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Paul Green (playwright)

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For other people with the same name, seePaul Green (disambiguation).
Paul Green
Born(1894-03-17)March 17, 1894
Lillington, North Carolina,US
DiedMay 4, 1981(1981-05-04)(aged 87)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina,US
EducationCampbell University
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill(BA)
Cornell University(MA)
PeriodExpressionist
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Drama(1927)
SpouseElizabeth Lay

Paul Eliot Green(March 17, 1894 – May 4, 1981) was an Americanplaywrightwhose work includes historical dramas of life in North Carolina during the first decades of the twentieth century. He received thePulitzer Prize for Dramafor his 1927 play,In Abraham's Bosom,which was included inBurns Mantle'sThe Best Plays of 1926-1927.

His playThe Lost Colonyhas been regularly produced since 1937 nearManteo, North Carolina,and the historic colony of Roanoke. Its success has resulted in numerous otherhistorical outdoor dramasbeing produced; his work is still the longest-running.

Biography[edit]

Born inBuies Creek,inHarnett County,nearLillington, North Carolina,Green was educated at Buies Creek Academy. (It developed as what is now known asCampbell University). He went on to study at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,where he joined theDialectic and Philanthropic Societiesand theCarolina Playmakers.Green also studied atCornell University.

Green first attracted attention with his 1925 one-act playThe No 'Count Boy,which was produced by theNew York Theatre Club.The next year his full-length playIn Abraham's Bosom(1926) was produced by theProvincetown Playersand received thePulitzer Prize for Drama.The play was considered remarkable for its depiction ofAfrican Americansin the South. Its hero, a man ofmixed-raceancestry, finds his idealistic attempts to better the lives of the African Americans around him doomed to failure. With this success, Green was recognized as one of the leading regional voices in the American theatre. His plays were often compared with the folk plays of Irish playwrightJohn Millington Synge.This included his 1926 play,The Last of the Lowries,a fictional account ofHenry Berry Lowry,a mixed-race leader of theLumbee peopleduring and after the Civil War.[1][2]

Green'sTheHouse of Connellywas a tragedy of the decline of an old Southern family. It was chosen by the newly formedGroup Theatrefor its inaugural production. Often compared toAnton Chekhov'sThe Cherry Orchardin its contrast of aristocratic decay and parvenu energy,The House of Connellywas praised by criticJoseph Wood Krutchas Green's finest play to date.[citation needed]

Expressionism[edit]

But Green had begun to shift from the realistic style of his early work. In 1928–29 he traveled to Europe on aGuggenheim Fellowshipand was impressed by the non-realistic productions that he saw there. He began to experiment withexpressionismand theEpic theatreofBertolt BrechtandErwin Piscator.In the 1930s Green largely abandoned the New York theatre, whose commercialism he found distasteful. His experiments in non-realistic drama,Tread the Green Grass(1932) andShroud My Body Down(1934), both premiered in Chapel Hill. They were never professionally produced in New York.

During the summer of 1936, Green,Cheryl Crawford,Kurt Weilland Weill's wifeLotte Lenyarented an old house inNichols, Connecticut,near the summer rehearsal headquarters of theGroup TheatreatPine Brook Country Club.Green returned to the Group Theatre to write his pacifist musical play,Johnny Johnson,with a score by Kurt Weill. In it, Green experimented withgenre,writing the first act as a comedy, the second as a tragedy, and the third as a satire. During this time he had an affair withLotte Lenya,which would be her first Americanlove affair.[3][4]

The production encountered problems of style early on: set designerDonald Oenslagerdesigned the first act in poetic realism, the second in expressionism, and the final act in an extremely distorted style, directorLee Strasbergwanted to stage it realistically, and others in the company wanted it to be staged expressionistically throughout. Reviews ranged from the enthusiastic to the dismissive. The play closed after 68 performances.

Outdoor drama[edit]

Green created a new dramatic form that he calledsymphonic drama.Inspired by historical events, it incorporated music and pageantry, usually for outdoor performance. His first experiment in this form wasRoll Sweet Chariot(1934), which ran for four performances on Broadway. Much more warmly received was the first of his outdoor symphonic dramas,The Lost Colony(1937), with music byLamar Stringfield.Based on the Lost Colony of Roanoke and produced during theGreat Depression,it is still produced during the summers in an outdoor theater atFort Raleigh National Historic SitenearManteo, North Carolina.The Lost Colonyis the oldest outdoor historical drama in the United States and is one of three still being performed. It has become a community institution.

Among Green's other outdoor symphonic dramas areFaith of Our Fathers,Wilderness Road,Texas,The Common Glory;The Founders;andTrumpet in the Land,which tells the story of the European-American massacre of Native American ChristianMoraviansinGnadenhutten, Ohio,during the American Revolution;Cross and Sword,the state play of Florida; andThe Stephen Foster Story,which continues to be played each summer inBardstown, Kentucky.

Paul Green Cabin at theNorth Carolina Botanical Garden

The cabin[edit]

In 1936, Green noticed a small log cabin standing in a rural area of North Carolina―he bought it, had it taken apart, moved, and put back together at his home inChapel Hill, North Carolina.He then used the cabin as a writing retreat. After his death, the cabin was moved to the North Carolina Botanical Garden where it is preserved as an exhibit open to the public.[5]

Other artistic endeavors[edit]

Green also wrote screenplays:The Cabin in the Cotton(1932) andState Fair(1933). He also wrote extensively on the subject of his belovedNorth Carolina.He helpedRichard Wrightadapt his novelNative Sonfor the stage in 1940.

Gravestone of Paul Green and Elizabeth Lay Green at theOld Chapel Hill Cemetery

Green founded theNorth Carolina Symphony Orchestraand theInstitute for Outdoor Drama.He servedUNESCOtraveling around the world to lecture onhuman rightsanddrama.Green served as aprofessorof drama at UNC until his death in 1981.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • Kenny, Vincent S. (1971).Paul Green.New York: Twayne.ISBN0-89197-880-1.
  • Lazenby, Walter S. (1970).Paul Green.Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughan.ISBN0-8114-3890-2.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Green, Paul.The Lord’s Will, and Other Carolina Plays,New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1925.
  2. ^Roper, John HerbertPaul Green, Playwright of the Real South,Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003. p. 83.
  3. ^Speak Low (when you speak of love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya
  4. ^A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916–1981,p. 258
  5. ^[1]"Paul Green Cabin". North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation website

External links[edit]

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