1940 - 1930 Theatrical Production History
Dr. Sheppard Randolph Edmonds
Dr. Randolph Edmonds was the father of beloved Howard University Department of Drama faculty member, Henrietta "Henri" Edmonds. Among her many accolades professor Edmonds was department chair twice from 1978-1982 and 1998-2003.
In addition to being a prolific playwright and devoted supporter of advancing the Little Theatre movement, Dr. Randolph Edmonds was noted for founding the first HBCU undergraduate theatre program at Dillard University in 1935, preceding the creation of the Howard University Department of Drama by 15 years.
However, while combing through Howard University's archival collection housed in the Moorland Spingarn Research Center, I found a startling packet of information documenting Dr. Randolph's opportunity to become part of the Howard faculty in 1930.
In June 1930 Dr. Edmonds was approached by Howard University to join the English faculty (where drama was taught). The following letter excerpts are from the Howard University Moorland Spingarn Research Center archives: College of Liberal Arts Annual Report 1930-31:
On the June 17, 1930 Questionnaire for Prospective Teachers he states his goals if he were to joins the faculty:
"My chief interest is to build up a Department of Drama modeled after the Yale School, in which Playwriting, play production, and the whole program of community dramatics will be taught, to prepare the teachers that go out for community service in staging pageants, plays, and interesting church programs."
Also in the archives are letters between Dr. Randolph and Dr. Davis, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts negotiating a salary and starting date to join Howard's English department.
August 8, 1930: From Dr. Edmonds to Dean Davis:
"Dear Dr. Davis: I have written to Dr. Spenser to release me from my contract for this year. If he does, which I feel sure he will, I will accept your offer to me contained in you letter of August 2nd. I think you offer is fair enough, but I would like to come with the understanding that I shall be promoted to the rank of assistant professor immediately upon my fulfilling your requirements.
If I remember correctly, the course in the catalogue that I am to teach called for the only plays produced by the university players. Does that mean that I shall have charge of the dramatic activities? I am asking this because the success of a little theatre depends upon its organization. The director, assistants, and other officers must be clearly understood if the project is expected to be a success. Thanking you for your offer, and hoping that I shall be able to accept it. I remain, Very truly yours, S. Randolph Edmonds."
August 11, 1930: From Dean Davis to Dr. Edmonds:
"Dear Mr. Edmonds: We shall be pleased if you would inform us as soon as possible after hearing from Dr. Spencer with regard to the release from your engagement at Morgan. Your advancement from one higher rank to another will be determined by training and quality of service. We hope to place the full responsibility for dramatic activities in your hands. I shall be pleased to work out the details of this with you after you report here for duty."
September 10, 1930: From Dr. Edmonds to Dean Davis:
"Your letter of September 2nd was sent to me at the above address. I am glad that you understand my position about leaving Morgan, because I regreat to state that I am unable to accept the position at Howard this year. It was late in the summer whne the offer came, and I had accepted one month's salary on the new year. Dr. Spenser found great difficulty in getting someone to carry out the plans of the department. So I decided it was better for me to remain this year in order to keep my record straight for future references."
September 15, 1930: From Dean Davis to Dr. Edmonds:
"Dear Mr. Edmonds: Upon my return to the city I found your ltter of September 9 announcing that it is impossible for you, under the circumstances, to accept our offer. I appreciate fully you position in the matter. I hope that it will be possible for us to repeat the offer early next Spring."
March 16, 1931: From Dean Davis to the President & Howard University Board of Trustees:
Recommendation: That, Sheppard Randolph Edmonds, A. B., 1926, Oberlin College, A. M., 1930. Columbia University, Morgan College, Baltimore Maryland, be appointed Assistant Professor of English, for the year 1931-32, at a salary of $2500 per annum. Respectfully submitted, E P. Davis, Dean
--
Although Dr. Randolph was recommended for faculty appointment in March 1931, he never taught at Howard University.
