Below are photographs from productions of the “Negro Unit” of the Federal Theatre Project, some 30 of which were staged at Lafayette Theater in Harlem (also known as “the House Beautiful”) between 1935 and 1939. They range from all-Black productions of Shaw and Shakespeare, and a jazz version of Gilbert and Sullivan, to original, socially conscious plays about the Haiti revolution, a labor struggle, and a Black man framed for murder, to humorous fantasies and children’s shows. Click on each photograph to read the sometimes extensive captions about the players and the plays, and about the Negro unit itself, aka Negro Theatre Project, one of about a dozen throughout the country that were created as part of the Federal Theatre Project by the Works Progress Administration.

The production stills are from the New York Public Library’s newly updated Federal Theatre Project Theatre Stills collection. The posters are from the Library of Congress. (For more on the Federal Theatr Project, click here and here.)

Rose McClendon, a Broadway actress and the founder of the Negro People’s Theatre, became a moving force behind the dozen Negro Units of the Federal Theatre Project throughout the country, advising FTP director Hallie Flanagan, and supervising the establishment of the New York unit.

Rex Ingram in “Haiti.” 1938, a play by William DuBois dramatizing the final year of the Haitian revolution in 1802. Ingram was a graduate of Northwestern University medical school when he was recruited by Hollywood, originally appearing in silent Tarzan movies, but going on to many memorable roles, such as The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn opposite Mickey Rooney. He was a veteran of more than a dozen Broadway plays and musicals, including Cabin in the Sky in 1940 with Ethel Waters, and Waiting for Godot in 1957.

Jack Carter played the title character in the 1936 all-Black production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, staged by Orson Welles, and set in the “Jungles of Mythical Island Resembling Haiti in the West Indies.”

Frauline Alvor and Maurice Ellis in “The Case of Philip Lawrence,” 1937, a play written by George MacEntee about a college graduate (Ellis) who is unable to find honest employment, goes to work in a numbers racket, and is framed for the murder of a white gangster.

Frances Smith, blues singer, in a scene from The Case of Philip Lawrence

From “Turpentine,” 1936, written by J. A. Smith and Peter Morell, about a rebellious collective of African American workers in the turpentine swamps of Florica. In this scene, a straw boss meets a delegation of turpentine workers who are demanding higher pay and better working conditions

Another scene from “Turpentine.” Shine Sommers, portrayed by Louis Sharp

Doe Doe Green, Lester Palmer, Sybil Moore, “Aggie”, and Clifton Davis in “Horse Play,” 1937 The play is a humorous fantasy by Dorothy Hailparn dealing with the adventures of one Hiram, an old farmer and his horse, “Aggie.” Doe Doe Green, the “Gabriel” in the original stage production of “The Green Pastures” portrays the leading role of Hiram. Perry Watkins designed the settings, and Byron Webb the lighting effects. Evelyn Ellis directed the play.

A Negro Unit production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Androcles and the Lion”

A poster of the production in San Francisco (“Sensational Success Hot From New York”)

Three of the performers from Swing Mikado, a jazz version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Pinocchio, 1938

The Negro Unit’s production of George Kelly’s The Show Off, 1937