Negro Writers’ Works Dramatized by Ensemble

KINGSMAN, Friday, April 17, 1964

By CATHY HILLER

In an attempt to picture the Negro writer as a universal figure, the Poetry and Drama Ensemble, a group of professional actors and actresses, will perform in “A Treasury of World Negro Writing,” Apr. 22, 12 noon-2 p.m., Gershwin Theatre.

Presented by the Interpretative Reader’s Workshop and the NAACP, the program will include the drama, poetry and prose of 10 Negro writers from 7 countries. This dramatized anthology will feature the third set of A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, poems by Leopold Senghor, president of the Republic of Senegal, and passages by Alexander Pushkin, the “Shakespeare of Russia.”

Powerful Protest

Dr. James Scott Kennedy of the Speech and Theater Dept., who has his own repertory group, the James Scott Kennedy Players, will participate in the program. Although he noted that an attempt had been made to avoid protest material, this was almost impossible, for “Protest seems to be the governing mood of world Negro writing.”

Dr. Kennedy finds the theatre a “powerful way to project-and to protest-existing situations. This is the third program in which he has taken part recently. The first, which he wrote and directed especially for Negro History Week last month, is a compilation of Negro works from 1830 to 1964. “This is a history that too few people know anything about,” he maintained.

Nothing New

“Through this portrayal of Negro poetry, speeches and music, one can see that the Negro has not just awakened-he has really been fighting for freedom ever since he got here.”

The James Scott Kennedy Players, who have recently appeared at the New School for Social Research, present programs with somewhat broader themes. “In an improvisational way, we deal with those private moments from life to death which are shared by all people,” explained Dr. Kennedy.

Varied Roles

His group, whose members act, dance, sing and mime, has had from 6 to 30 participants in its six years of existence and perform about three times a month.

Re-printed for research purposes. Copyright remains with the original holder.