Campus Life in the 1930's
Scroll down to review the 1940 - 1930 repository of the Howard Players theatrical production
1939/1940 - James W. Butcher Jr, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Charles H. Thompson, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling Allen Brown (Associate Professor), James W. Butcher Jr. (Instructor of Dramatics), Leonea Barber Dudley (Instructor of Public Speaking), John Lovell (Dramatic Literature)
Howard Players Leadership: Woodrow Carter (president), Elizabeth Walker (vice president), Dorothy Walker (recording secretary), Rose Ann West (corresponding secretary), Richard Wells (treasurer), Andrew Howard (publicity manager)
Excerpt from 1939/40 College of Liberal Arts Annual Report, Department of English section (pg. xli)
Dramatics and the Howard Players -- We are greatly encouraged by the continued progress of the work in dramatics. Through cautious steps the Director has overcome the old practice of catering to the so called College Stars. The Howard Players now serves in a larger and in a more systematic way as a part of the training medium for those who are interested in teaching and in leading school and community dramatics. Again, in spite of limited equipment and unsatisfactory workshop conditions, the Director has, through his courses in Stagecraft and the program of the University Theatre, prepared a number of students who are now doing successful work in school and community dramatics. All of us who at times justly complain about the lack of facilities and, as a consequence, slow up our pace, might well emulate his example.
During the year Mr. Butcher has emphasized plays directed almost wholly by his students. We cannot overestimate the unique value of this type of training. We are still hoping that some modest provision will be made to assist us in improving this special phase of our dramatic work.
Oral English for Teachers and the Course in Educational Dramatics -- Several teachers in the Washington School System have spoken to me personally of the help which they have received from these two courses. The second course, which emphasizes the study of children's plays and their complete staging, will be more effectively administered when we have the use of a modes experimental theatre and a small amount of equipment. In previous years, Mrs. Dudley has served as advisor to several dramatic projects presented in the elementary schools of the District. While we have always scheduled the course in Educational Dramatics in the late afternoon, we plan during the coming year to make it even more accessible to the teachers of the public schools by devoting two hours to the work on Saturday and one in the late afternoon on Tuesday or Thursday.
Unsung Women English Faculty Who Supported the Howard Players during the 1930's
Leonea Barber Dudley A.M., Instructor in Public Speaking A. B., 1929, Howard University; A.M., 1932, Columbia University (1929-1941)
Ella Haith Weaver A.M. in Speech, Instructor in English A.B. in Drama, 1932, Carnegie Institute of Technology; A.M. in Speech, 1933, University
Caroline Bond Day A.B., Instructor in Public Speaking A. B., Atlanta University 1912; A. B., Radcliffe College, 1919,; A.M., 1930
30 New Thespians!
The following students were successful in joining the Howard Players under the direction of James W. Butcher:
Catherine Burrell, Elva Chaplin, Elizabeth Cooley, Vera Doby, Thelma Friend, Julia Gordon, Josephine Green, Cecilia Jefferson, Betsy Johnson, Dorothea Jordan, U. Kennedy, Josephine King, Katherine Lewis, Gloria Osborne, Doris Reynolds, Mary Francis Settle, France Speed, Gene Thompson, Julia Thompson, Beatrice Turner, Ellis Christian, Edgar Draper, Albert Gaslins, Lorenzo Harris, John Harvard, James Mitchell, Lee Rayford, William Rich, John Watson, Ernest Wynne
1938/1939 - James W. Butcher Jr, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Charles H. Thompson, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling Brown (Associate Professor), James W. Butcher Jr. (Instructor), John Lovell Jr. (Assistant Professor), Ella Haith Weaver (Instructor), Leonea Barber Dudley (Instructor), Franz Rapp (Assistant Professor-actually assigned to the Art Department)
Howard Players Leadership: C. Philip Butcher (president), Helen Callis (vice president), Albert Cherry (treasurer), Annabelle Jones (secretary), Lawrence Whisonant (publicity manager), Gustave Auzenne (financial advisor)
Excerpt from 1938/39 College of Liberal Arts Annual Report, Department of English section, pg. 79
We have at the present time in addition to the five fraternities and four sororities, a number of student organizations and activities which have great potential educational value, such as the varioous student publications -- HillTop, etc., -- the Fellowship Council, the Student Council, the Kappa Sigma Debating Society, the Howard Players, and others. Careful observation of these activities over a period of six months and more general observationiover a period of 13 years indicate that our students are not getting as much educational value of these activities as would be possible under more favorable conditions. For example, one of the outstanding needs here is a student union buiolfidng where these activities may be suitabley housed. Moreover, the work of the Howard Players has been carried on under the most trying conditions. (I wish here to express my appreciation for the excellent work done by Mr. J. W. Butcher with the Howard Players under the most trying conditions.)
