Steve Carter (playwright)

Steve Carter (November 1929 -) is an American playwright, best known for his plays involving Caribbean immigrants living in the United States.

Biography

Born Horace Carter to an African-American father from the South and a mother of Caribbean descent, he is professionally known as steve carter (spelled in all lowercase letters).

In 1967, he joined the staff of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) and remained there until 1981. While at NEC, several of his plays were produced. One of the first was "One Last Look", a dark comedy set during the funeral of a family patriarch. It features the character of Eustace Baylor, that would later be found in his play, "Eden", the first of a trilogy of plays featuring Caribbean families in New York City. All three plays in the series deal with different families, but each feature a patriarch that has become incapacitated in one way or another.

Set in the San Juan Hill section of New York City in the late 1920s, "Eden" tells a story somewhat reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet about a young Jamaican woman who falls in love with a black man from the rural American South. Her strict father does not approve of the relationship, because he feels at American blacks, especially those from the rural South, are vastly inferior to Caribbean blacks.

"Nevis Mountain Dew", the second play in the series, deals with the effects of the patriarch being crippled by paralysis in the Queens section of New York City in the 1950s. Like "Whose Life Is It Anyway?", which premiered in the same season, it deals with euthanasia.

In 1981, Carter left NEC to become the first playwright-in-residence at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. His first play produced there was "Dame Lorraine", the final play of his Caribbean trilogy. Set in modern times, the play tells the story of an elderly couple that anxiously await the return of their last surviving child who has just been released from prison.

Carter currently lives in New York City.

Literary works

Carter's most famous plays are "Eden" (1976), "Nevis Mountain Dew" (1978), and "Dame Lorraine" (1981), which make up his Caribbean Trilogy.

The Caribbean Trilogy

Carter is perhaps best known for this trilogy of plays focusing on Caribbean immigrants living in New York City in three different periods of the 20th century. With the exception of Dame Lorraine, all of the plays in the trilogy premiered at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City. They are as follows:

*1920s - "Eden" (1976)
*1950s - "Nevis Mountain Dew" (1978)
*1980s - "Dame Lorraine (1981) (premiered at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago)

Other plays

*"House of Shadows"
*"One Last Look"
*"Pecong" (1990)
*"The Terraced Apartment"

Awards and nominations

*1979 Drama Desk Award (Outstanding New Play) nomination for "Nevis Mountain Dew"
*1980 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award (Playwriting) for "Eden] "
*1990 Jeff Award (Best New Work) for "Pecong"

External links

* [http://www.ntcp.org/compendium/artists/STEVE.html 1994 Commentary by Carter from the Non-Traditional Casting Project]