Laurence Holder: Relating History and Drama

by Abby Holder

Laurence Holder has been a part of the New York drama scene for over 60 years and has

won many awards including two Audience Development Committee Awards for Excellence

(AUDELCO)(Holder). He was born in New York on February 26, 1939. He was educated at City

College of New York with a geology undergraduate degree and received his master’s degree in

creative writing (Holder). Holder started his theatre career in the 1960’s; he created a Television

series called Watch Your Mouth that aired on the local TBS channel (New Federal Theatre). It

targeted youths and influenced proper speech habits (Delgado 71). Later in his career, he

presented a historical musical depicting William Lane in his play Juba (Manheim). Juba led

Holder to focus his playwriting on historical African-American figures. Holder’s mother, Goldie,

who was also a talented writer, encouraged him to continue writing historical plays (Manheim).

In response he wrote Zora and When the Chickens Came Home to Roost. Both plays are a

single act account of myths and stories of historical Harlem Renaissance figures (Manheim).

Zora is a theatrical biography of Zora Neale Hurston, which is presented as an autobiographical

account of her own experiences as a novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, and playwright (Gates).

When the Chickens Came Home to Roost shows the relationship of two black powerful leaders,

Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, and their struggle for power (Delgado 71). Holder analyzes a

character’s life in a fresh interpretation (Rosen and Wright). Holder’s work stands out because of

his captivating recounts of the unseen struggles within relationships of well-known black writers,

political figures, and performance artists.

 A review by Anita Gates in The New York Times, states that “the life story of Zora is a

sad one” (Gates). Holder’s play begins with 50 year-old Zora Neale Hurston sitting on a rocking

chair waiting for the bus. She exclaims that she “used to be something important” (King 137).

She starts to reminisce about her life in order to realize “how it all happened” (King 137). Her

first recollection started around the time her mother died when Hurston was nine, and then she

toured with a theatre troop. She claims that her family did not understand her and therefore

mistreated her (King 138). Gates suggests that Hurston “was a little too outspoken for some

people's tastes, perhaps ahead of her time in terms of Afrocentricity and black pride” (Gates).

The story progresses to her attending Howard University, a majority black college, and then

Barnard College, a majority white school, where she met Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, and

Richard Wright (King 138). According a review in Biographical Magazine Reviews by Marjorie

Rosen and Charles Wright, half the contents of the script highlights Zora's personal conflict with

Hughes and professional conflicts with Locke and Wright (Rosen and Wright). Hughes was

Hurston's friend and collaborator, Locke was her mentor at Howard, and Wright was one of her

literary colleagues (Rosen and Wright). Later Richard Wright betrays her and accuses her writing

as promoting minstrelsy (King 146). In return, Zora’s dialog says that there was nothing positive

about Wright’s writing, and she disapproved of the “rhetoric of reaction to what the white man

was talking about” (King 149). Holder’s plot also mentioned that Locke disapproved of

Hurston’s work, stating that the “folklore took away from the fiction” (148). A journal called

Two Psuedoplays at Crossroads by Alvin Klein featured in the New York Times noted the

Opportunity magazine rejected Hurston’s heated rebuttal about the ''new, new Negro'' sent to the

(Klein). Rosen and Wright of the New York Times reason from Holder’s play that the down fall
of Hurston’s literary career resulted from her untactful “vivid and deeply held” opinions of her

contemporaries (Rosen and Wright).

Many critics find that Holder rushes through the years following Harlem. Rosen and

Wright thought the “script sprints forward, covering too much ground too quickly” (Rosen and

Wright). Frank Rich’s review in New York Times addresses that “Holder has tried to compress

this extremely complex story” and “he's defeated by the sheer quantity of information he must

convey in shorthand” (Rich). Linda Armstrong’s review in the New York Amsterdam News

criticizes the play as being too quick and there is only “a taste of what she went through and

stood for” (Armstrong). Holder marks the end of Hurston’s career with the false accusation of

child molestation. Frank Rich considers Hurston’s “suffering” from the accusations “unearned”

(Rich). Rosen and Wright think this play helped the public rediscover Zora Neale Hurston

(Rosen and Wright).