We need a "Little Theatre" immediately not only to house the activities of the Howard Players but also to provide accommodations for our courses on the Drama. Again, while the Faculty Committee on Student Organizations is doing all that it can to give helpful and sympathetic supervision of such activities, it needs the active and sympathetic understanding of the entire Faculty in this area. (I doubt seriously whether more than a handful of faculty members know what student organizations are on the campus.)
What I am trying to suggest here is that we should give these organizations a chance to realize to a greater extent their potential value, by providing them with the best conditions under which to carry on their activities; and, in the second place, we should devise ways and means of correlating to a much greater extent than is true now the work in the classroom with these extra-curricular activities.
Department of English: Public Speaking and Dramatic Art Subdivision
Public Speaking and Dramatic Art was a subdivision of the Department of English. Although there wasn't a formal theatre department dedicated to a degree granting curriculum, the drama courses offered in the Department of English were admirable in their curricular scope that supported the Howard Players and students interested in courses to advance their acting, writing and stagecraft skills.
Professors Leonea B. Dudley and James W. Butcher Jr. were the two primary faculty in the subdivision. Jointly Dudley and Butcher taught: The Elements of Expression; while Miss Dudley carried a significant load covering six classes: Voice and Diction, Rhetoric and Oratory, AdvancedOral Interpretation, The Forms of Public Address, Educational Dramatics and Phonetics.
Professor Butcher covered the other half of the 13 core courses in the subdivision. He taught the following five classes: Theatre Arts and Laboratory, Directing of One-Act Plays, Stagecraft, Play Directing and Stage Lighting.
The course Dramatic Technique was team taught by professors Leonea B. Dudley, James W. Butcher Jr. and Sterling A. Brown. In the Literature subdivision professors Sterling A. Brown and John Lovell Jr. taught courses that addressed play analysis and dramatic criticism.
Courses in the Dramatic Arts
Fall Semester 1938
OUTWARD BOUND written by Sutton Vane
Directed by James W. Butcher
Assistant to the Director: Helen Callis
Date: November 16, 1938
Produced at Garnet-Patterson Junior High School
Cast: Lawrence Whisonant, Patricia Stewart, Alston Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Horace Randolph, Philip Butcher, Ursula Plinton, Charlotte Wesley, Irving Washington
Stage Crew: Clarence Lewis, George Lawrence, Raymond Weir, Edmund Gordon, Patrick Monroe, Roxie Myatt, Maurita Gordon, Carolyn Johnson, Dorothy Walker, Alt Carter, Robert Peck, S. Jackson, Joseph Martin, S. Westerfield
SQUARING THE CIRCLE
Produced Union University, Richmond Virginia
REHEARSAL written by Albert Malze
Directed by James W. Butcher Jr.
Date: May 5, 1939
Produced in Garnett-Patteson Junior High School Auditorium
Also produced in the NDIA tournament at Virginia State University and won 1st place
(to right) The Howard University Summer School produced a Theatre Arts Laboratory with the Summer Theatre Players.
Spring Semester 1939 (no season theme)
DIVINE COMEDY written by Owen Dodson
Directed by James W. Butcher
Date: March 10, 1939
Produced in Garnet-Patterson High School Auditorium
Produced by The Howard University Alumni Association of DC, Inc.
Cast: Elizabeth Walker, Louise Washington, Lawrence Whisonant, Rose Anne West, Maurita Gordon, Davis Harris, Dorothy Walker, John Dennis, Joshua Hymon, Highwarden Just, Marian Bolin, Cecelia Crawford, Fred Wilkinson, Thomas Gunn, Oswald Monroe,Annabelle Jones, Joseph Martin, John Waters, Thurleau Tibbs, Andrew Howard, Philip Harris, Richard Wells, Woodrow Carter, Patricia Stewart, Constance Rhetta, Aurelia Johnson, Benjamin Hamilton
Design: James W. Butcher, Set & Lighting. Cecelia Crawford, Costumes
Stage Management: Charles Parker, Stage Manager
From the Program: Divine Comedy was written by Owen Dodson, a Negro majoring in playwriting at Yale University Drama School. The play was produced at Yale University Drama School in February, 1938, and by the Atlanta University Summer Theatre in July, 1938. It is a drama of the people in their search for a way of life.
