Rose McClendon

Rose McClendon (August 27, 1884 – July 12, 1936) was a leading African-American Broadway actress 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 New York City. She started acting in church plays in her youth. She became a professional actress in her thirties, after winning a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

At age 20 she was married to Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a chiropractor.

McClendon was a contemporary of Paul Robeson, Ethel Barrymore, Lynn Fontanne and Langston Hughes, who created a character for her in his 1935 play, Mulatto.

As a showcase for McClendon, Countee Cullen adapted Euripides' tragedy Medea, working with producer John Houseman, composer Virgil Thomson and production designer Chick Austin. More than 4,000 people attended its first production, an adaptation of Clifford Odets' 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, 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 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'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. The collection is held in the prints and photographs department of Moorland–Spingarn Research Center. December 30, 1926–June 1927 In Abraham's Bosom Goldie McAllister Provincetown Playhouse, New York September 6–November 1927 In Abraham's Bosom Goldie McAllister Provincetown Playhouse, New York October 10, 1927–August 1928 Porgy Serena Guild Theatre, New York 1928–29 Porgy Serena Tour including nine weeks in Chicago, six weeks in London, and performances in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and cities in the northwestern United States and Canada September 13–October 1929 Porgy Serena Martin Beck Theatre, New York October 14, 1929 – January 1930 Porgy Serena National tour September 28–December 1931 The House of Connelly Big Sue Martin Beck Theatre, New York January 7–January 1932 Never No More Mammy Hudson Theatre, New York March 30–April 1932 Black Souls Phyllis Provincetown Playhouse, New York April 4–April 1932 Brain Sweat Carrie Washington Longacre Theatre, New York October 2–October 1934 Roll, Sweet Chariot Sudie Wilson Cort Theatre, New York March 14–16, 1935 October 24–December 5, 1935