Lafayette Players Stock Company
A theater group founded in NEWYORKCITYin
1914 and the first stock theater company estab-
lished in HARLEM. Anita Bush, owner of the
LAFAYETTETHEATRE, hired the acclaimed actor
Charles Gilpin to establish a viable theater com-
pany on-site. Soon after his arrival, Gilpin initiated
efforts to organize the stock company. The group
included a number of actors like Inez Clough,
Charles Gilpin, and Evelyn Preer, who performed
in historic and popular productions on and off
BROADWAY.
During its 18-year existence, the troupe per-
formed some 250 productions. These included a
variety of works ranging from melodramas to clas-
sic plays such as Faust, Othello,and The Count of
Monte Cristo.The Lafayette Players Stock Com-
pany disbanded in 1932.
Bibliography
Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American
Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem
1910–1927.New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Lafayette Theatre
Located at 132nd Street and Seventh Avenue, a
splendid and spacious venue that may have been
the first theater in NEWYORKCITYto desegregate
its seating. It was the theater in which Charles
Gilpin established the first stock company in
HARLEM. The Lafayette also was the venue in
which WILLISRICHARDSON’s THECHIPWOMEN’S
FORTUNEwas first produced, before it went on to
become the first play by an African American to be
staged on BROADWAY.
The Lafayette, which could seat 2,000,
evolved during the Harlem Renaissance years. Be-
fore it closed in 1934, it had served as a theater,
vaudeville house, movie theater, and church.La Guardia, Fiorello (1882–1947)
The popular Republican mayor of NEWYORKCITY
whose tenure began in 1933, during the last decade
of the Harlem Renaissance. He was reelected to
two more terms, in 1937 and again in 1941.
Born in Manhattan to Achille and Irene Coen
La Guardia, he went on to attend New York Uni-
versity Law School. La Guardia’s career in politics
began when he was elected to Congress in 1917.
During World War I he served in the army as a lieu-
tenant with the aviation division, and while sta-
tioned in Italy he helped to train American pilots.
La Guardia, who became New York City’s 99th
mayor, was known for his intolerance of corruption.
La Guardia was one of the prominent mem-
bers appointed to the JAMESWELDONJOHNSON
Memorial Committee. He served as honorary
chairman of the group that was striving to erect a
statue in honor of Johnson, who died tragically in- Other members included chairman
Theodore Roosevelt and secretary WALTER
WHITE. The New York City mayor also worked
closely with White on political issues, including
representing federal interests during intense de-
bates about discrimination in the workplace and in
the military.
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