OTHER ATO Z GUIDES FROM THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. 1. The A to Z of Buddhism by Charles S. Prebish, 2001. 2. The A to Z of Catholicism by William J. Collinge, 2001. 3. The A to Z of Hinduism by Bruce M. Sullivan, 2001. 4. The A to Z of Islamby Ludwig W. Adamec, 2002. 5. The A to Z of Slavery & Abolitionby Martin A. Klein, 2002. 6. Terrorism: Assassins to Zealots by Sean Kendall Anderson and Stephen Sloan, 2003. 7. The A to Z of the Korean Warby Paul M. Edwards, 2005. 8. The A to Z of the Cold War by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis, 2005. 9. The A to Z of the Vietnam War by Edwin E. Moise,2005. 10. The A to Z of Science Fiction Literature by Brian Stableford, 2005. 11. The A to Z of the Holocaustby Jack R. Fischel, 2005. 12. The A to Z of Washington, D.C. by Robert Benedetto, Jane Dono- van, and Kathleen DuVall, 2005. 13. The A to Z of Taoism by Julian F. Pas, 2006. 14. The A to Z of the Renaissance by Charles G. Nauert, 2006. 15. The A to Z of Shinto by Stuart D. B. Picken, 2006. 16. The A to Z of Byzantium by John H. Rosser, 2006. 17. The A to Z of the Civil War by Terry L. Jones, 2006. 18. The A to Z of the Friends (Quakers) by Margery Post Abbott, Mary Ellen Chijioke, Pink Dandelion, and John William Oliver Jr., 2006 19. The A to Z of Feminism by Janet K. Boles and Diane Long Ho- eveler, 2006. 20. The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides, 2006. 21. The A to Z of Multinational Peacekeeping by Terry M. Mays, 2006. 22. The A to Z of Lutheranism by Günther Gassmann with Duane H. Larson and Mark W. Oldenburg, 2007. 23. The A to Z of the French Revolution by Paul R. Hanson, 2007. 24. The A to Z of the Persian Gulf War 1990–1991 by Clayton R. Newell, 2007. 25. The A to Z of Revolutionary America by Terry M. Mays, 2007. 26. The A to Z of the Olympic Movement by Bill Mallon with Ian Buchanan, 2007. 27. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia by Alan Day, 2009. 28. The A to Z of the United Nations by Jacques Fomerand. 2009. 29. The A to Z of the “Dirty Wars” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice Julian, 2009. 30. The A to Z of the Vikings by Katherine Holman, 2009. 31. The A to Z from the Great War to the Great Depression by Neil A. Wynn, 2009. 32. The A to Z of the Crusades by Corliss K. Slack, 2009. 33. The A to Z of New Age Movements by Michael York, 2009. 34. The A to Z of Unitarian Universalism by Mark W. Harris, 2009. 35. The A to Z of the Kurds by Michael M. Gunter, 2009. 36. The A to Z of Utopianism by James M. Morris and Andrea L. Kross, 2009. 37. The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction by William L. Richter, 2009. 38. The A to Z of Jainism by Kristi L. Wiley, 2009. 39. The A to Z of the Inuit by Pamela K. Stern, 2009. 40. The A to Z of Early North America by Cameron B. Wesson, 2009. 41. The A to Z of the Enlightenment by Harvey Chisick, 2009. 42. The A to Z of Methodism editedby Charles Yrigoyen Jr. and Susan E. Warrick, 2009. 43. The A to Z of the Seventh-day Adventists by Gary Land, 2009. 44. The A to Z of Sufism by John Renard, 2009. 45. The A to Z of Sikhism by W. H. McLeod, 2009. 46. The A to Z of Fantasy Literature by Brian Stableford, 2009. 47. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands by Max Quanchi and John Robson, 2009. 48. The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand Cinema by Albert Moran and Errol Vieth, 2009. 49. The A to Z of African-American Television by Kathleen Fearn- Banks, 2009. 50. The A to Z of American Radio Soap Operas by Jim Cox, 2009. 51. The A to Z of the Old South by William L. Richter, 2009. 52. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of the Northwest Pas- sage by Alan Day, 2009. 53. The A to Z of the Druzes by Samy S. Swayd, 2009. 54. The A to Z of the Welfare State by Bent Greve, 2009. 55. The A to Z of the War of 1812 by Robert Malcomson, 2009. 56. The A to Z of Feminist Philosophy by Catherine Villanueva Gard- ner, 2009. 57. The A to Z of the Early American Republic by Richard Buel Jr., 2009. 58. The A to Z of the Russo–Japanese War by Rotem Kowner, 2009. 59. The A to Z of Anglicanism by Colin Buchanan, 2009. 60. The A to Z of Scandinavian Literature and Theater by Jan Sjåvik, 2009. 61. The A to Z of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif by Jean Michaud, 2009. 62. The A to Z of Judaism by Norman Solomon, 2009. 63. The A to Z of the Berbers (Imazighen) by Hsain Ilahiane, 2009. 64. The A to Z of British Radio by Seán Street, 2009. 65. The A to Z of The Salvation Army by Major John G. Merritt, 2009. 66. The A to Z of the Arab–Israeli Conflict by P R Kumaraswamy, 2009. 67. The A to Z of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny by Terry Corps, 2009. 68. The A to Z of Socialism by Peter Lamb and James C. Docherty, 2009. 69. The A to Z of Marxism by David Walker and Daniel Gray, 2009. 70. The A to Z of the Bahá’í Faith by Hugh C. Adamson, 2009. 71. The A to Z of Postmodernist Literature and Theater by Fran Mason, 2009. 72. The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television by Albert Moran and Chris Keating, 2009. 73. The A to Z of the Lesbian Liberation Movement: Still the Rage by JoAnne Myers, 2009. 