Theodore Ward was a leading African-American playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 of the first half of the 20th century.

Biography

Ward was the sixth out of eleven children. A prolific writer, Ward wrote over thirty plays. His best known works are the drama Big White Fog

Big White Fog

Big White Fog is a play by American playwright Theodore Ward and was his first major work. The play follows the fictional Mason family across three generations between 1922 and 1933...

and the musical Our Lan'.

Big White Fog

Big White Fog

Big White Fog is a play by American playwright Theodore Ward and was his first major work. The play follows the fictional Mason family across three generations between 1922 and 1933...

was produced in 1938 by the Negro Unit of the Chicago Federal Theatre Project. In 1940, the play received its New York City premiere at the Lincoln Square Theatre as the inaugural production of the Negro Playwrights' Company, which was formed by Ward, Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

, Richard Wright

Richard Wright (author)

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...

 and Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

, among others. He was also good friends with Ralph Ellison.

Our Lan' was produced on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in 1947 at the Royale Theatre

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 242 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it opened as the Royale Theatre on January 11, 1927 with a musical entitled Piggy...

.

Big White Fog

Big White Fog

Big White Fog is a play by American playwright Theodore Ward and was his first major work. The play follows the fictional Mason family across three generations between 1922 and 1933...

 received its European premiere when it was performed at the Almeida Theatre, London between 11 May and 30 July 2007.

External links