Native Son by Richard Wright and Paul Green

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Listen to TACT’s April 5 telesymposium exploring Native Son and the turmoil surrounding its creation.

Teachers: View our Study Guide for use with student groups.

With its production of Native Son, The American Century Theater again offers Washington audiences a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a play of great dramatic, social and historic importance that is almost never produced, though its original production was legendary and its subject remains vital.

Richard Wright published his novel “Native Son” in 1940, and his harsh, unblinking look at the cultural forces that destroy his black anti-hero, Bigger Thomas, immediately became a sensational best seller. As one historian wrote, "The day “Native Son” appeared, American culture was changed forever.” Wright became known as the “Father of Black Literature,” and Orson Welles, then the boy genius of Broadway whose Mercury Theater Company was breaking rules, conventions and box office records, decided that a theatrical collaboration with him was the perfect way to shake up the establishment one more time. Serious dramas by black playwrights had been rarities on Broadway, despite a literary Renaissance then in full sway in Harlem. Welles persuaded Wright to adapt his book for the stage, and brought in playwright and adaptor Paul Green (“Green Pastures”) to work with the novelist. Orson worked his usual theatrical magic on the script, and the play was a hit….an incredibly courageous indictment of racism and white society for the times, and a dramatic tour de force for Welles and his actors.

Why has the play been so seldom produced since? As with the other Welles-directed shows (Moby Dick Rehearsed and The Cradle Will Rock) that The American Century Theater has brought to Gunston Theatre Two to great acclaim, Native Son was the victim of the uproar created by its very first production, in which Welles’ revolutionary stagecraft, Wright’s political and social message, and the unusual performance of prize-fighter and novice actor Canada Lee as Bigger overshadowed the play itself. First the play was not produced for fear of comparison with Welles; then it was not produced because it had faded from the radar screen of major theaters, and was too controversial for smaller ones. But Wright’s themes remain fresh and challenging, and the script that inspired Welles is still a rich one for invention and acting fireworks.

This is a play every American needs to experience. It is a play for lovers of drama, literature, and ideas; for those who believe what appears on stage should be important, challenging, and provocative; and for students of history, race relations, American society and theater. It is a play that echoes with the words of one of our nation’s most important novels, and the conflicts of more than two centuries.

And after every performance, The American Century Theater will give audiences a chance to discuss what the play means to them, and should mean to America, in a variety of post-performance programs including cast, designers and crew, and special guests.

You have never seen Native Son, one of the landmark plays of American theater, based on one of our most important novels.

Now is your chance.

Directed by Bob Bartlett; produced by Rip Claassen and Sherri Haddad.

PLEASE NOTE: This production includes smoking on stage, gunfire, and strobe effects.

Running time = approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes; there will be no intermission.