Venzella Newsome Jones (1893–1973) was a black actress, orator, playwright, drama teacher, and theatre director.
Education and career edit
Jones was born in Ohio. She attended King's School of Oratory in Pittsburgh, becoming its first black graduate.[1] Later she taught drama at Rust College, Mississippi[2] and at Morgan State College in Baltimore.[3]
She organised the Imperial Art Players in Pittsburgh in 1924[4] and later formed the eponymous Venzella Jones Repertory Group.[5]
She was the Director of the Federal Theatre Project’s Negro Youth Theatre.[6]
References edit
- ^ "Imperial Art Players Will Give Play Here". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 15 June 1923. p. 5 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Will Appear in Special Lyceum". The Pittsburgh Courier. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 6. 19 June 1926. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
- ^ "Afro-American Notes". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 50. 31 July 1921.
- ^ "March 30th Presentation by Imperial Arts Players to be triumph". The Pittsburgh Courier. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 6. 31 Mar 1928.
- ^ Sewell, Jan; Smout, Claire, eds. (29 April 2020). The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Springer Nature. p. 445.
- ^ "Theatricals". The New York Age. New York City: 8. 29 Aug 1936. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
Further reading edit
- Childress, Alice (2011). Perkins, Kathy A. (ed.). Selected Plays. Northwestern University Press. pp. xiv–xv.[ISBN missing]
- Ellett, Ryan (2012). Encyclopedia of Black Radio in the United States, 1921–1955. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc. p. 95. ISBN 978-1476693392. OCLC 1369512406.
- Sewell, Jan; Smout, Claire, eds. (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Springer Nature. pp. 444–446.[ISBN missing]
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