Eden (play)
Encyclopedia
Eden is a 1976 play by American playwright Steve Carter
. Set in the 1920s, it is the first of Carter's Caribbean trilogy. Eden explores intra-racial conflicts between recent immigrants from the Caribbean and the African-American population. The West Coast premiere of this critically acclaimed play received five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
s.
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Annetta Barton: Joseph's daughter. She falls in love with Eustace Baylor, an African-American from the South, which causes the central conflict within the story.
Eustace Baylor: An African American from the rural South than falls in love with Annette.
Solomon Barton: One of Joseph's sons.
Nimrod Barton: One of Joseph's sons.
, and his wife, Carmen, who was born in New York of Caribbean descent, lived in New York City at the time of their son's birth.
Steve Carter (playwright)
Horace E. "Steve" Carter, Jr. is an American playwright, best known for his plays involving Caribbean immigrants living in the United States.-Biography:...
. Set in the 1920s, it is the first of Carter's Caribbean trilogy. Eden explores intra-racial conflicts between recent immigrants from the Caribbean and the African-American population. The West Coast premiere of this critically acclaimed play received five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
s.
Characters
Joseph Barton: The main character of the play. A recent Caribbean immigrant to the United States and follower of Marcus GarveyMarcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
.
Annetta Barton: Joseph's daughter. She falls in love with Eustace Baylor, an African-American from the South, which causes the central conflict within the story.
Eustace Baylor: An African American from the rural South than falls in love with Annette.
Solomon Barton: One of Joseph's sons.
Nimrod Barton: One of Joseph's sons.
Plot synopsis
Set in the San Juan Hill section of New York City in 1927, Joseph Barton, a recent Caribbean immigrant and follower of Marcus Garvey discovers to his horror that his daughter is keeping company with an uneducated African American man from the rural South.Origins of the play
Eden is loosely based on the story of the playwright's parents. Horace Carter, Sr., a native of VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and his wife, Carmen, who was born in New York of Caribbean descent, lived in New York City at the time of their son's birth.
Original off-Broadway production
- Directed by Edmund CambridgeEdmund CambridgeEdmund Cambridge was an American actor and director who was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company and the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School.- Biography :...
- Produced by Negro Ensemble Company (NEC)Negro Ensemble CompanyThe Negro Ensemble Company is a New York City-based theater company. Established in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer/actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S...
- Executive Director: Robert HooksRobert HooksRobert Hooks is an American actor of films, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television, as well as his political and civil rights activities...
- Artistic Director: Douglas Turner WardDouglas Turner WardDouglas Turner Ward is an American playwright, actor, director and theatrical producer best known as a founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company .-Biography:Turner was born in Burnside, Louisiana...
- Managing Director: Frederick Garrett
- Set Designer: Pamela S. Peniston
- Costume Designer: Edna Watson
- Lighting Designer: Sandra L. Ross
- Production Stage Manager: Clinton Turner Davis
- Opened: March 3, 1976 at St. Mark's Playhouse (transferred to Theatre De LysLucille Lortel TheatreThe Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.The venue was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse...
on May 14, 1976)
Cast
- Graham BrownGraham BrownGraham Brown is an award-winning American actor best known for his work in the theatre.- Biography :Born Robert Brown in New York, New York, he is best known for his work on the stage...
- Joseph Barton - Shirley Brown - Annetta Barton
- Barbara Montgomery - Aunt Lizzie
- Ethel AylerEthel AylerEthel Ayler is a veteran African-American character actress with a career spanning over five decades.-Biography:Ayler was born in Whistler, Alabama in 1934. In 1957, she made her off-Broadway debut in the Langston Hughes musical, Simply Heavenly...
- Florie - Samm-Art WilliamsSamm-Art WilliamsSamm-Art Williams is an American playwright and screenwriter, and a stage and film/TV actor. Much of his work concerns the African-American experience....
- Eustace Baylor - Laurence FishburneLaurence FishburneLaurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
- Solomon Barton - Nate Farrell - Nimrod Barton
- Ramona King - Agnes
Los Angeles production (West Coast premiere)
- Directed by Edmund CambridgeEdmund CambridgeEdmund Cambridge was an American actor and director who was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company and the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School.- Biography :...
- Produced by Los Angeles Actors Theatre
- Opened: December 1980 at Los Angeles Actors Theatre
Cast
- Carl Lumbly - Joseph Barton
- Cheryl FrancisCheryl Francis HarringtonCheryl Francis Harrington is an award-winning actress. She is best known for playing Mambo Garcelle "Haiti Lady" DuPris on the television series The PJs.-Film:-Theatre :-External links:TELEVISIONBrothers & Sisters-Ken Olin, Dir....
- Annetta Barton - Harold SylvesterHarold SylvesterHarold Sylvester is an American film and television actor.Sylvester was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. A graduate of New Orleans' St. Augustine High School and Tulane University, Sylvester is best known for his role on the TV series Married... with Children as Griff, the co-worker and friend of...
- Eustace Baylor - Marilyn Coleman
- Ralph CarterRalph CarterRalph Carter is an American actor, and singerCarter is best known for his work as a child and teenager, both in the Broadway musical Raisin and as the character Michael Evans, the youngest member of the Evans family, on the 1970s sitcom Good Times...
- Larry B. ScottLarry B. Scott-Career:Scott's film debut was in the 1978 movie A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich. He is perhaps best known for playing Lamar Latrell, the openly gay fraternity member in the Revenge of the Nerds series of comedy films from 1984 to 1994. In the 1986 film SpaceCamp he played opposite a then-young...
Feature film project
In 1985, Carter wrote the screenplay A Time Called Eden, based on his play. It was set to go into production the following year, however, to date, the project remains unproduced.Awards
- 1976 Outer Critics Circle Award
- 1976 Audelco Award
- 1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardThe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
- Direction (Edmund CambridgeEdmund CambridgeEdmund Cambridge was an American actor and director who was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company and the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School.- Biography :...
) - 1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardThe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
- Lead Performance (Carl Lumbly) - 1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardThe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
- Playwrighting (steve carterSteve Carter (playwright)Horace E. "Steve" Carter, Jr. is an American playwright, best known for his plays involving Caribbean immigrants living in the United States.-Biography:...
) - 1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardThe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
- Production (Los Angeles Theatre Center) - 1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardThe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
- Supporting Performance (Marilyn Coleman)