HU Alumni Association: Our Objectives
We the Alumni of Howard University, residing in the District of Columbia, in order to promote the best interest of our beloved Alma Mater to the end of its highest efficiency, to further the cause of higher education and the general welfare of the student body, and to stimulate strengthen, and develop and common bond of fellow ship and sympathetic understanding among the graduates, student body, president, faculty, trustee board, and all concerned, thereby perfecting a spirit of mutual helpfulness, unity of purpose and action toward one common ideal, namely: building a better and greater Howard University, and everlastingly re-dedicating our Alma Mater to her traditional purpose of educating the under-privileged do decree the above as our objectives.
1937/1938 - James W. Butcher, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: J. St. Clair Price, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling A. Brown (on sabbatical. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship), Gustav Auzenne, Jr (business manager), James W. Butcher Jr. (director)
Howard Players Leadership: Edgar Felton (president), Helen Callis (vice president), Philip Butcher (business manager), Robert Peck (asst. business manager), Mayme Brown (recording secretary), Louise Fowler (corresponding secretary), Albert Cherry (treasurer), John Yeldell, Frederic Davison, Welford Hill, Daisy Booker, Waldean Stewart, Oswald Monroe, Frances Gibson, Lunabelle Wedlock
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 9-29-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 85. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/85
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 10-13-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 86. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/86
Fall Semester 1937 (no season theme)
MR. PIM PASSES BY comedy by A. A. Milne
Directed by James W. Butcher Jr.
Date: November 6, 1937
Produced in Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium 10th & V streets NW
Cast: Helen Callis, Edgar Felton, Elizabeth Walker, Philip Butchere, Annabelle Jones, Albert Cherry Ann Burwell
Design: professor James W. Butcher, Settings. Philip Atkins & Roscoe Cooper, Lighting
Spring Semester 1938 (no season theme)
A MURDER HAS BEEN ARRANGED written by Evelyn Williams
Directed by James W. Butcher Jr.
Date: January 1938
THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF
Commencement play performed in front of Douglass Hall
Below is the November 1937 Student Council Budget statement. Note the Howard Players receives a budget of $75 for 1936/37.
Next to the budget note, Howard Players host the Morgan Players production of the play "Jute" for the Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association.
To the right, in the article "WE, THE STUDENTS", the author Phillip Butcher chastises the student community for not better supporting the Howard Players guest productions with a sizable audience.
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 12-8-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 89. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/89
1936/1937 - Sterling A. Brown, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling A. Brown (Director), Leola P. Dudley, W. a. Hunton Jr. (Assistant Director) James W. Butcher (on sabbatical)
Howard Players Leadership: Arthur Boswell (president), Cornelia Reid (vice president), Henrietta Williams (secretary), James Jones (treasurer), Paul Sinclair (business manager)
Spring Semester 1937 (no season theme)
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
Directed by James W. Butcher Jr.
Date: February 18, 1937
ILE by Eugene O'Neill
Cast: Arthur Boswell, Wiliam Hueston, William Robinson, Frederich Phillips, Louise Pearson, William Hagans, Harrison Hobson, Chester Fortune
THE RIDER OF DREAMS by Ridgely Torrence
Cast: Bernard Johnson, Gussie Heard, Merrel Booker.
A NIGHT AT AN INN by Lord Dunsany
Cast: William Scott Seifert Pyle, John H, Harris, Edward Taylor, Herman Richards, Leo Sinkia, William Beverly
Program note: This presentation is the first of a Little Theatre Series planned at Howard University
Sterling Brown, Howard Faculty, Department of English
An internet search finds virtually no biographies that include Dr. Sterling Brown's contribution to the Howard Players. Its no exaggeration to say that Professor Brown prevented the Howard Players from being disbanded during the pivotal years from 1933-1937.
Born on the campus of Howard University on May 1, 1901, Sterling Allen Brown was the last of six children and the only boy born to the Rev. Sterling Nelson, a former slave and prominent professor in the Howard Divinity School, and Adelaide (Allen) Brown.
Sterling Allen Brown grew up on the Howard campus but graduated as the top student from Washington’s renowned Dunbar High School in 1918. His success enabled him to accept the token gesture of an academic scholarship Williams College annually extended to Dunbar’s valedictorian.
