his interesting theater on Broadway. Whereas Torrence started
out with several original race plays, O'Neill attempted the
adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome and Shakespeare's
Comedy of Errors. His chief success was the production of
The Chip Woman's Fortune, a one-act race play by the
young Negro dramatist, Willis Richardson. The acting of
Evelyn Preer, the Kirkpatricks, Olden and Solomon Bruce was
equal to the best traditions of the American theater—but even
great acting could not atone for an unwise selection of plays.
This untimely collapse of a most promising enterprise should
hold a valuable lesson for other promoters of Negro drama.
Since these passing successes of the Negro on the regular stage, there have been several hopeful experiments in the Little Theatre and educational fields, with larger likelihood of permanent results. At Howard University, in Washington, D. C., the writer, with the enthusiastic co-operation of Marie-Moore-Forrest, Cleon Throckmorton, Alain Leroy Locke and the University officials, undertook to establish on an enduring basis the foundations of Negro drama through the institution of a dramatic laboratory where Negro youth might receive sound training in the arts of the theater. The composition of original race plays formed the pivotal element in the project. The Howard Players have given ample evidence of having the same significance for Negro drama that the erstwhile “47 Workshop" at Harvard University and the North Carolina University Players have had for American drama in general. Atlanta University, Hampton Institute, and Tuskegee Institute have been making commendable efforts in the same direction. In Harlem, the Negro quarter of New York City, Anne Wolter has associated with her an excellent corps of dramatic workers in the conduct of “The Ethiopian Art Theatre School.”
Finally, mention must be made of two young Negro actors who have been maintaining the same high standard of artistic performance as established by Gilpin. Paul Robeson has succeeded to the rôle of The Emperor Jones, and has appeared in the leading part in O'Neill's latest Negro drama, All God's Chillun Got Wings. Eugene Corbie has likewise given a creditable performance as the "Witch Doctor" in Cape Smoke.
