Playbill for the Negro Ensemble Company production of God is a (Guess What?): Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A playbill for the Negro Ensemble Company’s production of God is a (Guess What?) at St. Mark’s Playhouse, printed in black ink on white paper. On the cover, at top left, is “NEC” in large black letters running vertically, with “The Negro Ensemble Company” appearing in a circle. The interior pages contain the production information with cast listing, musical numbers, a biography of the playwright (Roy McIver), and biographies for the production staff (Michael A. Schultz, Louis Johnson, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Edward Burbridge, Bernard Johnson, Marshall Williams, Margaret Harris, Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Hooks, Gerald S. Krone) and the actors forming NEC’s resident company (Graham Brown, Norman Bush, Rosalind Cash, David Downing, Allie Woods, Edmund Cambridge, James S. Lucas, Jr., Ted Wilson, and Julius W. Harris. The last interior page has a staff listing for the NEC and the final, back page has special thanks and the bottom portion is a form to detach and complete to join the mailing list.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Created by: Negro Ensemble Company, American, founded 1967
• Subject of: Michael Schultz, American, born 1938
• Subject of: Edmund Cambridge, American, 1920 - 2001
• Subject of: Julius W. Harris, American, 1923 - 2004
• Subject of: Rosalind Cash, American, 1938 - 1995
• Subject of: Esther Rolle, American, 1920 - 1998
• Subject of: Graham Brown, American, 1924 - 2011
• Subject of: Clarice Taylor, American, 1917 - 2011
• Type: playbills
• Medium: ink on paper with metal
• Dimensions: H x W (closed): 8 1/2 × 5 1/2 in. (21.6 × 14 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (open): 8 1/2 × 11 in. (21.6 × 28 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Comedy (Theatre)
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Television
• Topic: Vaudeville
• Object number: 2013.188.35
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of William and James Thomas and family in memory of Clarice Taylor
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.