Play by Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward
Porgy: A Play in Four Acts
|
---|
First edition
|
Written by
| |
---|
Date premiered
| October 10, 1927
(
1927-10-10
)
|
---|
Place premiered
| Guild Theatre
,
New York City
, New York
|
---|
Porgy: A Play in Four Acts
is a play by
Dorothy Heyward
and
DuBose Heyward
, adapted from the
short novel
by DuBose Heyward.
It was first produced by the
Theatre Guild
and presented October 10, 1927 ? August 1928 at the
Guild Theatre
in New York City. Featuring a cast of African Americans at the insistence of its authors?a decision unusual for its time?the original production starred
Frank Wilson
,
Evelyn Ellis
,
Jack Carter
, and
Rose McClendon
.
Porgy
marked the Broadway directing debut of
Rouben Mamoulian
. The play ran a total of 55 weeks in New York, and the original cast toured the United States twice and performed for 11 consecutive weeks in London.
The play tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black beggar who lives in the slums of
Charleston, South Carolina
. It relates his efforts to rescue Bess, the woman he loves, from Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and a drug dealer called Sporting Life.
The play is the basis of the libretto of the opera
Porgy and Bess
(1935).
History
[
edit
]
A descendant of
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
,
DuBose Heyward
was from an old, white family in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1925, he published his first and best-regarded novel,
Porgy
,
[1]
which was inspired by a news story and drawn from his sympathetic observations of African American culture.
[2]
The book was a best seller.
[3]
Porgy
was one of a number of works portraying black life written by white authors, but it was infused with human understanding at a time that such an approach was new.
[4]
Heyward's wife, playwright
Dorothy Heyward
, roughed out a stage adaptation of the novel that persuaded her husband of the story's dramatic possibilities. They wrote the play together, strengthening the character of Bess, incorporating folk songs, and creating a more upbeat ending that shows Porgy following Bess to New York.
[3]
[2]
Just as the novel had been one of the first to regard African American culture seriously,
Porgy
was the first authentic presentation of black culture on the Broadway stage.
[1]
The Heywards insisted that an African American cast perform the play, providing much-needed employment for black actors and offering white audiences a mature view of African American life.
[2]
DuBose Heyward credited the actors?many of whom had theater experience going back generations?as collaborators whose contributions transformed the drama on the stage.
[3]
Production
[
edit
]
Sponsored by the
Theatre Guild
,
Porgy
was given its premiere on
Broadway
, running October 10, 1927, to August 1928, at the
Guild Theatre
[5]
and the
Republic Theatre
.
[6]
Porgy
then went on tour?for nine weeks in Chicago,
[7]
11 weeks in London,
[8]
and in cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and others in the northwestern United States and Canada.
[7]
The show returned to New York, running September 13 to October 1929 at the
Martin Beck Theatre
.
[9]
After a total of 55 weeks in New York, all of the original principal cast members of
Porgy
toured the nation once again, performing from October 14, 1929,
[8]
into January 1930.
[10]
Porgy
marked the Broadway directing debut of
Rouben Mamoulian
.
[11]
Settings were designed by
Cleon Throckmorton
.
[6]
Portraying an aristocratic Charleston attorney,
Erskine Sanford
was one of only three white actors in the 65-member cast of
Porgy
.
[12]
The boys band from the
Jenkins Orphanage
of Charleston was also featured.
[8]
Cast
[
edit
]
The original cast members are listed in order of appearance.
[6]
- Maria, keeper of the cookshop …
Georgette Harvey
[5]
[6]
- Jake, captain of the fishing fleet … Wesley Hill
[5]
[6]
- Lily … Dorothy Paul
[5]
[6]
- Mingo … Richard Huey
[5]
[6]
- Annie … Ella Madison
[5]
[6]
- Sporting Life …
Percy Verwayne
[5]
[6]
- Serena, Robbins' wife …
Rose McClendon
[6]
[5]
- Robbins, a young stevedore … Lloyd Gray
[5]
[6]
- Jim, a stevedore … Peter Clark
[5]
[6]
- Clara, Jake's wife … Marie Young
[5]
[6]
- Peter, the honeyman … Hayes Pryor
[5]
[6]
- Porgy, a crippled beggar …
Frank Wilson
[5]
[6]
- Crown, a stevedore …
Jack Carter
[5]
[6]
- Crown's Bess …
Evelyn Ellis
[5]
[6]
- A Detective … Stanley DeWolfe
[5]
[6]
- Two Policemen … Maurice McRae, Hugh Rennie
[5]
- Undertaker …
Leigh Whipper
[6]
- Scipio … Melville Greene
[6]
- Simon Frazier, a lawyer …
A. B. Comathiere
[6]
- Alan Archdale …
Erskine Sanford
[6]
- The Crab Man … Leigh Whipper
[5]
[6]
- The Coroner … Garrett Minturn
[5]
[6]
- Residents of Catfish Row, Fishermen, Children, Stevedores, etc. … Clarissa Blue, Marguerite Booth, Lillian Cowan, Zora Donahoo, Catherine Francis, Ella Gordon, Rosa Johnson, Marie Remsen, Musa Williams, Frank Allen, Edward Perry, Smith Reed, Charles Taylor, Philip Thomas,
Carl Mahon
, Edward Chauers, Teddie Brown, Richard Bruce, Mable Ridley, John Dowling
[6]
Publication
[
edit
]
The Theatre Guild acting version of the play
Porgy
was published in 1927 by Doubleday, Doran and Company.
[13]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
(Edwin) DuBose Heyward 1885?1940.
Contemporary Authors Online
,
Gale
, November 5, 2003.
- ^
a
b
c
Dorothy (Hartzell Kuhns) Heyward 1890?1961.
Contemporary Authors Online
,
Gale
, March 3, 2000.
- ^
a
b
c
Schiff, David (March 5, 2000).
"The Man Who Breathed Life Into 'Porgy and Bess'
"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 3,
2015
.
- ^
Gaither, Frances (April 25, 1954). "At the Heart of Catfish Row".
The New York Times
. p. 136.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
"Porgy"
. Internet Broadway Database
. Retrieved
March 3,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
Republic Theatre
, The New York Magazine Program.
Porgy
, week beginning July 2, 1928.
- ^
a
b
"Rose McClendon Scrapbooks"
. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The
New York Public Library
. Retrieved
March 3,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
"
'Porgy' Returns to Fords, Baltimore, After Scoring Triumph in London".
Denton Journal
.
Denton, Maryland
. October 12, 1929. p. 4.
- ^
"Porgy"
. Internet Broadway Database
. Retrieved
March 3,
2015
.
- ^
"Players in 'Porgy', Which Comes to Garrick Monday".
The Capital Times
. January 5, 1930. p. 6.
- ^
"Rouben Mamoulian"
. Internet Broadway Database
. Retrieved
March 3,
2015
.
- ^
"
'Porgy' Lead Has Played Very Often for Theater Guild".
The Capital Times
. December 29, 1929. p. 6.
- ^
Heyward, Dorothy; Heyward, DuBose (1927).
Porgy: A Play in Four Acts
. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Company.
OCLC
228699754
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Sources
| |
---|
Adaptations
| |
---|
Creators
| |
---|
Songs
| |
---|
Media
| Jazz treatments
| |
---|
Operatic treatments
| |
---|
|
---|