Biography

Born  June 17, 1922 in Hartford, Connecticut, Peterson grew up in a middle-class, multiethnic neighborhood. Peterson graduated from Bulkeley High School in 1940 and went south to attend Morehouse College (Atlanta, Georgia) from 1940 to 1944. He acted in collegiate productions, and upon graduation, Peterson spent a year at the Yale School of Drama and then enrolled in drama at New York University, where he earned a master of arts degree in 1947.

Acting classes at New York University eventually led Peterson to playwriting. He performed in A Young American and Our Lan', the latter taking Peterson to Broadway in 1947. However, he consistently found his character being lynched and became disturbed about these negative portraits of African Americans. He wrote two trial plays after Our Lan' and then studied playwrighting under Clifford Odets. While touring with Members of the Wedding, Peterson completed Take a Giant Step. The play opened on 28 November 1953 on Broadway and ran for seventy-two performances that left an indelible mark on American theater. This adolescent play is set in New England in the 1950s and is reminiscent of Peterson's childhood of growing up black in white suburbia. (Full Bio)

Plays

TAKE A GIANT STEP (1953)

An African-American boy is emerging into a bewildering adult world. He senses a growing estrangement from his white playmates and is expelled from school. Lonely and confused, he ends up in a saloon being propositioned by a harlot. Fleeing home feeling beaten, he receives an unforgettable scolding, becomes ill, and unburdens his heart to the family maid. She provides new experiences that allow his coming of age. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 16 (7f, 9m)

Characters: Spencer Scott, Grandmother, Tony, Iggie, Frank, Man, Violet, Poppy, Rose, Carol, Lem Scott, May Scott, Christine, Gussie, Johnny Reynolds, Bobby Reynolds

Publication Info: Take a Giant Step. Samuel French, 1954. (Link)

UNPUBLISHED

COUNT ME FOR A STRANGER (1955)

The central character is a Connecticut tobacco farmer of Swedish descent, who is determined to retain his independence from the encroaching tobacco combines. (Source)

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication: N/A

ENTERTAIN A GHOST (1962)

A semi-autobiographical play, Entertain a Ghost is the story of an interracial couple. A play within a play, the outer play focuses on a married actress rehearsing a play written by her husband, and the interior play concerns the deterioration of their marriage. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 13 (4f, 9m)

Characters: Telephone Man, Tony, Curt, Bob, Naomi, Marshall, Clarence, Ham, Joel, Jo, Chet, Pam, Miss Chisholm

Publication: N/A

CRAZY HORSE HAVE JENNY NOW (1979)

Crazy Horse Have Jenny Now has three story lines and a landscape that reaches from Italy to Connecticut. The core of the work is an interracial marriage in the 50’s between a black journalist and a white woman, a relationship that is based on the author’s life. Secondarily, the play is about the husband’s New England relatives, who are afraid to face their neighbors. Through their own direction, they become invisible. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 12 (7f, 5m)

Characters: Jennie, Blanca, Anie, Racheln, Wesley, Bob, Kate, Lydia, David, Liam, Bridget, Bellhop

Publication: N/A

ANOTHER SHOW (1983)

A story about a college student who commits suicide and the effects of his death on the people closest to him, all of whom feel guilty in one way or another for his demise. (Source)

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication: N/A

NUMBERS (1993)

Co-written with Ken Lauber, Numbers is an interracial play focusing on a black gangster and  Jew involved in the numbers racket in Harlem after World War II. (Source)

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication: N/A