Biography

Marita Odette Bonner (Occomy) was an African American writer, essayist, and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance Era. Born on June 16, 1899 to Joseph Andrew and Anne Noel Bonner in Boston, Massachusetts. Bonner attended Brookline High School where she first began to write when she became involved in a magazine organized by the student body called The Sagamor. In 1918 Bonner graduated from Brookline High School and enrolled in Radcliffe College in Cambridge. While at Radcliff, Bonner majored in both Comparative Literature and English. In 1922 Bonner graduated from Radcliffe and began teaching at Bluefield Colored Institute in Bluefield, West Virginia. Two years later, in 1924, she abandoned the isolation of southern West Virginia to take a teaching position at all-black Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. Her first essay, “On Being Young–A Woman–And Colored'' was published in December of 1925 by The Crisis magazine. The essay addressed the discrimination that African Americans and in particular black women faced at the time. Soon after her initial success Bonner was drawn into a circle of Washington, D.C. writers, poets, playwrights, and composers who met regularly at composer Georgia Douglas Johnson’s “S” street salon. During this time she met her future husband William Almy Occomy. The couple married in 1930 and the following year moved to Chicago where Bonner over the next decade enjoyed her greatest success as a short story writer. In 1941 Bonner abandoned writing to care for her family which now included three children. She returned to teaching and remained in Chicago’s public school system until her retirement in 1963. Eight years later Bonner died on December 7, 1971. (Full Bio)

Plays

THE Pot maker (1927)

The most realistic of Bonner’s three known plays, The Pot Maker (1927) centers on a young preacher (named Elias) practicing his first sermon in front of his family and unfaithful wife, Lucinda. In a country home sits his mother, father, wife, and his wife’s lover, Lew. Elias tells them an allegory of a pot maker and his pots as a way to understand God’s relationship to people. His parents listen skeptically and Lucinda barely pays attention, making eyes at Lew. Once Elias finishes, his parents retire to bed and Lew leaves. Lucinda belittles Elias’ decision to join the church, bitter from not having the life she dreams of. Then there is a commotion outside and someone falls in a well. Elias and Lucinda both know it is Lew and Elias keeps her from going to him, letting Lew drown. Eventually Elias lets her run after Lew, drowning herself, and he goes to save her. He, however, also ends up in the well.

Cast Requirement: 5 (2f, 3m)

Characters: Elias Jackson, Mother, Lucinda Jackson, Father, Lew Fox

Publication: Frye Street & Environs: The Collected Works of Marita Bonner. Edited by Joyce Occomy Stricklin and Joyce Flynn. Beacon, 1989. (Link)

THE PURPLE FLOwer (1928)

Often described as one of the first surrealist plays by an African American woman, Marita Bonner’s The Purple Flower (1928) allegorically explores the struggle for black liberation in America. The action of the play takes place in the valley between two hills, Somewhere and Nowhere. At the top of Somewhere grows a purple “Flower-of-life-at-Its-Fullest.” A group of people called the Us’s, live in the valley and dream of climbing to the top of the hill and reaching the flower. However, there are White Devils who live on the side of the hill and prevent the Us’s from ascending. Through the course of the play different Us’s, young and old, go back and forth about trying to climb the hill. Some have lost hope. Some lament the hard work they’ve put into developing the land in the valley and Somewhere only to never experience the goodness of either. The Us’s end up deciding that a White Devil must be sacrificed in order to make a New Man. (Alexis Williams)

Cast Requirement: 16+ (4f, 9m, 3any)

Characters: Sundry White Devils; The Us’s

Publication: Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950. Edited by Kathy A. Perkins. Indiana University Press, 1990. (Link)

exit, an illusion (1929)

Marita Bonner’s Exit, An Illusion (1929) blends dreams and reality to investigate the intersections of race, gender, love, and death. Two lovers, Dot and Buddy, lie in bed asleep in a disheveled apartment until Dot awakes. She tells Buddy that she has a date and has to leave. He awakens as well and becomes increasingly upset with her going out with another man. He interrogates her about the man, named Exit, and they proceed to argue. She insults his dark-skinned friends. He berates her mixed heritage and ability to pass for white. All the while, Exit has appeared to take Dot. Buddy pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot both of them. He fires and, in a whirlwind, discovers he has killed Dot. Buddy wakes up, simultaneously realizing he was dreaming and that Dot has died. (Alexis Williams)

Cast Requirement: 2 (1f, 1m)

Characters: Dot, Buddy

Publication: Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950. Edited by Kathy A. Perkins. Indiana University Press, 1990. (Link)