The Tree (American play)

The Tree is a 1932 American play by Richard Maibaum about lynching. It had a short run in Iowa then was picked up for a short run on Broadway. It was Maibaum's first Broadway play.^[1] |Robert Rossen directed and the production launched his career.^[2]

Premise

A woman is loved by several men. One of them, a white man, murders her but the crime is blamed on a black man who is then lynched.

Critical reception

The play was reviewed favorably by Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times and by Burns Mantle in the New York News. The Afro-American noted that it was the third Broadway play that season to feature the topic of lynching.^[3]