Marc Connelly
Marc Connelly (1890–1980) was an American playwright, director, and actor. His play The Green Pastures won the 1930 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The Green Pastures: A 1930 play by Marc Connelly that depicts biblical stories through the imagined perspective of Black characters in the American South. This Pulitzer-winning play became Connelly’s best-known work.
George S. Kaufman: An American playwright and theater director known for sharp comedies, often written with collaborators. Kaufman and Connelly co-wrote several successful Broadway plays.
Algonquin Round Table: An informal circle of New York writers, critics, and actors who met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in the 1920s. Connelly was associated with this circle of New York humorists and theater figures.
Pulitzer Prize: A group of annual awards honoring achievements in journalism, literature, music, and drama. The drama prize placed Connelly’s play within a major American cultural institution.
Merton of the Movies: A 1922 comedy by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly about an aspiring actor who misunderstands Hollywood filmmaking. Connelly co-wrote this comedy with George S. Kaufman.
Edna Ferber: An American novelist and playwright whose works include Show Boat and Giant. Ferber collaborated with Connelly and Kaufman on the play The Royal Family.
The New Yorker: An American magazine founded in 1925, known for reporting, criticism, fiction, and cartoons. Connelly contributed to the magazine after establishing himself as a playwright.
Blackface: The theatrical practice of non-Black performers using makeup and stereotypes to caricature Black people. The play’s use of white actors in blackface has become central to its contested legacy.
The Wisdom Tooth: A 1926 comedy by Marc Connelly about a young woman whose sudden fame as a poet changes her life. This Connelly play offers a different comic subject from his biblical drama.
Owen Davis: An American playwright who won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Icebound. Davis preceded Connelly as a Pulitzer-winning Broadway playwright.