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Arna Bontemps

ARNA BONTEMPS  

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Literary Agent:    n/a


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below is a list of Arna Bontemps's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Cavalcade Of The Negro Theatre         Free And Easy         St Louis Woman         When The Jack Hollers

Cavalcade Of The Negro Theatre

Synopsis:
The Negro in the theatre from The Octoroon, by Dion Boucicault, to 1940s Chicago jazz and gospel singing

Notes:
written by Bontemps, Arna, And Langston Hughes

1st Produced:
Written for the Negro Exposition, Chicago, Ill    Summer 1940

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Historical Pageant 21 scenes

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Free And Easy

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
adaptation of Countee Cullen's musical comedy, St. Louis Woman

1st Produced:
Holland, Belgium and france    1959-1960

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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St Louis Woman

Arna Bontemps
St Louis 1898. augie a jockey is having a very successful run of wins. He is in love with Della. Della is trying to end an abusive relationship with bar owner Biglow Brown. at the bar augie demonstrates the cakewalk and attracts Della's attention. Lilla is also there - she is Brown's ex-lover and is still very much in love with her. Della and augie plan to get married. Whilst augie is away racing Brown visits Della and beats her up. Lilla has followed him - then augie returns. Lilla shoots Brown but Brown thinks that augie did it and with his dying breath curses him. The curse seems to work augie stops winning races and Della decides to move away convinced that it is all her fault. When augie discovers why she is leaving he determines to win the next race and prove the curse wrong

Notes:
Music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by Johnny Mercer (added later); book by Arna Bontemps; Countee Cullen. (Martin Beck Theater, New York, Mar. 1946)

1st Produced:
Gilpin Players, Karamu Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio    Nov 1933

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Black Theater, ed. by Lindsay Patterson, New York: Dodd, 1971   -

Music:
Original cast recording: angel (64662) 1946

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  22 BM, 7 BF, extras

Further Reference:
-

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When The Jack Hollers

Synopsis:
Black and white sharecroppers in Mississippi delta both suffer from a merciless landowner until aunt Billie's voodoo, an amazing mule, and a fish fry unite the races against the exploiter.

Notes:
written by Bontemps, Arna, And Langston Hughes

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
3 act Folk Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  8 BM, 7 BF, 5 WM

Further Reference:
-

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