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em o wees er ATLANTIC MONTHIX@., ~ = “twas ROU able to know Il may stateaent reached Nealson. There was no public outcry against me, . -eearedu: in the ranks of the party iteclf a storm broke er ee ase sete “By comrades had known me, my family, my "trina: they, God knows, had known my aching " jpoverty. But they had never been able to conquer ‘their fear of the individual way in which I acted WDD. = _ Negro theater. Toonvoked a meeting and introduced | to the Negro company, telling them that _ suggestions and have them ected upon. Twas oon. 3 ‘ winwoed that we had a rare chance to build a genuine 3 ‘eo was & man who knew the theater, who would lead them toward serious dramatica. DeSheim made « . «peoch wherein he said that he was not at the | thoater to direct it, but to help the Negrose to direct see taaty whee had or _-“Himto may bones. ; aw Pt) tro 1 er it. Hospoke 90 amply end ‘end applauded him. 1 then proudly passed out copies of Paul Green’s j * Blymn lo the Rising Sun to all members of the com- | ‘pany. DeSheim assigned reading parts. Isat down 4 ms Eee by the relief authorities from the __ -fBouth Side Boys’ Club to the Federal Negro Theater pate work as a publicity agent. There were days when 1, Rd was seately hungry for the incessant analyees that to enjoy adult Negro dramatics. But something 3 “went wrong. ‘The Negroes stammered and faltered cin their lines. Finally they stopped reading al- 3 together. DeSheim looked frightened. One of tho : : heard snows of the party's inner life, it was of charges and eqfpountercharges, reprisals and counterreprisals. pee Federal Negro Theater, for which I was doing blicity, had run a series of ordinary plays, all of erate Tel, = Negro actors rose. -gndecent. We don’t want to act in a play like this 2 | # Mir. DeShoim,” he began, “wo think this play is 4 . before the Amorican public. I don’t think any such 4 eonditions exist in the South. Tiived in the South ' Merbich had been revamped to “Negro style,” with | sxgenzie scenes, spirituals, and all. For example, the eee “Sekinny white woman who directed it, an elderly . type, would take 8 play whose charac- and I never saw any chain gangs. Mr. DeSheim, we : want a play that will make the public love us.” .. 9 “What kind of play do you want?” ‘DeShein | ~wasked them. | “J _ Been and recast it in terms of Southern Negro life “with overtones of African backgrounds. Contem- _pporary porary plays dealing realistically with Negro life ."-iiere spammed as being controversial. There were a <Fhey did _not_know- £-went_to-the-office and fooked up their records and found that most of them 4 “had spent their lives playing cheap vaudeville. Ehad { ‘thought that they played vaudeville because the 4 _ legitimate theater was barred to them, and aow it 4 _ awmbout forty Negro actors and actresses in the thea- ter, bolling about, yearning, disgruntled. “What a waste of talent, I thought. Here was an portunity for the production ofa worth-while turned out they wanted nono of tho legitimate the. 4 ator, that they were scared spitless at the prospects 4 of appearing in a play that the public might not like, 4 ‘* : “Bithe situation, then laid the amatter before white gg friends of mine who held influential positions in the _ _ vvorks Progress Administration. I asked them to “aeplace the white woman — including her quaint a felt — but only temporarily — ‘that perhaps the | *#ven though they did not understand that Public” : -whites were right, that Negroes were children and j would never grow up. DeSheim informed the com- | _pany that he would produce any play they liked, | _ “esthetic Hotions — with someone who knew the “+ Negro and the theater. They promised me that they Awould 7 Within a month the white woman director had ern TAR SIOTred Pee Move rom and thoy sat like frightened mice, possessing no | words to make known their vague desires. al When I arrived at the theater a few mornings | Jater, I was horrified to find that the company had - ‘drawn_up_4 the ousting of | a “the Loop and were housed i in a firat-rato theater. 4. a Sucecasfully gecommended Charies DeSheim, a ". “talented Jew, as director. DeSheim and I held long ",, m@alks during which J outlined what I thought could &_petition_domanding ‘DeSbeim. J was asked to sign the polition and 1 Y -»welusod. “Don't you know your friends?” I asked them. They glared at me. I called DeSheim to the the-, “—“be accomplished. I-urged that our frat offering * Eebould be a bill of three one-act plays, including Paul —— e Hymn to the Rising Sum, a Etim, poetical, @ter and we wont into a frantic conference. “What must J do?™ be asked. - ; “Tako them into your confidence,” J said. ‘Tet them know that it is their right to petition form