A Blast from the Past: 1920s Theater

The Lafayette Players

     Anita Bush, an aspiring dancer, had a tragic accident backstage. A ladder fell on her and ended her dancing dream. One day, while sitting in a near empty black only theater, she decided to talk to the manager about hiring an all black theater troupe. The owner said she would look at whatever Anita brought. Anita grabbed anyone she thought had talent off the street and The Anita Bush Players were born. They started at The Lincoln Theater with the play The Girl at the Fort and continued to produce quality theatrical material. When the manager of the the theater wanted the players to be called The Marie Downs Players, Anita refused. The troupe went to the rival theater, The Lafayette Theater, and began to act again. They slowly became known as The Lafayette Players. Anita started another troupe in Chicago and after awhile there were four different groups all speading serious black theater throughout the United States of America. There was a troupe in Harlem, one in Chicago, one traving in the south and one traving up and down the East Coast. The players disbanned after the death of Evelyn Preer, a member of the troupe in Chicago, and never acted as The Lafayette Players again. Clarence Muse, an original player, said "We knocked down a door. We opened the door that had never even been cracked before. And we gave people encouragement that they never had."

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