{{short description|American dramatist (1889–1977)}} {{for|the football player and coach|Willis Richardson (American football)}} '''Willis Richardson''' (November 5, 1889 – November 7, 1977) was an American playwright.

==Biography==

Willis Richardson was born on November 5, 1889, in Wilmington, North Carolina, a son of Willis Wilder and Agnes Ann (Harper) Richardson. His family moved to Washington, D.C., shortly after the Wilmington Riots of 1898.

He attended public schools in Washington, DC including M Street High School (later Dunbar High School). While attending high school there, he was encouraged to write plays by Mary P. Burrill, one of his teachers and a playwright herself.<ref>{{cite book |title=Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays Before 1950 |edition=First Midland Book |editor-last=Perkins |editor-first=Kathy A. |year=1990 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana |isbn=0-253-34358-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/blackfemaleplayw0000unse/page/55 55] |url=https://archive.org/details/blackfemaleplayw0000unse/page/55 }}</ref> Richardson worked as a "skilled helper" in the wetting division of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing beginning on 8 March 1911.

On September 1, 1914, he married Mary Ellen Jones and they had three children:

* Jean Paula Richardson (August 7, 1916&ndash;) * Shirley Antonella Richardson (April 29, 1918&ndash;) * Noel Justine Richardson (August 14, 1920&ndash;)

In 1921, ''The Deacon's Awakening'' was Richardson's first play to be staged. It was presented in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

He died on November 7, 1977, in Washington, D.C. During his 30-year career, he had written children's fairy tales, histories, and domestic plays that number 48 in total.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patton|first=Venetria|title=Double Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology|year=2001|isbn=9780813529301|page=286|publisher=Rutgers University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VpCdETAehAC&q=Willis+Richardson&pg=PA286}}</ref>

==Plays and productions== After ''The Deacon's Awakening'' in 1921, Richardson's next play to be staged was ''The Chip Woman's Fortune'', which was produced by Raymond O'Neil's Ethiopian Art Players in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and became the first non-musical production by an African American on Broadway.<ref>Helen R. Houston, "Richardson, Willis", in William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster & Trudier Harris (eds), '' Oxford Companion to African American Literature'', New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 632.</ref>

His play ''Mortgaged'' was presented in 1923 by the Howard Players at Howard University. It was subsequently produced by the Dunbar Players in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1924. ''The Deacon's Awakening'' was staged August 30-September 6, 2015 by Xoregos Performing Company in its ''Songs of the Harlem River'' program in NYC's Dream Up Festival. ''Songs of the Harlem River'' opened the Langston Hughes Festival in Queens, New York on February 13, 2016.

==''The Broken Banjo''== The characters that appear in ''The Broken Banjo'' are Emma, Matt, Sam, and Adam. The play begins with Sam, the brother of Emma, accusing Matt, Emma's husband, of murder. During the visit to Emma's house, broke Matt's banjo and enraged Matt when he returned home. In retaliation, Sam reveals that he saw Matt killing Shelton with a rock. Matt decided to locked Sam and Adam in the house until they made a pledge on the bible not to tell anyone about the murder. Emma tells Matt that they should move to another city as she didn't trust that the two would not keep their pledge. As Matt was planning to leave, Sam and Adam had brought an officer to arrest Matt.

==Honors== Richardson was awarded the Amy Spingarn Prize in 1925 for ''The Broken Banjo'', his best known work. In addition, the play took first place in a contest held by ''The Crisis'' magazine in March 1925, where the play was published. First place prize was $75.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Richardson|first=Willis|title=The Broken Banjo|journal=The Crisis|date=March 1926|pages=225–228|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFoEAAAAMBAJ}}</ref> The following year he received the Spingarn Prize for ''Bootblack Lover'', a drama in three acts. He was awarded the prestigious AUDELCO prize posthumously for his contribution to American theatre.

== Personal life == Richardson was Catholic.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Richardson, Willis {{!}} NCpedia|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/richardson-willis|access-date=2022-01-20|website=www.ncpedia.org}}</ref>

==Selected works== * {{cite book | title = Plays and Pageants from the Life of the Negro | isbn=9781436685184 | last1=Richardson | first1=Willis | date=June 2008 | publisher=Kessinger }} * {{cite book | title = The Chip Woman's Fortune | oclc = 27409054}} * {{cite book | title = The flight of the natives | oclc = 58934982}} * {{cite book | title = Joy rider; a play | oclc = 964682451 }} * {{cite book | title = The visiting lady: a comedy | oclc=964682350 }} * {{cite book | title = The broken banjo | oclc = 235941136}} * {{cite book | title = The man who married a young wife | oclc = 27417501}} * {{cite book | title = The king's dilemma, and other plays for children : Episodes of hope and dream | oclc = 881630084}} * {{cite book | title = The peacock's feathers; a play in one act | oclc =27417513 }} * {{cite book | title = A pillar of the church; a play | oclc =27417530 }} * {{cite book | title = The curse of the Shell Road Witch; a play in one act | oclc =27409046 }} * {{cite book | title = The jail bird; a play in one act | oclc = 27417481}} * {{cite book | title = Bold lover; a play | oclc =27417415}} * {{cite book | title = The dark haven; a play | oclc =27409041}} * {{cite book | title = The nude siren; a play | oclc =27417506}} * {{cite book | title = The amateur prostitute; a play | oclc =27417397}} * {{cite book | title = Victorian Poems | oclc =28123722}} * {{cite book | title = Imp of the devil; a play | oclc =27417465}} * {{cite book | title = The brown boy; a play | oclc =27417450}} * {{cite book | title = Rooms for rent; a play in one act | oclc =27417545}}

==References== <references/>

*Yenser, Thomas (editor), ''Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America'', Who's Who in Colored America, Brooklyn, New York, 1930-1931-1932 (Third Edition)

==External links== *[http://dclibrarylabs.org/blkren/bios/richardsonw.html The Black Renaissance in Washington, DC] *[http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/willis-richardson-playwright-black-history African American Registry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110103647/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/willis-richardson-playwright-black-history |date=2017-11-10 }} *[http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/things-do-see/willis-richardson-residence-african-american-heritage-trail African American Heritage Trail] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130816210123/http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/things-do-see/willis-richardson-residence-african-american-heritage-trail |date=2013-08-16 }} *[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21636 Willis Richardson papers, 1910-1974], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Willis}} Category:1889 births Category:African-American dramatists and playwrights Category:1977 deaths Category:Writers from Wilmington, North Carolina Category:Writers from Washington, D.C. Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:African-American Catholics