Biography

Regina Anderson aka Regina Andrews/ Ursula Trelling/ Ursula/ Regina M. Anderson, born in Chicago, was a librarian, author, civic leader, and community activist. After doing internships and apprenticeships at Wilberforce University and Chicago's Public Library she got a job at the New York Public Library (NYPL). While at the 135th Street Branch, Andrews became involved in Du Bois's CRIGWA (later KRIGWA) Players, which initially performed in the basement of the library. After this group disbanded, Andrews co-founded the Harlem Experimental Theatre with Dorothy Peterson and Harold Jackman. Andrews performed in many of the group's productions and wrote plays under the pseudonym Ursula Trelling, two of which were produced by the group: Climbing Jacob's Ladder (1931) and Underground (1932). Andrews continued to support theater when she moved on to the 115th Street Branch, allowing playwright Loften Mitchell's Pioneer Drama Group, later known as the 115th Street People's Theatre, to perform in the library. She worked at branch libraries throughout the city until her retirement in 1966. In 1968, she served as a consultant for the controversial “Harlem on My Mind” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and subsequently used her research on the show to develop a manuscript that was posthumously published as The Black New Yorkers. She served on the boards of several organizations including the National Council of Women of the United States, of which she was a Vice President, and she represented the National Urban League as a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO. Through the National Council of Women and other groups, Andrews made international trips to West Germany, West Africa, and Asia. (Full Bio)

Plays

CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER (1931)

A young black man, Wash Thomas, is in trouble and there’s a meeting about how to raise $300 for his defense. While the congregation of two local churches argue about who should be on the committee to make decisions about the distributions of the funds raised by the two churches, one parishioner, Sammy, hears noises and steps outside. When Sammy returns he informs the congregation that Wash Thomas has been lynched. (Source)*

Cast Requirement: 13+ (5f, 8m)

Characters: Reverend Lumpkin, John Gaddie, Ethel Randolph Thompson, Her Husband, George Chippie, His Friend, Dr. Gerald Loving, Mother of Prisoner, Two Daughters, Reverend Sampson, Sammy, A Man, Spectators

Publication: Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women. Edited by Kathy A. Perkins and Judith L. Stephens. Indiana University Press, 1998. (Link)

THE MAN WHO PASSED 

The action takes place in a barbershop located in the basement of a building in Harlem where Carrington has come to get his hair styled. A newsboy stops by the barbershop and Carrington purchases the local black newspaper from him. Suddenly Carrington looks shocked—his father’s obituary is in the paper and it states that his father was grieving the death of his wife who died three weeks earlier. Carrington, who has lost both his parents, reveals that it was his father who stopped speaking to him when he married his white wife.

Cast Requirement: 6 (6m)

Characters: Van, Kid, Fred Carrington, Joe, Tom, A Newspaper Boy 

Publication: Harlem's Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900-1950. Edited by Lorraine Elena Roses and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph. Harvard University Press, 1996. (Link)

UNPUBLISHED

UNDERGROUND (1932) 

Underground tells the story of a family of runaway slaves: a mother, daughter, and stepfather. 

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication: N/A

Matilda (date unknown) 

Play summary unknown. One-act play.

Cast Requirement: N/A

Characters: N/A

Publication: N/A

RESOURCES