At this prestigious small, liberal arts school in Massachusetts, from 1918–1922, Brown set aside his own feelings of isolation and performed with distinction: election to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, winning the Graves Prize for his essay “The Comic Spirit in Shakespeare and Moliere,” and receipt of highest honors from the English Department his senior year. These accolades won for him a scholarship to study at Harvard University, where he graduated with an MA degree in English in 1923.
As valuable as the formal education was, it arguably served as preparation for the work to which he was ultimately called: that of insightful, vigorous advocate for those people Langston Hughes affectionately named “the low down folks.”
From them, he gained a deep and abiding informal education, one that enabled him to represent their lives, language, and lore in remarkably cogent ways. In a series of teaching positions at Virginia Seminary and College, Lincoln University (Missouri), and Fisk University, Brown complemented his formal study by seeking “instruction” in the world of Calvin “Big Boy” Davis, Mrs. Bibby (“illiterate and somehow very wise”), Slim Greer, and many other black folk.
His immersion into and absorption of their lives, language, and lore made possible the distinctive folk-based aesthetic and poetic voice he used to celebrate a people too long burdened by misrepresentation and racial stereotype.
In three different but interrelated ways, this folk-based aesthetic figures in and shapes nearly all of Brown’s writings.
First, as poet, he probed the humanity that lay beneath the stereotypical representation of black people. Second, as a literary historian, music critic, and a folklorist, Brown was the first critic to define with clarity the nature of the problematic representations of blacks in American literature. His longest early foray into this literary fray, the nearly monographic essay “Negro Character as Seen by White Authors” (1933), became the methodological foundation he used to refute black racial stereotypes in the Federal Writers’ Project, the Carnegie-Myrdal Study, and in American literary and cultural studies.
And third, his A Negro Looks at the South, published posthumously, was a collage of scholarly work, personal interviews, personal narratives, and historical documents astutely capturing Southern black folk talking, doing, and being. Together, his poetry and prose reveal an intelligence, a sensitivity, and a compassion rarely found among his contemporaries. As many have testified, Brown’s work was foundational in studies of identity politics, representational issues, oral history, folkloristics, and more. Fundamentally he considered himself a teacher; however, his classroom was considerably broader and more influential than his modest self-assessment maintains.
Brown spent almost all of his career teaching at Howard University but he also was a visiting professor at Vassar College, New York University, Atlanta University, and Yale University. He died on January 13, 1989 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 87.
For more on Sterling Brown click here
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 3-3-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 79. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/79
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 4-14-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 82. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/82
Spring Semester 1937 (no season theme)
THE TORCHBEARERS written by George Kelly
Date: March 18, 1937
THE TORCHBEARERS written by George Kelley
Date: March 20, 1937
Presented at Lincoln University, PA.
A MIGHTY WIND A BLOWIN written by Alice Holdship Ware
Date: April 2, 1937
Presented at Hampton Institute in the National Intercollegiate Dramatic Association competition. This tournament play was awarded first prize
THE TORCHBEARERS written by George Kelley. Commencement Play
Date: June 10, 1937
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 4-14-1937" (1937). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 82. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/82
1935/1936 - Sterling A. Brown, Faculty Directors of Howard Players
Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling A. Brown (director), John Lovell Jr. (assistant director), Leonea B. Dudley (Instructor of Public Speaking), James W. Butcher Jr. (assistant director), Gustav Auzenne Jr. (business advisor)
Howard Players Leadership: (president), Juanita Robinson (vice-president), Velvalea H. Rodgers (secretary), Wallette Bolden (corresponding secretary), William Collier (treasurer)
From the playbill for the play “Pokey”
This play marked the opening of the Howard Players’ Little Theater. This theatre will serve as a workshop for the players and for the students in courses in Dramatic Art.
The experimental theater here will attempt to bring to the campus of Howard University a vital interest in the drama. It will attempt to present a larger variety and a greater number of plays than in the past. It will also provide a practical training field for all Howard Players, actors, electricians, stage designers, costume designers.
Audiences will be limited to one hundred and plays will be given in two and three night stands. “Pokey” is the Howard Players’ 1936 NIDA (Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association) Tournament play. It will be presented Friday evening April 3 at Douglas High School, Calhoun and Baker streets, Baltimore, MD.
Morgan College will be host to the Tournament and Lincoln, Virginia State, Virginia Union and Hampton will be the other competitors.
