has deserted her husband and young son, accosts
him on the street. She demands money from
Sanderson, and, when he refuses her, she pretends
that she has been violated and begins to scream for
help. A mob quickly forms, and the true circum-
stances of the situation quickly are obscured. One
week later, Sanderson is on trial. After a series of
witnesses—including Rufus, the comedic and lo-
quacious newly hired hotel porter—offer details
about the events, Sanderson is exonerated.
Following his ordeal, Sanderson immerses him-
self in writing. His explanation to the hotel guests
who have supported him, who are also writers, may
reveal Anderson’s own creative process. Sanderson
notes that he “dreamed a play” and that it evolved
from “just a jumble of thoughts that gradually
straightened itself out, then characters came into
being and... as they talked I put it down on paper.”
“All my thoughts and all they said,” he muses,
“were filled with a big message.” Theater historians
James Hatch and Ted Shine note that Anderson’s
bold message about African-American honor and
conviction had to accommodate “a dénouement for
Broadway’s satisfaction” (Hatch and Shine, 101)
and that the comedic, stereotypical figure of Rufus,
provided that necessary foil. Hatch and Shine rec-
ognize the value of Anderson’s work and insist that
he “wrote for a white audience, attempting to give
them something better than what they usually saw
of the black man” (Hatch and Shine, 101).
Anderson’s access to the New York theater
world was financed in part by Al Jolson. Jolson
made arrangements for Anderson’s first visit to
New York City, and while there, the aspiring play-
wright was able to have a reading of his play that
generated financial backing and piqued interest in
his work. The play was presented at the Waldorf
before an audience of some 600 guests and Ander-
son “sat near by in his bellhop uniform” (Hatch
and Shine, 100).
Anderson’s play emerged at a time when
Broadway productions avoided interracial casts and
when directors often used blackface to circumvent
the use of actors of color. As a result, before its suc-
cessful launch, the play did provoke some white ac-
tors to abandon the project. Scholar Allen Woll
notes that two “leading ladies [Myrtle Tannehill
and Nedda Harrigan] left the show because they
discovered ‘there were going to be three Negroes in
the cast’” (Woll, 10). Scholars note that despite its
groundbreaking achievement, Appearancesdid not
appeal to African-American audiences. Critic Ben-
jamin Brawley seemed unfazed by the play’s historic
staging on Broadway and noted that “[w]hen one
turns to original Negro effort in the drama he finds
that most of the work that has been produced has
not yet gone beyond the range of experiment and
that there is great room for advance in technique”
(Brawley, 280). According to Brawley, Appearances
was “not really a racial drama” because it was
“dominated by the idea that all things are possible
to him that believeth and who will make the best
use of his powers.” It was this simplistic optimism,
suggested Brawley, that diminished the play’s im-
pact and explained why it “had hardly the strength
to hold the public interest for any length of time”
(Brawley, 281).
Following its Broadway run at the Frolic The-
ater, the play moved on to Chicago and to various
West Coast venues, including Seattle and San
Francisco. In 1930, Appearanceswas staged briefly
in London.Bibliography
Abdul, Raoul. “The Negro Playwright on Broadway.” In
Lindsay Patterson, Anthology of the American Negro
in the Theatre: A Critical Approach.New York: Pub-
lishers Company, 1970.
Brawley, Benjamin. The Negro Genius: A New Appraisal
of the Achievement of the American Negro in Litera-
ture and the Fine Arts.New York: Biblio and Tan-
nen, 1966.
Hatch, James V., and Ted Shine. Black Theater U.S.A.:
Forty-five Plays by Black Americans.New York: The
Free Press, 1974.
Woll, Allen. Dictionary of the Black Theatre: Broadway,
Off-Broadway, and Selected Harlem Theatre.We s t -
port, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.April GrassesMarion Vera Cuthbert(1936)
Published by the New York City–based Woman’s
Press, this volume of poems by MARIONVERA
CUTHBERTsurprised critics. Cuthbert, a COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITYPh.D. who was well known for her stri-
dent activism in civil rights and women’s rights cir-
cles, produced a volume that was essentially raceless.
Cuthbert’s focus recalls the consistent effort ofApril Grasses 13