Title
Files
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Playwright
Arnaud d'Usseau and James Gow
Performance Dates
October 16, 1948
Creative Team
Director............................................J. F. Smith
Business Manager...........................Dick Willit
Stage Managers..............................Bob Hamlin and Bill Hunt
Properties........................................Ralph Hughes and Bill Harrison
Publicity...........................................Mary Frail and Bob Barr
Synopsis
The play tells the story of Brett Charles, a decorated African-American lieutenant in the U.S. Army, who returns to his small hometown in the Deep South at the end of World War II. Brett has been treated like an equal in Europe, with men under his command, and slipping back into the shuffling role of "boy" is not something he's about to do. The liberal-minded Alice Langdon, daughter of a conservative U.S. senator, has been Brett's champion throughout his life, and she has plans for him to go to college in the North. Brett prefers to stay, however, and work to better his community. Alice's younger sister, Genevra (Nevvy for short), who grew up with Brett, is happy that he's remaining, though she doesn't initially understand that it's because she loves him. Brett returns the feeling, but the bond is unarticulated until events force Nevvy and Brett to share their emotions. When Alice realizes the situation, her patronizing façade crumbles, and she joins in her father's already hatched plot to destroy Brett, whose efforts to combat segregation anger the senator. Also important are Alice's beau Howard, a Northern writer, and Brett's mother, Bella, the Langdons' housekeeper.
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/ny-review-deep-roots-53483/
Disciplines
Acting | Dance | Theatre and Performance Studies | Theatre History
Keywords
Otterbein Theatre, Performing Arts, College Theater
Recommended Citation
Otterbein University, "Deep Are The Roots" (1948). 1907-1958 Productions. 56.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/production_1907-1958/56