Edna Lewis Thomas
Edna Lewis Thomas | |
---|---|
Federal Theater Project | |
Known for | Portraying Lady Macbeth in "Voodoo" Macbeth |
Spouse(s) | Lloyd Thomas (m. c. 1914) |
Partner | Olivia Wyndham (1930–after 1942) |
Edna Lewis Thomas (November 1, 1885 – July 22, 1974) was an American stage actress whose career began in New York City during the
Thomas was born in Virginia and raised in Boston. After moving to New York around 1916, she worked as a social secretary for the beauty entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker. Though she was married to Lloyd Thomas, she started a long-term romantic relationship with British socialite Olivia Wyndham around 1930 and the three lived together for many years in a Harlem co-op.
Early life
Edna Lewis was born on November 1, 1885, in Lawrenceville, Virginia.[1] Author Saidiya Hartman, in Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, wrote that Lewis's father was a white man who raped her Black mother in his household when she was a 12-year-old nursemaid.[2] Edna grew up in Boston where she attended public schools.[3]
She married around 1914 and moved with her husband to New York City, possibly in 1916. She worked as a social secretary for the Black beauty entrepreneur
Stage career
Thomas was a prolific actress in all-Black
Thomas joined the
In 1936, Thomas was cast in the role of
Thomas appeared alongside Dooley Wilson in the 1938 Federal Theater Project production of Androcles and the Lion, where she had the role of Lavinia. She played Sukey in Harriet, Elia Kazan's 1943 Broadway play about Harriet Beecher Stowe. In 1944 she was cast in José Ferrer's production Strange Fruit, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Lillian Smith.[4][1]
Thomas portrayed a Mexican woman in the Broadway production of
Personal life
Edna married talent manager Lloyd Carter Thomas around 1914.[1] He later managed Madam C. J. Walker's Harlem salon and was a co-owner of Club Ebony.[9] Thomas supported her husband financially during the Great Depression.[1] The couple frequented parties at the Dark Tower, a cultural salon at the home of A'Lelia Walker.[2]
Around 1930, Thomas began a romantic relationship with the British photographer and socialite Olivia Wyndham. They lived together, along with Thomas's husband, at a large Harlem co-op until at least 1942. In 1937, she and Wyndham participated pseudonymously in a Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic study of "100 socially well-adjusted men and women whose preferred form of libidinous gratification is homosexual".[2] Thomas was also friends with the Harlem Renaissance photographer and patron Carl Van Vechten, corresponding with him regularly.[4]
Thomas died on July 22, 1974, of heart disease at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. She was 88.[4] The New York Public Library holds photographs of Thomas in its Edna Thomas Collection.[10]
Theater productions
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1920 | Turn to the Right | ||
1920 | Confidence | ||
1921 | The Heartbreaker | ||
1923 | Comedy of Errors | ||
1925 | The Dreamy Kid / The Emperor Jones | Irene / Spectator | |
1926–1927 | Lulu Belle
|
Valma Custer | |
1927 | Porgy | Clara | Thomas also appeared in a 1929 production of Porgy.[6] |
1932 | Ol' Man Satan | Maggie | |
1933 | Run, Little Chillun | Ella | |
1934 | Stevedore | Ruby Oxley | Thomas was in productions from April to July and from October to November of that year.[6] |
1936 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | This production had an all-Black cast and was nicknamed Voodoo Macbeth. |
1938–1939 | Androcles and the Lion | Lavinia | |
1944 | Harriet | Sukey | Following the original run in March and April, Thomas reprised her role in a second run from September to October.[6] |
1945–1946 | Strange Fruit | Mamie McIntosh | |
1947–1949 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Mexican Woman | Thomas reprised the role in revivals in 1950 and 1956.[6] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Van Straten, Frank (June 6, 2020). "The Two Thomas Trap". Theatre Heritage Australia. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Davis, Amanda (May 2021). "Edna Thomas, Lloyd Thomas & Olivia Wyndham Residence". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-135-45536-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-7876-4074-3. Archivedfrom the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-313-26621-8.
- ^ a b c d e "Edna Thomas – Broadway Cast & Staff". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ S. R. (October 7, 1936). "Voodoo 'Macbeth' Opens at Majestic; Here Two Weeks". Times Union. Brooklyn, New York. p. 4.
- ISBN 978-0-618-15446-3.
- from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ "Edna Thomas collection". ArchiveGrid. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
Further reading
- Gill, Glenda E. White Grease Paint on Black Performers: A Study of the Federal Theater, 1935–1939. NY: P. Lang, 1988.
- Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1992.