William Branch: (A Conversation) Reminiscence

Abstract

William Branch (actor, playwright, educator, screenwriter, and producer) earned the B.A. at Northwestern University (1949) and the M.F.A. at Columbia University (1958). As an actor, he was a cast member of the national company of Anna Lucasta, among other productions. He has been a professor at University of Maryland-Baltimore County and at Cornell University as well as guest lecturer and visiting scholar at many colleges and universities. Branch has also worked in radio, television, and film, serving in myriad capacities--from writer to producer. Among his many plays are A Medal for Willie (1951); In Splendid Error (1954); A Wreath for Udomo (1960), adapted from Peter Abraham's novel of the same name; and Baccalaureate (1975). In addition, Mr. Branch is the editor/contributor of Black Thunder: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Drama, which brought him an American Book Award in 1992, and Crosswinds: An Anthology of Black Dramatists in the Diaspora. The initial session of this interview took place at Columbia University's Institute for Research in African-American Studies; the last session was completed there on August 12, 2002. Throughout the interviews, Branch was thoughtful, enthusiastic, and informative. NN: Since we are at Columbia University, it is appropriate to begin this interview with a Columbia question. You received your M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia University in 1958. What was that experience like for you as an African American? WB: Well, I was at Columbia under that program for two years. I had recently gotten married. I had the G.I. Bill at the time--from the Korean conflict. I was commuting from my apartment on the Lower East Side. It was a very interesting experience. I do recall being in a theatre class taught by Maurice Valency that was very stimulating. Maurice Valency, in addition to being a professor, was an active Broadway playwright. He had adapted several European plays. He had an extraordinary breadth of knowledge in theatre. As for the playwriting classes themselves, I frankly felt they left something to be desired. NN: Did you have any association or courses with Eric Bentley? (Bentley was the Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature at Columbia University from 1954-1969.) WB: Oh, yes, I had a Shakespeare course with Eric Bentley, which I enjoyed a great deal. I might point out that I asked both Maurice Valency and Eric Bentley about being sponsors for my Guggenheim Fellowship application. I supplied them with copies of my play In Splendid Error and asked if they would consider recommending me for the fellowship. After reading my play, both of them agreed. They, along with Langston Hughes and Loften Mitchell, recommended me, and I'm happy to say that the application was successful. NN: What was the process of interacting with other students like at that time? WB: I'd come to the campus for classes and when the classes were over, I would leave. In effect, I did not have that many interactions with students. In the playwriting classes, I was the only African American. I did not really have a campus kind of experience when I was getting my Master's at Columbia as I did at Northwestern when I was an undergraduate. NN: Now can we go back and talk about how and why you decided on Northwestern? WB: I spent my first 13 years in the North, mainly in New York State. When I was 13, my father, who was an A.M.E. Zion minister, took a parish in the South, in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was the first time I had lived in the South. Segregation and discrimination became real to me. When I was in the eleventh grade, I started to write a play but abandoned the effort. I lived some distance from the school, and there were days when I didn't quite make the bell. The principal decided he was tired of students not making the bell. He decided that any student who came to school late from then on would be kicked out of school. …