The Death of Bessie Smith

The Death of Bessie Smith is a one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee, written in 1959 and premiered in West Berlin the following year. The play is based around a series of conversations. Conversations between Bernie and his friend Jack, between Jack and an off-stage Bessie, and between black and white staff of a 'Whites-only' hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on the day the famous blues singer, Bessie Smith died in a car wreck.

Production history

The play premiered in West Berlin at the Schlosspark Theatre, Berlin, Germany on April 21, 1960.^[1]

It premiered Off-Broadway at the York Playhouse on March 1, 1961, in a double bill with Albee's The American Dream. Directed by Lawrence Arrick, the "Nurse" was played by Rae Allen and Ben Piazza played "The Young Man".^[2][3]

The play opened on Broadway in repertory with other Albee plays, at the Billy Rose Theatre on October 2, 1968, for 12 performances. Directed by Michael Kahn, Rosemary Murphy played The Nurse and Ben Piazza played The Intern.^[4][5]

As part of an Albee Festival, the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, presented The Death of Bessie Smith in 2003.^[6]

Plot overview

The incident that gives the play its title and around which the action centers is based upon a myth that was largely accepted as fact until convincing evidence to the contrary appeared in the original 1972 edition of Bessie, a biography of the singer.^[7]

As widely believed, Bessie Smith did die following a car crash, but she was never refused admittance to a white hospital, which is the premise of Albee's play. She was taken directly to the Afro-American Hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where she died some seven hours later. The myth of racial discrimination had its origin in an article by jazz writer/producer John Hammond, that appeared in the November 1937 issue of Down Beat.

The character of Bessie Smith is only referred to in Albee's play and does not appear on stage. In early performances Albee did not even wish music or pictures of her to be used.

The play takes place in 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, in a segregated hospital and the surrounding grounds.^[8]

The Players

Source: Script ^[1]

• Bernie: A Negro, about forty, thin.
• Jack: A dark-skinned Negro, forty-five, bulky with a deep voice and mustache.
• The Father: A thin, balding white man, about fifty-five.
• The Nurse: A southern white girl, full blown, dark or red haired, pretty,cute, with a wild laugh. Twenty six.
• The Orderly: A light skinned Negro, twenty-eight, clean-shaven, trim, prim.
• Second Nurse: A southern white girl, blond, not too pretty, about thirty.
• The Intern: A southern white man, blond, well put-together, with an amiable face, thirty.

References