74. The A to Z of the United States–Mexican Warby Edward H. Mose- ley and Paul C. Clark Jr., 2009. 75. The A to Z of World War I by Ian V. Hogg, 2009. 76. The A to Z of World War II:The War Against Japan by Anne Sharp Wells, 2009. 77. The A to Z of Witchcraft by Michael D. Bailey, 2009. 78. The A to Z of British Intelligence by Nigel West, 2009. 79. The A to Z of United States Intelligence by Michael A. Turner, 2009. 80. The A to Z of the League of Nations by Anique H. M. van Gin- neken, 2009. 81. The A to Z of Israeli Intelligence by Ephraim Kahana, 2009. 82. The A to Z of the European Union by Joaquín Roy and Aimee Kanner, 2009. 83. The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Guo Jian, Yongyi Song, and Yuan Zhou, 2009. 84. The A to Z of African American Cinema by S. Torriano Berry and Venise T. Berry, 2009. 85. The A to Z of Japanese Business by Stuart D. B. Picken, 2009. 86. The A to Z of the Reagan–Bush Eraby Richard S. Conley, 2009. 87. The A to Z of Human Rights and Humanitarian Organizations by Robert F. Gorman and Edward S. Mihalkanin, 2009. 88. The A to Z of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins, 2009. 89. The A to Z of the Puritans by Charles Pastoor and Galen K. John- son, 2009. 90. The A to Z of Nuclear,Biological,and Chemical Warfare by Ben- jamin C. Garrett and John Hart, 2009. 91. The A to Z of the Green Movement by Miranda Schreurs and Elim Papadakis, 2009. 92. The A to Z of the Kennedy–Johnson Era by Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. Siracusa, 2009. 93. The A to Z of Renaissance Artby Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2009. 94. The A to Z of the Broadway Musical by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, 2009. 95. The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict by Gordon Gillespie, 2009. 96. The A to Z of the Fashion Industry by Francesca Sterlacci and Joanne Arbuckle, 2009. 97. The A to Z of American Theater:Modernism by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison Londré, 2009. 98. The A to Z of Civil Wars in Africa by Guy Arnold, 2009. 99. The A to Z of the Nixon–Ford Era by Mitchell K. Hall, 2009. 100. The A to Z of Horror Cinema by Peter Hutchings, 2009. 101. The A to Z of Westerns in Cinema by Paul Varner, 2009. 102. The A to Z of Zionism by Rafael Medoff and Chaim I. Waxman, 2009. 103. The A to Z of the Roosevelt–Truman Era by Neil A. Wynn, 2009. 104. The A to Z of Jehovah’s Witnesses by George D. Chryssides, 2009. 105. The A to Z of Native American Movements by Todd Leahy and Raymond Wilson, 2009. 106. The A to Z of the Shakers by Stephen J. Paterwic, 2009. 107. The A to Z of the Coptic Church by Gawdat Gabra, 2009. 108. The A to Z of Architecture by Allison Lee Palmer, 2009. 109. The A to Z of Italian Cinema by Gino Moliterno, 2009. 110. The A to Z of Mormonism by Davis Bitton and Thomas G. Alexan- der, 2009. 111. The A to Z of African American Theater by Anthony D. Hill with Douglas Q. Barnett, 2009. 112. The A to Z of NATO and Other International Security Organiza- tions by Marco Rimanelli, 2009. 113. The A to Z of the Eisenhower Era by Burton I. Kaufman and Di- ane Kaufman, 2009. 114. The A to Z of Sexspionage by Nigel West, 2009. 115. The A to Z of Environmentalism by Peter Dauvergne, 2009. 116. The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry by M. S. Vassiliou, 2009. 117. The A to Z of Journalism by Ross Eaman, 2009. 118. The A to Z of the Gilded Age by T. Adams Upchurch, 2009. 119. The A to Z of the Progressive Era by Catherine Cocks, Peter C. Holloran, and Alan Lessoff, 2009. 120. The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence by Ephraim Kahana and Muhammad Suwaed, 2009. 121. The A to Z of the Baptists William H. Brackney, 2009. 122. The A to Z of Homosexualityby Brent L. Pickett, 2009. The A to Z of African American Theater Anthony D. Hill with Douglas Q. Barnett The A to Z Guide Series, No. 111 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2009 Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc. Awholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright ©2009 by Anthony D. Hill All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The hardback version of this book was cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows: Hill, Anthony D., 1947– Historical dictionary of African American theater / Anthony D. Hill with Douglas Q. Barnett. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 31) Includes bibliographical references. 1. African American theater–Dictionaries. I. Barnett, Douglas Q. II. Title. PN2270.A35H53 2009 792.089'96073–dc22 2008027154 ISBN 978-0-8108-6898-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-7061-1 (ebook) (cid:2)™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America I dedicate this book to my mother, Flavor Bell Booker, the essence of my existence, and to all my family members, loved ones, and friends who inspired and encouraged me.—ADH I thank my mother and father, who showed me the way, my loving fam- ily for supporting me, and Roberta Byrd Barr for encouraging me to fol- low my dreams. Last, I thank the women in my life, whose magic I will always treasure.—DQB