30 PLAYS IN 30 DAYS: Play #2 "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" by Lonne Elder III

 

I have decided for the month of September to read 30 plays in 30 days. It is my belief that, if possible, a play should be read in one sitting to get a better inherent sense of the dramatic arc. Each day, I will write a short post here about the play of the day. 

Play #2

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men by Lonne Elder III

First presented by the Negro Ensemble Company at the St. Marks Playhouse in February of 1969, Lonne Elder III's Ceremonies in Dark Old Men depicts a slice of life that feels real for that time and place. Clive Barnes wrote that the play, "seemed to essentially be a black play for black audiences rather than a black propaganda play for a white audience." And while certainly this is a play that can be appreciated by all audiences, what I perceive to be as Mr. Barnes's point is well-taken. This was a play to hopefully reflect and represent the stories of people that were not readily represented on the New York stage at that time without pandering to a white audience. 

The play is set in "a small, poverty-stricken barbershop on 126th street between Seventh and Lenox avenues, Harlem, U.S.A." It is made clear that hardly a head of hair is cut in this barbershop owned by Russell B. Parker, a former vaudeville dancer retired when his legs gave out, and has avoided work ever since. He and his two sons, Theo and Bobby, are supported financially supported by his eldest child Adele, who left college to come home and take care of her dying mother. Before his wife's death, Russell let his wife take care of him, working herself to death at the young age of 50. Adele, understandably, is tired of carrying the full load, and wants the three men to find work. Theo convinces his father to use the barbershop for illegal activity run by a local criminal, Blue Haven, and from there, the action builds to an ultimately tragic conclusion. 

What I appreciate about this play and the fact that it was written in 1969, is that it doesn't make the scenario overly simple. The three Parker men do not just shy away from work from laziness--- it is because the only work they can get is work where they are essentially degraded  or made to figuratively dance for "the man," or "the You-know-whos" as they are called in the play. Mr. Elder III doesn't shy away from the justified rage, and delves into it, though, at the same time, doesn't shy away from the tragic flaws in the Parker men, either. 

The play was runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize, and its influence is huge. August Wilson was known to praise the play, and James Baldwin wrote, "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men is the most truthful play I have seen in a long time. Everyone connected with it deserves a prize, especially the author, Lonne Elder III." When it was revived in 1985, The New York Times noted how "the play had become a contemporary classic."

Lonne Elder III was also the first black man to be nominated for an Academy Award in writing, for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Sounder. But it is the enduring legacy of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, considered by some to be the definitive blueprint for the black American family drama, that may always be first remembered in this writer's important body of work. 

As an endnote, Mr. Elder created this dedication for the play:

"To

My son, David Dubois Elder,

My wife, Judith Ann

To the memory of my life's teacher,

Dr. William E. B. Dubois

To the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King

To the Negro Ensemble Company"