Excerpt from 1935/36 College of Liberal Arts annual report, Department of English section pg. 19
FIRST theatre space established - A worthy development during the year 1935-1936 was the setting up in the North Basement of Douglass Hall of a Little Theatre.
The initiative and industry of Mr. James Butcher, Jr., who directs dramatics is responsible for a maximum use of very uninviting equipment.
Spring Semester 1936 (no season theme)
POKEY: The LEGEND OF THE AMOROUS INDIAN written by Philip Moeller
Directed by ??
Date: March 30, April 1-2, 1936
Produced in Douglas Hal in the Little Theatre (in the basement)
Produced at Morgan College. APRIL 4, 1936
Production for The Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association Tournament
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN written by Maxwell Anderson
Date: DEC. 14, 1935
Produced at Garnet-Patterson Auditorium
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN written by Maxwell Anderson
Directed by Sterling Brown
Date: Feb. 15, 1936
Produced at Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
THE SEER written by J. W. Butcher
THE PROPOSAL written by Anton Chekov
MIGHTY WIND A’BLOWIN written by Alice Windship Ware
Dates: April 15, & May 6-7, 1936 in the Howard University Little Theatre.
The tree plays mentioned above were also presented by the Civic Forum, Annapolis MD. April 17, 1936
THE BAUX STRATAGEM written by George Faquhar
Commencement play
Date: June 4, 1936
Produced in Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium
1934/1935 - Sterling A. Brown, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling A. Brown (director), John Lovell Jr. (assistant director), James W. Butcher Jr. (assistant director), Leonea B. Dudley (Instructor of Public Speaking), Gustav Auzenne Jr. (business advisor)
Howard Players Leadership: James L. Thompson (president), Rosalind Butcher, (vice president), Amanda Middleton (recording secretary), Angella Turpeau (corresponding secretary), C. Bernard Ruffin (treasurer), John Butcher (business manager), William Barnes (box office manager), Andrew Cary (house manager), Thelma Dale (wardrobe mistress), Annette Colbert (make-up artist), William Blake (property manger), Roscoe Cooper (stage manager), Ulysses Lee (publicity director)
Spring Semester 1935 (no season theme)
THE CAT AND THE CANARY written by John Willard
Directed by Sterling A. Brown
Date: Feb. 15, 1935
Produced in Dunbar High School Auditorium Washington DC
Cast: Vivian Weaver, Ada Fisher, Marion Martin, Thelma Spriggs, Kelly Goodwin, James Washington, Robert Martin, Frank Reeves, Azzie Taylor, Thomas Reid
Management: professor James W. Butcher Jr.
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS
LAST OF THE LOWRIES
POKEY
WURZEL – SLUMMERY
Date: May 16, 1935
SATURDAY’S CHILDREN
Date: June 5, 1935
THE CAT AND THE CANARY written by John Willard
Directed by Sterling A. Brown
Date: March 15, 1935
Produced in Coburn Chapel at Virginia Union. Presented by the Virginia Union Players
Cast: Vivian Weaver, Ada Fisher, Marion Martin, Thelma Spriggs, Kelly Goodwin, James Washington, Robert Martin, Frank Reeves, Azzie Taylor, Thomas Reid
Stage Crew: Roscoe Coooper, Manager. Osceola Thornton, Assistant Manager. Clarence Lewis & George Lawrence, Lighting Technicians. Edgar Felton, Sound Technician. Robert Taylor, Gilbert Banfield, Welford Hill, Gilmore Walker & George Thornton, Technical Assistants.
Note: This is an annual exchange production of the Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association. The Annual Tournament of this Association will be held April 5, at Howard University, Washington, D.C.
The Washington Tribune March 30, 1935, pg. 3
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 12-12-1935" (1935). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 64. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/64
The Evening Star April 3, 1935, pg. B-20
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 1-16-1935" (1935). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 53. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/53
The Washington Times, February 19, 1935, pg. 4
1933/1934 - Sterling A. Brown, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling A. Brown (director), John Lovell Jr (assistant director), Gustav Auzenne (business manager)
Howard Players Leadership: Alvin B. Wood (president), Marguerite A. Walker (vice-president), Audrey Moseley (recording secretary), Rosalind W. Butcher (corresponding secretary), Harrison D. Hobson (business manager), Arthur Hicks (treasurer)
Spring Semester 1934 (no season theme)
HEDDA GABLER written by Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Sterling A. Brown
Date: June 6, 1934
Produced in Garnet-Patteson Auditorium
Annual commencement play
ALSO on March 16, 1934 the Howard Players presented this by Virginia State Players at Virginia.
