The Green Pastures is a play written in 1929 byMarc Connelly adapted fromOl' Man Adam an' His Chillun (1928), a collection of stories written byRoark Bradford.[1] The play was the winner of thePulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.[2] It had the first all-black Broadway cast. The play and the film adaptation were generally well received and hailed by white drama and film critics.[3] African-American intellectuals, cultural critics, and audiences were more critical of white author Connelly's claim to be presenting an authentic view of black religious thought.[4]
The play portrays episodes from theOld Testament as seen through the eyes of a youngAfrican-American child in theGreat Depression-eraSouthern United States, who interpretsThe Bible in terms familiar to her. Following Bradford's lead, Connelly set the biblical stories in New Orleans and in an all-black context. He diverged from Bradford's work, however, in enlarging the role of the character "De Lawd" (God), played on stage byRichard B. Harrison (1864–1935).The Green Pastures also featured numerous African-American spirituals arranged byHall Johnson and performed by The Hall Johnson Choir. The cast also included singerMabel Ridley.The chorus included torch singer Eva Sylvester and members of the Sylvester family as cherubs.
Connolly later collaborated withWilliam Keighley in directing a Hollywoodfilm adaptation of the play, which was made in 1936, starringRex Ingram as "De Lawd". At the time, the film caused some controversy. It was banned inAustralia,Finland, andHungary on the grounds that it was "blasphemous" to portray Biblical characters in this way.
The play was adapted fortelevision, and presented twice during the days of live TV on theHallmark Hall of Fame in 1957 and 1959. Both productions starredWilliam Warfield as "De Lawd", in the largest dramatic acting role he ever had on television.
In the UK, a radio adaption byRoy Lockwood was produced from New York in October 1945.[5] A UK television version was broadcast by BBC Television in theBBC Sunday-Night Theatre series on 14 September 1958, produced by Eric Fawcett and starringWilliam Marshall as De Lawd.[6]
The full text ofThe Green Pastures at Wikisource
