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Colored Theatricals

By Lester A. Walton, of the New York Age, New York City.

OLORED theatricals are on the boom. When announcement was made by the daily and colored press in June of this year (1919) that a circuit of first class colored theatres had been formed and the merger was generally regarded as the most far reaching step ever taken in the history of the stage in which Negroes prominently figured, both colored and white people evinced more than ordinary concern in this piece of information.

Since the publication of the first statement about the colored circuit white publications have vied with colored papers and magazines in telling of the big project in which thousands of dollars are involved of the systematic movement launched by colored promoters to create a more agreeable condition throughout the United States for the colored theatregoer and also open up opportunities for the colored performer.

The first significant move to establish a chain of colored houses taking in the principal cities of the North and South, was made in the early part of June, when a syndicate headed by E. C. Brown, the colored banker, of Philadelphia and Norfolk, took over the lease of the Lafayette Theater, at 131st Street and Seventh Avenue, New York, and assumed all outstanding contracts which the Quality Amusement Company had with the Lafayette Players. The Lafayette Theatre is the best known colored theatre in America, and the Lafayette Players is the best known dramatic organization among colored people in the country.

The next important house is the Dunbar Theatre of Philadelphia, just completed, which has a seating capacity of 1600 and is situated at Broad and Lombard Streets, only two blocks from the Shubert Theatre. This large and modern structure was built by a company headed by E. C. Brown, president ; Lester A. Walton, vice president; Andrew F. Stevens, secretary and treasurer. The ground, building and equipment cost $375,000.

The Howard Theatre, Washington, D. C., the Avenue Theatre, Chicago, and the Lyceum Theatre, Cincinnati, were the other houses originally in cluded in the chain, but the numerical strength of the circuit has been greatly increased since June. The Pershing Theatre, controlled and managed by Negroes, has been taken in, as well as theatres in Richmond, Norfolk, Savannah and New Orleans. Before the year it is expected that St. Louis, Louisville, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Memphis, Birmingham and Nashville, will be represented.

In organizing a chain of frst class theatres the promoters had in mind the bettering of conditions for colored amusement-lovers, especially in the South. The existence of what are known as "colored" theatres in such cities as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit are due to the presence of thousands of Negroes residing in a district and such houses are the natural product of a community as a Jewish thetre in a Jewish community or a German theatre in a German community. Colored people in these cities also attend houses under white management.

The reason for opening colored theatres in the Southland is vastly different. In this section of the country there are many cities where the Negro is not wanted at all as a patron, and when he is admitted it usually is in the gallery and then he is set off to himself. There are thousands of self-respectting colored people who do not take kindly to this policy and, therefore, religiously remain away from the white theatres. They also refuse to patronize colored theatres where the performer is permitted to say and do what he pleases and the management is lax and general conditions extremely objectionable.

With theatres built in the South for colored people where an effort will be made to afford clean, wholesome entertainment, and race standards will be put on a higher plane, the colored person with high ideals will be given an opportunity to secure up-to-date amusements and at the same time support meritorious race enterprises.

The theatres on the circuit will be provided with attractions by the Quality Amusement Corporation of New York, of which E. C. Brown and Andrew F. Stevens are controlling factors, and Lester A. Walton is general manager. A school of dramatic art has been opened for young colored men and women who give indication of possessing histrionic ability, and they will be brought to New York from all sections.

Various companies dramatic and musical are being organized by Quality Amusement Company and the dramatic directors employed are the best that can be secured in New York.

With the enforced withdrawal from the scene of action of the William & Walker, Cole & Johnson and Ernest Hogan companies some ten years ago, colored theatricals have been at a low ebb. These companies played in cities throughout the North and West, appearing in theatres owned and controlled by white managers. The advent of the movies, which turned many of such theatres into moving picture houses, was largely responsible for the disappearance of the big colored musical show on the road.

Colored theatricals are now being revived along practical and sane lines. Instead of depending on others, the Negro is taking the initiative and exploiting among his own people a field hitherto untouched, one pregnant with wonderful possibilities. He is, therefore, making opportunities for himself and race which is one of the most constructive pieces of work the colored American has undertaken during this great era of rehabilitation.

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