Paul Robeson is well remembered today for his performance as the self-appointed monarch of a Caribbean island in Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones.” What’s been largely forgotten is that it was the first important dramatic role for a black actor on Broadway—and that the actor who created the part was not Robeson but a man named Charles Gilpin. “The Emperor’s Last Performance” by Melvin Ishmael Johnson, now in a limited world premiere at Los Angeles Theatre Center through April 4, throws a welcome light on this overlooked personality.
Gilpin’s irritation and growing discomfort over O’Neill’s persistent use of “the N word” in his play is the focus of Johnson’s fascinating drama; the scene where actor confronts playwright and forces him to defend his artistic choices is one of the highlights. There’s a terrific scene where stage reality blends with real life to a nightmarish degree. You have to admire Johnson for brevity in an era when most plays are overwritten, but at 75 minutes the piece could use a little more fleshing out. Instead of overemphasis on Gilpin’s boozing—which eventually costs him the star-making role—the actor’s early days as a minstrel might be explored.
Dwain A. Perry is captivating as Gilpin in this Robey Theatre Company presentation, conveying the entertainer’s distinctive personalities on and off stage. Robert Clements (as his manager, Naibun), Jonathan Palmer (as O’Neill) and Jah Shams (as Robeson) offer strong support, as do the others in the ensemble, under the careful direction of Ben Guillory—who co-founded Robey with actor Danny Glover circa 1996. Call 213-489-0994, ext. 107.
Seeking further information on Gilpin, I turned to “The A to Z of American Theatre: Modernism” by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison Londre, newly available in paperback from Scarecrow Press. (It’s easier to look things up in Wikipedia, of course, but the info can’t be trusted.) The entry on Gilpin is relatively short—we do learn he became a director in 1916 for the Lafayette Players, NYC’s first black stock company in a century.
More illuminating s is the summary of “The Emperor Jones” and the demon-plagued title character. The entry for African American Theatre is fascinating, with its details on such little known entities as the Astor Place Company of Colored Tragedians, founded in 1884. The 570-page tome covers virtually every aspect of American theatre in the age of modernism from 1880 to 1930, including economics, sexuality, religious drama, vaudeville, the Moscow Art Theatre, and the Yiddish Theatre.
