Nan Bagby Stephens
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1883
Nan Bagby Stephens | |
|---|---|
 Nan Bagby Stephens, from a 1919 publication | |
| Born | Nannie Bagby Stephens 1883 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | December 29, 1946 (age 63) Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Dramatist, writer, composer, librettist |
| Notable work | Roseanne (1923), Cabildo (1932) |
| Relatives | Louis Hasselmans (brother-in-law) |
Nannie "Nan" Bagby Stephens (1883 – December 29, 1946) was an American playwright and composer, best known for the libretto of Cabildo (1932), an opera, with music by Amy Beach.
Stephens was from Atlanta, Georgia,[1] the daughter of James McConnell Stephens and Zipporah Bagby Stephens. Both of her grandfathers were slaveowners in Georgia.[2][3] Her younger sister Frances married French opera conductor Louis Hasselmans.[4] She graduated from Girls High School in Atlanta and Agnes Scott College,[5] and trained as a pianist in Vienna with Johanna Müller and Theodor Leschetizky.[6]
Career
Stephens, who was white, was known for writing songs and plays based on traditional "negro music" of the American South, often with regional themes and dialect lyrics.[7] Her Broadway play Roseanne was initially produced in 1923 with white performers in blackface, including Chrystal Herne.[8][9] Soon after, in 1924, it was produced with a Black cast, including Charles Sidney Gilpin, Paul Robeson, and Rose McClendon.[10] Roseanne became a source for Oscar Micheaux's film Body and Soul (1925).[1][11][12] Black critic Eric D. Walrond called Roseanne "good art and punk propaganda" in his 1924 review.[8] Roseanne was revived in 1945, at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine.[13]
Stephens was a vice-president of the National Federation of Music Clubs, representing the South Atlantic states,[14] and taught play writing at Agnes Scott College in the late 1920s.[6]
Works
- "Lafayette, we have come!" (1918, song, words by J. W. Greer)[15]
- Tradition's Daughter (1918, play)[16]
- Lazy Daisy (1918, play)[16]
- Noblesse Oblige (1918, a comedy)[16]
- Angelo (1918, play)[16]
- "Morning Song"; "Plantation Ditty"; "Little Tin Ho'n" (1921, songs, words by Frank L. Stanton)[17]
- "My Dearie", "When the Little Boy Ran Away", "Hymn to Mother" (1921, songs, words by Frank L. Stanton)[17]
- "A Song of Georgia" (1921, song)[17]
- Roseanne (1923–1924, play)
- "Negro Spirituals" (1924, essay in The New York Times)[7]
- John Barleycorn (1927, play)[18]
- Tares (1927, play)[19]
- The Auction Block (1927, one-act play)[19]
- Charivari (1927, one-act comedy set in Louisiana)[19]
- Barbed Wire (1931)[20]
- Cabildo (1932, one-act opera, music by Amy Beach)
- Glory (1932, novel based on the same story as Roseanne)[21]
- Rome and July (1933, radio serial)[22]
- First Lady, or, Madam President (1933, a play about Mary Todd Lincoln)[22]
- Cousin George (1933, a comedy about a ghost, also known as The Green Vine)[22][23]
- "Habeas Corpus" (1935, short story)[24]
- Lily (1940, play)[25]
- If I Ever Cease to Love (1941, play)[25][26]