Abdul in his 
article "The Negro Playwright on Broadway" dates the true beginning of 
African-American theatre to the date these one-act plays premiered: 
"These plays by a white poet opened two great doors: the door to the use 
of Negro life as material for serious theatre and the door to acceptance 
of Negro actors as performers in non-musical theatre." An important and 
scarce book, especially in this condition. Fine in a Near Fine 
dustwrapper with small chips at the rear.         $450.00

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