Native Son

Native Son (1941), a play by Paul Green and Richard Wright. [St. James Theatre, 114 perf.] Bigger Thomas ( Canada Lee) is an African‐American youth with a long record of trouble. He has grown up both frightened by and hateful of the white society he knows he is not a part of. Despite his record, a rich white man hires him as chauffeur. By accident Bigger kills the man's daughter and, in a panic, he burns her body and flees. He is captured, tried, and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, his fears disappear and he becomes convinced he has played a small, but noteworthy role in destroying the security of the white world. Based on Wright's novel, the Orson Welles and John Houseman production, according to Burns Mantle, “builds steadily through a series of theatrical climaxes, and though it may be argued that theoretically these are the common climaxes of a conventional melodrama concerned with the career of a tough black, criminally inclined, they take on a new stature in this particular case.” Despite similarly exultant notices by most other critics, as well as Lee's bravura performance and Welles's brilliant direction, the play found a relatively limited audience.