Anita Bush Stock Company

The Anita Bush Stock Company, also known as the Anita Bush All-Colored Dramatic Stock Company, was an American repertory company founded by Anita Bush in 1915. The company was associated with Black theater of the Harlem Renaissance and is considered the first stock company in Harlem.^[1] The Anita Bush Stock Company was renamed The Lafayette Players in March 1916 when the company was purchased by the Lafayette Theatre.

History

Anita Bush, 1937

Formation: 1915—1916

In 1914^[1] or 1915,^[2] Anita Bush, a former dancer, approached Marie Downs and Eugene Elmore^[3] of the Lincoln Theatre, telling them she wanted to contract her stock company to perform at the theatre, although the company had not yet been formed. After entering an agreement with Downs and Bishop, Bush gathered African American actors, including Charles Sidney Gilpin, Carlotta Freeman, and Andrew S. Bishop, to form the Anita Bush Stock Company.^[4] Bush staged the company's first play in just two weeks.^[3]

The Lafayette Players

Photograph of Charles S. Gilpin in The Emperor Jones, 1920

In March 1916, due to financial difficulties, Bush sold her company to the theater, which renamed the company The Lafayette Players. Actor Charles Sidney Gilpin began managing company.^[1][5] Bush then organized four additional companies of the Lafayette Players which toured throughout the United States.^[6]

At the Lafayette Theatre, the Players performed a different play each week. Bush eventually sold her remaining rights to the company to her co-manager Lester Walton. Even though she no longer managed the Players, Bush is credited with its founding and with establishing its reputation for excellence and for launching the careers of Charles Gilpin, Dooley Wilson, Evelyn Preer and others. She remained with the company until 1920, when she left to pursue a career in film.^[3]

Also in 1916, Jewish theater producer Robert Levy became involved with the Lafayette Players through the formation of the Quality Amusement Corporation, which managed both the theater and the acting troupe.^[6] Later, Levy cast members of the company in the movies he produced under his production company REOL Productions.^[7] The company consisted entirely of black actors who were cast in serious dramatic roles—something that was unheard of at the time. White playwrights, who intended to have white actors playing them, wrote many of these roles. This allowed serious black actors transcend the stereotyped and comedic roles they were normally expected to play.^[4]

The Lafayette Players performed for almost exclusively Black audiences.^[4] They staged classic shows, as well as shows that were popular in white theater repertory, including Madame X, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Octoroon.^[6] The company staged a performance of Othello starring E.S. Wright and Margaret Brown to honor the 300th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.^[6] The Players performed short plays, shortened versions of popular Broadway shows—most of which were melodramatic. They performed popular musicals including Darktown and Shuffle Along. Some Harlem figures, like W. E. B. Du Bois, opposed this choice of materials because it did not promote the work of black playwrights.^[4]

People

Numerous prominent African American actors performed with the Anita Bush Stock Company and the Lafayette Players, including Edna Morton,^[8] Lawrence Chenault,^[9] Canada Lee,^[10] Rose McClendon,^[5][11] Oscar Micheaux,^[5] Lionel Monagas, Clarence Muse,^[4] and Charles S. Gilpin.^[1] Composer James P. Johnson and director Edgar Forrest also worked with the company.^[5]