A NIGHT AT AN INN written by Lord Dunsany. May 9, 1934. Produced in Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium.
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
Date: Jan. 19, 1934
BACKSTAGE written by Babette Hughes
THE SEER written by James W. Butcher jr.
THE MONKEY’S PAW written by W. W. Jacobs & L. N. Parker
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
Produced in Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium
Date: April 27, 1934
MILK AND HONEY written by James W. Butcher, Jr
THE GIANT’S STAIR written by Wilbur Daniel Steele.
A NIGHT AT AN INN written by Lord Dunsany
IN THE FATHER written by August Strinberg
Date: Feb. 17, 1934
Howard Players present the Union Players of Virginia Union
THE GIANT’S STAIR written by Wilbur Daniel Steele
Date: April 13, 1934
Produced in Garnet-Patterson Junior High School Auditorium
The Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association tournament at Virginia State College
(To right) Howard University, "The Bison: 1934" (1934). Howard University Yearbooks. 113. https://dh.howard.edu/bison_yearbooks/113
1932/1933 - John W. Lovell Jr, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Acting Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: John Lovell, Jr. (Assistant Professor/Director), Sterling Brown (Assistant Professor), George Lipscomb (Instructor), Leonea Barber Dudley (Instructor in Public Speaking), Caroline Bond Day (Instructor in Public Speaking).Gustav Auzenne, Jr. (manager)
Howard Players Leadership: Harrison D. Hobson (president), Valerie E. Parks (vice-president), Audrey E. Moseley (secretary), M. Beatrice Morris (corresponding secretary), Louis Aiken (treasurer), Arthur H. Hicks (business manager) John H. Harris (stage manager), James L. Thompson (assistant stage manager), Alvin B. Wood (property manager), Vivian Simpers (wardrobe mistress), Katrina Butler (make-up artist)
Throughout the years the Howard Players wandered on and off campus seeking a home to produce plays. They longed for a dedicated "Little Theatre" space to perform in. I'm sure they were thrilled in 1933 when they began to perform in the auditorium of the new College of Medical.
1933 Bison Yearbook Chronicles The Howard Players Activities
Spring Semester 1933 (no season theme)
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
THE STOKER written by Harold Brighouse
Date: Feb. 4, 1933
Produced in HU Medical School Auditorium
MURDER! MURDER! MURDER! Written by Babette Hughes
Date: Feb. 4, 1933
Produced in HU Medical School Auditorium
BLUE BLOOD written by Georgia Douglas Johnson
Date: Feb. 4, 1933
Produced in HU Medical School Auditorium
Note: This is a drama ealing with the folk life of Negroes. It author is guest of honor of The Howard Players for this performance.
THE YOUNGEST comedy by Phillip Barry
Date: March 25, 1933
Presented at Dunbar High School Auditorium as part of the AKA Silver Anniversary celebration.
THE YOUNGEST comedy by Phillip Barry
Date: April 5, 1933
Presented at Hampton Institute for the National Intercollegiate Dramatic League
MURDER! MURDER! MURDER! Written by Babette Hughes
Date: April 5, 1933
Produced at Virginia Union University
MERCHANT OF VENICE
Date: May 6, 1933
Presented at Garnet-Patterson Junior High School.
THE YOUNGEST comedy by Phillip Barry
Date: June 8
Commencement week play
Howard Players are featured performing group during the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) conference
Staff, Hilltop, "The Hilltop 3-17-1933" (1933). The Hilltop: 1930-40. 31. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_193040/31
1931/1932 - George D. Lipscomb, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Edward P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English/Public Speaking and Dramatic Art
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling Brown (Assistant Professor), George Lipscomb (Instructor), John W. Lovell (Assistant Professor), Leonea Barber Dudley (Instructor in Public Speaking), Caroline Bond Day (Instructor in Public Speaking). Professors Brown and Dudley were on leave of absence this year.
Howard Players Leadership:
Public Speaking and Dramatic Art
Primary courses, excerpted below from the 1932 Howard University course catalog, are taught in the Department of English Public Speaking and Dramatic Art subdivision by professors Leonea Dudley, Caroline Day, Sterling Brown and George Lipscomb.
