Willis Richardson
Willis Richardson was an American playwright.
Biography
Willis Richardson was born on November 5, 1889, in Wilmington, North Carolina, a son of Willis Wilder and Agnes Ann Richardson. His family moved to Washington, D.C., shortly after the Wilmington Riots of 1898.He attended public schools in Washington, DC including M Street High School (later Dunbar High School). While attending high school there, he was encouraged to write plays by Mary P. Burrill, one of his teachers and a playwright herself. Richardson worked as a "skilled helper" in the wetting division of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing beginning on 8 March 1911.
On September 1, 1914, he married Mary Ellen Jones and they had three children:
- Jean Paula Richardson
- Shirley Antonella Richardson
- Noel Justine Richardson
He died on November 7, 1977, in Washington, D.C. During his 30-year career, he had written children's fairy tales, histories, and domestic plays that number 48 in total.
Plays and productions
After The Deacon's Awakening in 1921, Richardson's next play to be staged was The Chip Woman's Fortune, which was produced by Raymond O'Neil's Ethiopian Art Players in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and became the first non-musical production by an African American on Broadway.His play Mortgaged was presented in 1923 by the Howard Players at Howard University. It was subsequently produced by the Dunbar Players in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1924. The Deacon's Awakening was staged August 30-September 6, 2015 by Xoregos Performing Company in its Songs of the Harlem River program in NYC's Dream Up Festival. Songs of the Harlem River opened the Langston Hughes Festival in Queens, New York on February 13, 2016.