Rose McClendon (August 27, 1884 – July 12, 1936) was a leading

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of the 1920s. A founder of the Negro People's Theatre, she guided the creation of the Federal Theatre Project's African American theatre units nationwide and briefly co-directed the New York Negro Theater Unit.

Biography

Rose McClendon was born as Rosalie Virginia Scott in Greenville, South Carolina, and as a child relocated to

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. She started acting in

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plays in her youth. She became a professional actress in her thirties, after winning a

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to the American Academy of Dramatic Art. At age 20 she was married to Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a chiropractor. Her first notable role came in ''Deep River'', a "native opera with jazz", in 1926. In addition to acting, she also directed several plays at the Harlem Experimental Theatre. She appeared in the 1927 Pulitzer Prize-winning play '' In Abraham's Bosom'' by Paul Green. In 1931, she was in another Paul Green play on Broadway, ''The House of Connelly'', which was the first production by the Group Theatre, directed by

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

. McClendon was a contemporary of

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

, Ethel Barrymore,

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End theatre, West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred i ...

and Langston Hughes, who created a character for her in his 1935 play, '' Mulatto''. As a showcase for McClendon,

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Childhood Countee LeRoy Porter ...

adapted Euripides' tragedy ''

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'', working with producer John Houseman, composer

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclass ...

and production designer Chick Austin. Although the sets and costumes had been ready for months, by the end of 1934 McClendon had fallen ill and the project was never realized. Her talent extended to directing as well as acting. In 1935 she co-founded, with Dick Campbell, the Negro People's Theatre in Harlem. More than 4,000 people attended its first production, an adaptation of

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdra ...

' '' Waiting for Lefty'', and the group was organized in permanent form in June. The Negro People's Theatre directly inspired the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project, which was created in 1935 under McClendon's supervision. Under her guidance units were created in Seattle, Hartford, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles, Boston, Raleigh, Birmingham, San Francisco and Chicago as well as New York. She served as liaison to numerous organizations and individuals who became involved in the Federal Theatre Project, including Harry Edward, Carlton Moss and Edna Thomas. McClendon advised national director

Hallie Flanagan Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1889 in Redfield, South Dakota – June 23, 1969 in Old Tappan, New Jersey) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a pa ...

that the project should begin under experienced direction and selected John Houseman to co-direct the unit. In December 1935, McClendon was forced to leave the cast of Langston Hughes's ''Mulatto'' after she became critically ill with pleurisy. McClendon was to have portrayed Lady Macbeth in

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

's Federal Theatre Project production of '' Macbeth'' (1936), but due to her continuing illness Edna Thomas played the role. Her condition later developed into pneumonia, and McClendon died at her home on July 12, 1936.

Legacy

After McClendon's death in 1936, Dick Campbell, her Negro People's Theater co-founder, formed the Rose McClendon Players in her honor. In 1946, Carl Van Vechten established the Rose McClendon Memorial Collection of Photographs of Celebrated Negroes at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. The collection is held in the prints and photographs department of Moorland–Spingarn Research Center. In 1950, the estate of McClendon's husband donated her scrapbooks to the New York Public Library. Two volumes dated 1916–34 include newspaper and magazine articles and reviews, programs, letters, telegrams and photographs. In 2021, a biopic titled

Voodoo Macbeth The Voodoo ''Macbeth'' is a common nickname for the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''. Orson Welles adapted and directed the production, moved the play's setting from Scotland to a fictional ...

, produced by the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...

and chronicling the creation of the New York Negro Unit 1936 production of ''Macbeth'' co-directed by McClendon, premiered at the Pan-African Film Festival. The film stars Inger Tudor as McClendon.

Select theatre credits

References

External links

*
Photograph of Rose McClendon as Serena
in ''Porgy'' — New York Public Library
portraits
City Museum New York) * {{DEFAULTSORT:McClendon, Rose 1884 births 1936 deaths Actresses from South Carolina African-American actresses American stage actresses Harlem Renaissance Federal Theatre Project administrators 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century African-American women