Zora was usually preformed with When the Chickens Came Home to Roost. Holder’s

play, When the Chickens Came Home to Roost, is similar in structure because it is a single act

play and a historical drama. New York Times reviewer, Frank Rich, thought that Holder “has

taken a pair of intimidating, legendary men - Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X - and brought

them to utterly convincing life.” (Rich). The play is set in the 60’s in the office of Elijah

Muhammad. Holder tries to exemplify the one of the most important relationships of African-

American history (Rich). Malcolm X comes to see Elijah Muhammad about a sex scandal

between Muhammad and his two secretaries, who are both pregnant. Malcolm’s suitcase holds

the proof of Muhammad’s guilt (Holder 90). Malcolm feels deceived by his mentor, but at the

same time he believes that he owes Muhammad for saving his life in the past. Malcolm expresses

that he loves him like a father, which Rich feels that the audience “never doubt(s) that he does,
yet their relationship is deteriorating. Muhammad seems threatened by Malcolm because

Muhammad senses that Malcolm can replace him as the leader of the Black Muslim movement.

Malcolm does not want to be the leader and in fact suggests that Wallace should be the one to

take over. Tension grows and Muhammad decides to punish Malcolm by silencing him for 90

days for commenting on the death of the President. Malcolm wants to find excuses for the flaws

of his mentor, but he accepts that “a man is just a man.” Klein proposes “that the inevitable

contrast between two legendary men lead to the drama of their falling out” (Klein).

Rich points out that “Malcolm is everything Muhammad is not” (Rich). The contrast “of

youth and age, of idealism and cynicism, of energy and exhaustion” builds the conclusion that

the two men that “had everything in common are now antagonistic strangers” (Rich). Malcolm

tries one last time to save the companionship and their universal cause. This production has won

four awards from Audelco for the direction of Alice Woods, set design by Robert Edmonds,

leading actor Denzel Washington, and the writing by Laurence Holder (King 176).

Laurence Holder’s plays, Zora and When the Chickens Came to Roost, prove that he is a

talented historical dramatist. Zora Neale Hurston shows her “fitness for survival” as she

dismisses her suffering due to her opinions of her friends and colleagues (Klein). She declares

that she “(has) fought this entire system and (she)'d call it a draw'' even though she had fallen

from being the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance” and her relationships with Langston Hughes,

Alain Locke, and Richard Wright did not survive (Holder). Malcolm reevaluates his relationship

with his father figure in the play When the Chickens Come Home to Roost. The actions of

Muhammad ruined their relationship and led Malcolm to break away from Muhammad’s

movement (King 192). Both of Holder’s humbling plays illustrate that the outcome of

relationships causes change in the lives and history of the black community.
Laurence Holder: Relating History and Drama

Abby Holder

African-American Drama History

3/29/10
 Bibliography

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New York Times 03 Nov. 1998: 6. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.

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Holder, Laurence."When the Chickens Came Home to Roost."The Best Short Plays of 1988-89.

81-96. Print.Forwarded by Ramon Delgado.

King, Woodie. New Plays for the Black Theatre: Edited by Woodie King, Jr. Chicago, Ill:

Third World, 1989. Print.

Klein, Alvin. "2 PSEUDOPLAYS AT CROSSROADS." New York Times [New York City]

10 Feb. 1985. New York Times. Web. 25 Mar. 2010.

Laurence Holder. 2001. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://laurenceholder.com>.

Manheim, James M. "Biography of Laurence Holder." (2010). Black Biographies. Web.

25 Mar.2010.

New Federal Theatre. 2009. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.newfederaltheatre.org>.

Rosen, Marjorie, and Charles Wright. "Biography Magazine Reviews: theater."

Biography 3.2 (1999): 102. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.