Eulalie Spence (June 11, 1894 – March 7, 1981) was a writer, teacher, director, actress and playwright from the British West Indies. She was an influential member of the Harlem Renaissance, writing fourteen plays, at least five of which were published."Eulalie Spence papers, 1926-1991." Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. Retrieved October 22, 2012. (website lists two different birth dates- 1884 and 1894. Date of 1894 is used for this article.) Spence, who described herself as a "folk dramatist" who made plays for fun and entertainment, was considered one of the most experienced female playwrights before the 1950s,Perkins, Kathy A. Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays Before 1950. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. . Google Books. Retrieved October 27, 2012. and received more recognition than other black playwrights of the Harlem Renaissance period, winning several competitions. She presented several plays with W.E.B. Du Bois's Krigwa Players, of which she was a member from 1926 to 1928. Spence was also a mentor to theatrical producer Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater and the accompanying festival currently known as Shakespeare in the Park.Zara, Christopher. "Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep Pitch in for Public Theater Reboot." International Business Times, October 5, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
Early life Spence was born on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies on June 11, 1894, to Robert and Eno Lake Spence, the oldest of seven girls. She spent her formative years on her father's sugar plantation.Shafer, Yvonne. "Eulalie Spence." African American Dramatists: An A to Z Guide. Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (Ed.) Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. . 429-434. Google Books. Retrieved October 25, 2012. The plantation was destroyed by a hurricane, and she moved to New York City with her family in 1902, living in Harlem before eventually settling in Brooklyn. Her niece Patricia Hart, described Spence as "prim, proper and ultracorrect in speech and dress, yes – but she was gentle, generous and loving and the backbone of a family of seven girls." Because of her father's difficulty in finding steady employment, Spence and her family lived in meager circumstances, crowded in a small apartment in Brooklyn. Poverty forced their mother to make clothes from discarded uniform fabric at the school where she worked, and there was a great sense of loss when their father "gave up his dream of returning to their homeland." Moreover, she was quite aware that West Indians were not welcomed by the indigenous black population. Despite her difficult circumstances, Spence had many positive influences, particularly from her mother. Spence's mother often read to her as a child, and the strong, independent nature she displayed, served as a model for Spence, both in her own life and in the female characters she created in her plays.
Education Spence overcame her impoverished childhood and managed to obtain an exceptional education. She graduated from Wadleigh High School and the New York Training School for Teachers. In 1924 she was a student at the National Ethiopian Art Theatre School, which was dedicated to the training and employment of black actors. Spence received a B.A. in 1937 from New York University and an M.A. in speech in 1939 from Teacher's College, Columbia University, where she studied under Hatcher Hughes. Spence began teaching in the New York public school system in 1918, including over thirty years (1927-1958) at the Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, where she taught elocution, English, and dramatics. One of her students during that time was Joseph Papp, a playwright and producer who founded The Public Theater in 1954."History of The Public Theater." www.publictheater.org. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
Writing career W. E. B. Du Bois, founder and editor of The Crisis, the monthly journal of the N.A.A.C.P., surmised that Black Drama must be built from scratch, by Blacks for a Black theater. In 1926, he founded Krigwa (Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists), originally known as Crigwa. Krigwa sponsored a yearly literary contest that included a playwriting competition and fostered a theater company, the Krigwa Players, which rehearsed and performed at the 135th St. branch of the New York Public Library.Scott, Freda L. “Black Drama and the Harlem Renaissance.” Theatre Journal 37 (1985): 426-439. The contest, originally titled "The Amy Spingarn Prizes in Literature and Art","The Amy Spingarn Prizes in Literature and Art." Crisis Magazine, November, 1924. Google Books. Retrieved February 18, 2013 was held in 1925 and 1926, and was funded by Amy Spingarn, wife of Joel Elias Spingarn, who was treasurer of the N.A.A.C.P. at the time, and later served as president. Mrs. Spingarn contributed over $1200.00 to prize winners."Mrs. Spingarn named to Board of NAACP." The Afro-American, September 30, 1939. Google News Archives. Retrieved February 18, 2013.Schaefer, Adam. The Harlem Renaissance. