Biography
- 1916 Alice Herndon Childress was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1925 Alice was taken to Harlem to live with maternal grandmother, Eliza Campbell White (after her parents separated).
- 1935 Alice’s daughter, Jean R. Childress, born.
- 1940 Alice begins acting and makes a name for herself; she appears as Dolly in John Silvera and Abram Hill's On Striver's Row.
- 1941 Alice joins the American Negro Theatre. She appears as Polly Ann in Theodore Browne's Natural Man.
- 1944 Alice’s role in the Broadway production of Anna Lucasta draws Tony Award nomination.
- 1948 Alice appears as Sadie Thompson in John Colton and Clemence Randolph's adaptation of Somerset Maugham's Rain and as Muriel in Harry Wagstaff Gribble's Almost Faithful.
- 1949 Alice wrote Florence (Play).
- 1950 Alice wrote Just a Little Simple (Play).
- 1952 Alice produces the play Gold through the Trees, the first professionally produced play by an African American woman.
- 1953 Alice appears in the off-Broadway production of The World of Sholom Aleichem and as Bella in George Tabori's The Emperor's Clothes.
- 1954 Alice wrote Trouble in Mind (Play).
- 1956 Alice wrote Like One of the Family & Conversations from a Domestic's Life (anthologized vignettes) and was the first woman to receive Obie Award, for Trouble in Mind.
- 1957 Alice marries musician Nathan Woodard, in July.
- 1960 Alice appears as Mrs. Thurston in Warren Miller and Robert Rossen's The Cool World.
- 1965 Alice appears on BBC discussion panel, The Negro In the American Theatre.
- 1966 Alice wrote the Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White (Play).
- 1966-68 Alice attends Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study.
- 1968 Alice wrote The Freedom Drum, later retitled Young Martin Luther King, Jr. (Play).
- 1969 Alice wrote String: Wine in the Wilderness (Play).
- 1970 Alice wrote Mojo (Play).
- 1971 Alice visits Russia to study Soviet life, art, and culture.
- 1972 Alice’s play the Wedding Band is performed at the Shakespeare Public Theatre, New York.
- 1973 Alice writes the novel A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich and visits mainland China to observe the theater arts in Peking and Shanghai.
- 1974 Alice visits University of Ghana, West Africa, for summer drama festival.
- 1975 Alice wrote When the Rattlesnake Sounds (Play).
- 1976 Alice wrote Let's Hear It for the Queen (Play).
- 1977 Alice Childress Week celebrated in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. Alice’s play Sea Island Song, later retitled Gullah, is performed.
- 1978 Alice adapted her novel A Hero Ain't Nothin but a Sandwich into a screenplay. The film premiered in 1978.
- 1979 Alice wrote A Short Walk (novel).
- 1980 Alice wrote Rainbow Jordan (novel).
- 1984 Alice was the Artist-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- 1987 Alice wrote Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne.
- 1989 Alice wrote Those Other People (novel).
- 1990 Alice’s daughter Jean dies of cancer, in May.
- 1994 Alice Childress dies of cancer in Queens, New York, in August.
Biography information obtained fromhttp://www.enotes.com/authors/alice-childress and http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html
Additional Biography Information:
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/childressAlice.php
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/childress.html
A List of Alice’s Work:
Plays
1949 Florence
1950 Just a Little Simple
1954 Trouble in Mind
1956 Like One of the Family & Conversations from a Domestic's Life (anthologized vignettes).
1966 Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
1968 The Freedom Drum, later retitled Young Martin Luther King, Jr.
1969 String
1969 Wine in the Wilderness
1970 Mojo: A Black Love Story
1972 Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
1975 Alice wrote When the Rattlesnake Sounds
1976 Alice wrote Let's Hear It for the Queen
1978 Alice adapted her novel A Hero Ain't Nothin but a Sandwich into a screenplay
1984 Gullah
1987 Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne
Novels
1973 A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
1979 A Short Walk
1980 Rainbow Jordan
1987 Many Closets
1989 Those Other People
Production History:
1949 Florence
First produced in NYC at The American Negro Theatre; directed by and starring Childress.
1950 Just a Little Simple
Based on Langston Hughes' short story collection Simple Speaks His Mind; first produced in NYC at The Club Baron Theatre.
1952 Gold Through the Trees
First produced at The Club Baron Theatre, NYC.
1955 Trouble in Mind
First produced off-Broadway at Greenwich Mews Theatre; directed by Childress.
1966 Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
First produced at the University of Michigan; off-Broadway premiere at The New York Shakespeare Festival Theatre in a production directed by Childress and Joseph Papp, September 26, 1972.
1969 String
Based on Guy De Maupassant's "A Piece of String"; first produced off-Broadway at St. Mark's Playhouse.
1970 Mojo
Produced in NYC at New Heritage Theatre.
1977 Sea Island Song
First produced in Charleston, SC; produced under the title "Gullah" at the University of Massechusettes, Amherst in 1984.
1986 Moms: A Praise Play for a Black Comedienne
Based on the life of Jackie "Moms" Mabley; first produced by Green Plays at Art Awareness; produced off-Broadway at Hudson Guild Theatre, February 4, 1987.
Production History information obtained from: http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~cybers/childress2.html
