Loften Mitchell
Loften Mitchell was an influential African American playwright and author, born in 1919 in Columbus, North Carolina. He grew up in Harlem, where he developed a passion for theater, culminating in his first play, *Shattered Dreams*, in 1938. After graduating from Talladega College with a degree in sociology and a minor in creative writing, he served in the Navy during World War II before pursuing a master's degree in playwriting at Columbia University. At Columbia, he cultivated his interest in the history of black drama, which became a significant theme in his work. Mitchell is best known for his contributions to black theater, particularly through his publications *Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre* (1967) and *Voices of the Black Theatre* (1975). His notable works include the celebrated musical *Bubbling Brown Sugar*, which garnered a Tony nomination and acclaim in London. Mitchell's legacy includes a commitment to highlighting the contributions of black performers and a belief in the importance of understanding theatrical history. He passed away on May 14, 2001, leaving a lasting impact on the representation of African American narratives in theater.
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Loften Mitchell
- Born: April 14, 1919
- Birthplace: Columbus, North Carolina
- Died: May 14, 2001
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Loften Mitchell was born in Columbus, North Carolina, in 1919, and attended public schools in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. As a child, he developed an interest in Harlem’s theatrical productions and in 1938, his first play, the powerful antiwar drama Shattered Dreams, was produced. Following high school, he entered Talladega College, an all-black institution in Alabama, where he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in creative writing in 1943. At Talladega, he read voraciously in drama on his own as well as for his assigned class readings.
After graduating from college, Mitchell joined the navy, serving from 1944 until the end of World War II in 1945. He then returned to Harlem and studied for a master’s degree in playwriting at Columbia University. He also resumed what had been a great childhood pleasure, going to Harlem’s old vaudeville houses. He came to know and value many of the vaudeville performers and gained an appreciation of their contributions to black theater. His curiosity about the history of black drama was piqued by these performances.
He had already begun to explore this interest at Talladega, where he wrote a paper in his freshman year on the Harlem theater, basing it on information he had picked up while hanging around stage doors as a teenager. His English teacher, Maurice Lee, told him that someone really had to write a history of black drama, which, in time, Mitchell did. At Columbia, he studied with Barrett H. Clark and John Gassner, both of whom encouraged his historical interest in black drama.
Although Mitchell had numerous plays produced between 1946 and 1976, his unique contribution came with the publication of Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre in 1967 and Voices of the Black Theatre in 1975. Mitchell had a strong sense that everything that is written springs from what previous writers have created. Therefore, he believed a sense of theatrical history was an important element in the continuing development of black drama.
Mitchell was a most generous writer. When he was interviewed about the production of Shattered Dreams, Mitchell urged the interviewer to write about the cast members rather than about him. He often said that he thought a writer’s place was at his typewriter, not in the public eye.
In his play A Land Beyond the River, Mitchell examined the historic Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which invalidated the concept of separate-but-equal facilities for blacks and whites. As a northern black, Mitchell felt a kinship with Southern blacks who were suffering under segregation, to which he was first exposed in Alabama. He joined a campaign to raise funds for black people in Clarendon County, South Carolina, who had suffered economic retaliation for their efforts to eliminate segregation.
Mitchell’s most celebrated play was Bubbling Brown Sugar, which played Off-Broadway for more than a year before it moved to Broadway in 1976. The play was nominated for a Tony Award in 1976 for the Best Broadway Musical and the following year was declared the best musical of the year in London. Mitchell died on May 14, 2001.