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2003. . Google Books. Retrieved February 18, 2013. Spence finished second in the 1926 Krigwa playwriting contest for her one act play Foreign Mail. She also won a second place prize for Her, which was entered into a contest held by Opportunity,Hatch, James V., and Ted Shine. Black Theatre USA Revised and Expanded Edition, Vol. 1 : Plays by African Americans, The Early Period 1847 to 1938. New York: Free Press, 1996. . Google Books. Retrieved November 6, 2012. a magazine published by Charles S. Johnson."Charles S. Johnson." Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved November 6, 2012. In 1927, Fool’s Errand, with sets designed by artist Aaron DouglasBrown, Lois. The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance. New York: Facts on File, 2006. . Google Books. Retrieved July 2, 2013. competed in the Fifth Annual International Little Theatre Tournament, a first for Blacks since the finalists competed in a Broadway theatre.The Fool's Errand, Frolic Theatre, May 2, 1927. Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved July 1, 2013.The Fool's Errand, Frolic Theatre, May 2, 1927. playbillvault.com. Retrieved July 1, 2013. The Krigwa Players won one of four $200.00 prizes and the play was published by Samuel French.Kemble, Jean. "Eulalie Spence (playwright), 1894-1981." The Harlem Renaissance: A Guide to the Materials at the British Library. London: Eccles Centre for American Studies, 1997. . The British Library. Retrieved May 28, 2014. Undertow tied for third place in the 1927 Crisis contest. Spence's play The Hunch, won second place in the 1927 Opportunity contest, while The Starter won third place, and was included in Plays of Negro Life, an early collection of African-American theater written by Alain Locke and Montgomery Gregory.Peterson, Bernard L., Jr. Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. . Google Books. Retrieved June 30, 2013.Ovington, Mary White. "Book Of 20 Plays." The Afro-American, December 3, 1927. Google News Archives. Retrieved June 29, 2013
Spence's play Her opened the Krigwa Players' second season, and her sisters, Olga and Doralene Spence, acted in the Krigwa Players' productions, with both receiving praise for their acting performances. Doralene Spence went on to replace Rose McClendon as the lead role in In Abraham's Bosom at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 1927.Allen, Cleveland G. "Krigwa Players Give Three One Acters." (article lists Olga and "Doralyne" Spence as cast members in two plays by Eulalie Spence.) The Afro-American, January 29, 1927. Google News Archive. Retrieved February 18, 2013. Critic William E. Clarke wrote in the New York Age, “Her…was by far the best of the bill. It was a ghost story and was written with such skill that it rose to the heights of a three-act tragedy that might have been written by a Eugene [O’Neill]."Clarke, Williame E. "Krigwa Shows Remarkable Progress as 2nd Season Opens." New York Age, 1927-1928. fultonhistory.com. Retrieved August 5, 2013. Another play by Spence, On Being Forty, went unpublished, but was presented publicly on at least two occasions, on October 15, 1924 by the National Ethiopian Art Theatre,Wintz, Cary D., and Paul Finkelman, eds. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: K-Y. New York: Routledge, 2004. . Google Books. Retrieved August 14, 2013.Miller, Henry D. Theorizing Black Theatre: Art Versus Protest in Critical Writings, 1898-1965. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. . Google Books. Retrieved February 17, 2013. and a presentation in Newark, New Jersey by the Bank Street Players, the first Little Negro Theater in New Jersey, on May 6, 1927."Newark Begins Little Theatre." The Afro-American, May 7, 1927.] Google News Archive. Retrieved February 17, 2013. Spence also directed two plays, Before Breakfast by Eugene O'Neill and Joint Owners in Spain by Alice Brown for the Dunbar Garden Players, a short-lived theater group that was named in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Dispute with W.E.B. DuBois and the end of the Krigwa Players The plays of Eulalie Spence helped to make a name for the Krigwa Players amongst both Black and white critics.,Walker, Ethel Pitts. “Krigwa, a Theatre by, for, and about Black People.” Theatre Journal 40 (1988): 347-356 however, Spence and Du Bois did not see eye to eye, artistically or politically. Du Bois felt that theatre should be used as a vehicle for propaganda to advance the cause of the American Negro. Spence, on the other hand, always acutely aware that she was from the West Indies, had a different outlook on the theatre. She felt that the theatre was a place for people to be entertained and not antagonized by the problems of society. In a 1928 essay for Opportunity she wrote, "The white man is cold and unresponsive to this subject and the Negro, himself, is hurt and humiliated by it. We go to the theatre for entertainment, not to have old fires and hates rekindled."Hill, Errol, and James Vernon Hatch. A History of African American Theatre. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. . Du Bois tried several times to get Spence to write politically themed drama but she refused. Spence "insisted that plays obey the rules of dramatic form, not a political agenda."White, Andrew. "Drama Under the Influence: Audience Guide." February, 2007. Ed. Jack Marshall. 18-19. Du Bois took the $200.00 prize money from the 1927 Little Theatre Tournament and used it to reimburse production expenses and paid neither the actors nor Spence. The Krigwa Players disbanded as a result.
The Whipping