Biography

Mary P. Burrill was born in 1881 in Washington, DC. She graduated in 1901 from Washington's M Street School (later Dunbar High School), entered Emerson College in the fall of that same year, and completed a three-year program in 1904. In 1905, Mary began her career as a teacher of English, with a major concentration in speech, diction, and dramatics at Armstrong Manual High School and Dunbar High. She returned to Emerson College for postgraduate work in 1929. She received a B.L.I. (bachelors of literary interpretation) degree in 1930. During her junior year, Mary wrote Unto the Third and Fourth Generations: A One-Act Play of Negro Life. The play was published in the college yearbook in 1930 and earned the title "Best Junior Play of the Year."

During her early years of teaching, she wrote The Other Wise Man, a monologue she presented to high school and community audiences every Christmas season. At Dunbar, Mary wrote two one-act plays that position her as a notable playwright of the 20th century: They That Sit in Darkness and Aftermath. Mary P. Burrill died in New York on March 13, 1946. (Full Bio)

Plays

They That Sit in Darkness (1919)

Malinda Jasper is doing her best to raise her ten children. Her husband is often away at work while Malinda raises the children, keeps house, and does domestic chores for extra money. Malinda is very happy that her eldest child, Lindy, has the opportunity to go to school at Tuskegee and believes that education will help Lindy have a better future. A government nurse, Elizabeth Shaw, comes to check on Malinda after her most recent pregnancy and scolds her for working when she should be resting. Shortly after her visit, Elizabeth discovers that Malinda is very sick and Malinda dies in a matter of minutes. Lindy can no longer go to school and must stay at home to care for the children. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 8 (4f, 4m)

Characters: Malinda Jasper, Elizabeth Shaw, Lindy, Miles, Aloysius, Mary Ellen, Jimmie, John Henry

Publication: Black Theater U.S.A. Edited by James V. Hatch and Ted Shine. Free Press, 1974. (Link)

AFTERMATH (1919)

Aftermath dramatizes the reactions of a black soldier who returns from World War I to find that his father has been lynched. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (3f, 3m)

Characters: Millie, Mam Sue, Reverend Luke Moseby, Lonnie, Mrs. Hawkins, John.

Publication: Aftermath. Alexander Street Press, 2004. (Link)*