Excerpt from 1931-32 College of Liberal Arts annual report, Department of English section, pg. 9
Despite a letter recommending Dr. Randolph Edmonds to be appointed as faculty of dramatics in the Department of English dated March 1931, there is never a mention of S. Randolph Edmonds as a faculty member in the Dept. of English in any College of Liberal Arts annual report.
Much credit is due to Assistant Professor John W. Lovell, Jr., who directed very successfully all of the plays except Merchant of Venice. The latter which was excellently presented was directed by Mrs. Leonea B. Dudley.
Mr. Gustav Auzenne, Assistant professor of commerce and finance until June 30, when he became assistant treasure of the University, rendered invaluable service as faculty business manager of debating and dramatics. His activities were unselfish and given without extra compensation. The result has been an increase of income and an elimination of financial waste which kept expenditures within budgetary limits.
Spring Semester 1932 (no season theme)
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
Date: January 23, 1932
Produced in the Howard University Medical School auditorium
UNDERTOW written by Willis Richardson
COMPROMISE written by Eulalie Spence
FRANCES written by G. D. Lipscomb. Jan. 23, 1932
DANIEL written by G. D. Lipscomb
Date: March 4, 1932
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST written by Oscar Wilde
Date: May 7, 1932
Produced at Garnett-Patterson Junior High School
Cast: Grace Desmond, Gwendoline Fairfax, Valerie Park, Merrill D. Parker
FRANCES written by G. D. Lipscomb At Hampton Institute (Competitive Dramatics)
Date: March 4, 1932
Produced by The Morgan College Dramatic Club in the Douglass High School Auditorium, Baltimore MD
Annual Negro Inter-Collegiate Dramatic Association exchange between Howard and Morgan - Professor Randolph Edmonds of Morgan College is national president and Miss Telima Anderson of Virginia is secretary
1930/1931 - Sterling A. Brown, Faculty Director of Howard Players
Dean: Dr. E. P. Davis, College of Liberal Arts
Department: English
Major: no major. The Howard Players is a student led organization with faculty advisement from faculty teaching in the Department of English.
Faculty: Sterling Brown (Assistant Professor), George Lipscomb (Instructor), John W. Lovell (Assistant Professor), Leonea Barber Dudley (Instructor in Public Speaking), Caroline Bond Day (Instructor in Public Speaking).
Howard Players Leadership: ?
https://dh.howard.edu/hucatalogs/52
Of particular note in the course catalog excerpt to the left, are English 155 and English 156. Both of these courses are taught every year throughout the 1930's. Both classes are central to the development and sustainment of the Howard Players.
In English 155, Dramatic Technique, is playwriting. The most meritorious plays written in the class are presented by the Howard Players. The aim of the course is to develop the dramatic literature for the Negro Theatre.
English 156, Dramatic Art, is where the synthesis of theatrical training happens. All students are expected to direct a play in the University or in the community. Instruction focuses on acting, designing and construction of scenery and costumes.
Excerpt from the 1930/31 College of Liberal Arts Annual Report, Department of English Section, pg. 10
Student activities in debating, dramatics and athletics have been brought into more intimate connections with the academic program of the colleges, debating and dramatics being conducted in the main by the Department of English and athletics in the main by the Department of Physical Education.
Dramatics have been fostered by the Department of English. Mrs. Leona B. Dudley, Instructor in Public Speaking, has directed three one act plays performed in the auditorium of the Medical School Building. Assistant Professor Brown, assisted by Mr. Hunton has likewise directed successfully three one act plays in the same place. He will later in the year direct other one act plays.
There are plans proposed for the participation by the Howard Players in the intercollegiate one act tournament at Morgan College. In the intercollegiate exchange three one act plays will be presented by the Howard Players at Virginia Union University I Richmond, under the auspices of the Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association.
Spring Semester 1931 (no season theme)
THREE ONE ACT PLAYS:
Directed by Sterling A. Brown
Produced in the HU Medical School Auditorium
Date: February 1931
A NIGHT AT THE INN written by Lord Dunsany
THE MAKER OF DREAMS written by Ridgely Torrence
ILE written by Eugene O'Neill
CLICK HERE to review 1950-1940 Theatrical Production History