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Ernie McClintock papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 16810

Content Description

This collection contains the papers of Ernie McClintock (1937-2003), an American director, producer, actor, writer, teacher, and theatre artist who was a major force in the Black Arts Movement. He taught acting to hundreds of students across the country and directed award-winning plays in Harlem, New York (1960-1989), and Richmond, Virginia (1989-2003). The McClintock papers are a living archive for future drama students and communities interested in Black theatre. They represent the works and dreams of a Black and Gay theatre director who persisted in giving voice to the Black and multicultural communities where he lived. His work spanned beyond one dimensional categories, and he was well-known behind the scenes with famous actors, directors, and playwrights, and was the recipient of seven prestigious Audelco awards for excellence in Black theater. He worked with Tupac Shakur, Ossie Davis, James Earl Jones, Felicia Rashad, Morgan Freeman, Lou Gossett, Jr., Dr. Walter Turnbull, Woody King, Jr. and others. McClintock was committed to world class excellence in theatre and to introducing more Black theatre productions to the community. He directed over two hundred performances from classics like A Raisin in the Sun to Tupac Shakur's Rose Grew Out of Cement, and new plays written by young playwrights and actors like Derome Scott Smith in R.I.O.T. or Jerome Hairston. His personal papers and theatre papers are combined because his life and family were inseparable from the theatre. He also won the Billy Graham artistic excellence award in 2002. (There are two scripts in the collection written by Billy Graham about Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis). Too expansive to put in one category, anyone studying Black Theatre Arts will repeatedly come across the exemplary work of Ernie McClintock.

One of the highlights of the collection are McClintock’s personal notebooks (over a hundred journals) that lay out his driving passion to create a world-class, first-rate theatre and his commitment to live in a world of honesty, pure intention, and love. The journals also contain many personal peptalks that he wrote to inspire himself to keep working toward his goals. He developed his own "Jazz Style Acting Technique" where actors imagine the character beyond the script to become the person in the play. His lesson plans include a series of questions and exercises that require the actor to discover himself as an actor and in character. He taught Black actors how to express themselves using their own Black experiences instead of the general acting techniques that were based on white experiences. His colleagues remarked that once an actor had worked with Ernie McClintock, their life and acting was transformed. He was a taskmaster that demanded commitment and excellence and his legacy was the improvement of individual actors and the promotion of Black theatre in communities. The reward was love for each other, and the investment of full emotional expression, and dynamic physical movement in theatre which could be healing to a community that has been so greatly ignored and mistreated.

The collection also includes personal and professional correspondence, financial documents, contracts, and manuscript notes which represent a significant piece of Ernie McClintock's creative output. There are also scripts and typescripts of plays McClintock produced and collected. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, reviews, articles, awards, promotional materials, playbills, programs, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting his life and work.

McClintock started the Afro-American Actors Studio for Acting and Speech in New York City, and the Jazz Actors Theatre in Richmond, Virginia and he also worked with the community to create outstanding theatre productions, including the National Black Theatre Festival. His time was consumed with directing, teaching, fundraising, and writing drafts of promotional literature for events and workshops to promote theatre and excellence.

Also included are casting files which include headshots, resumes, and other casting/booking documents from McClintock-affiliated productions, and production files which contain programs and contract agreements for McClintock's productions. Many of the actors from the Afro-American Acting Studio in New York, followed McClintock to his Jazz Actors Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. They include Thaddeus Daniels, Joan Green, Helen Butler, Valerie Drummond, Lee Cooper, Hazel Smith, d. l. Hopkins, Leonard Wilson, Janice Jenkins, Jessie Holmes, Ed Broaddus, Jerome Preston Bates, Antonio Charity, J. Ron Fleming, Lee Levy Simon and many more. Other actors and theatre directors mentioned are Derome Scott Smith, Randy Strawderman, Mary Hodges, Mary Sue Carroll, Zaria Griffin, Bolanye Edwards, and Dr. Cumber Dance.

Included in the collection is information about and from Ronald "Ronn" Tyrone Walker, McClintock's long-time partner and technical director. Walker, an artist in his own right, received three Audelco awards for his amazing work with free standing scene designs and lighting.

The photographic materials document performances, rehearsals, events, and McClintock's personal life, and the life of Ronn Walker. The bulk of the photographs are in color, taken in Richmond circa 1991-2003. There are photographs of Ernie McClintock with Tupac Shakur. There is also a photograph of Sammy Davis, Jr. with the Boys Choir of Harlem, a contact sheet with James (J. J.) Walker (Dyn-O-mite from Good Times television show), and many photographs of playwrights, directors, and actors of note.

The A-V materials include audiocassette tapes where one can hear the voice of Ernie McClintock, and mostly mixtapes of music, and the reel-to-reel audiotapes including interviews and audio for performances and lesson plans from the Afro-American Actors Studio for Acting and Speech. There is one CD-R containing a Microsoft Publisher file (of an artist wanting to share her work with Ernie McClintock.)

Dates

  • Creation: 1961-2006

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Biographical / Historical

Ernie McClintock (1937-2003) was an award-winning American director, teacher, and theatre artist who was a major force behind the scenes of the Black Arts Movement (1965-1975). He was well-known to famous Black actors, directors, and playwrights. He worked with Tupac Shakur, Ossie Davis, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Morgan Freeman, Lou Gossett, Jr., Sammy Davis, Jr., Dr. Walter Turnbull, Marc Primus, Woody King, Jr., Ntozake Shange, Amiri Bakara, and many others. He earned seven Audelco awards for his theatre work including Dramatic Production of the Year for River Niger and Equus. He won Best Director for Equus, Moon On a Rainbow Shawl and Outstanding Musical Creation for Tabernacle. McClintock was known in the theatre for bringing a unique blend of clarity, boldness and intense dramatic effect to his productions. He has been most acclaimed for his innovative and award winning productions of Shango, Do Lord Remember Me, Dream On Monkey Mountain and Spell #7 He was also the 1997 recipient of the Living Legend Award from the National Black Theatre.

After McClintock saw his first play, A Hatful of Rain starring Frank Silvera when he was in high school in Chicago,he was deeply moved by the intense emotional performance of the lead actor. He started acting in plays in high school, at Crane College (now Malcolm X College)and in local Chicago productions.

Around 1965, after returning from two years of service in the U.S. Army, McClintock moved to New York City. After one of his performances, actor Lou Gossett, Jr. was so impressed that he hired McClintock to teach at his school. This experience would be crucial in the development of teaching theatre to hundreds of students across the country.

In 1966, McClintock founded his first acting studio, the Afro-American Studio for Acting and Speech, based in Harlem. In 1968, he opened the 127th Street Repertory Ensemble, which served as the professional extension of the school. Beginning around this time, McClintock also worked with the famous Boy’s Choir of Harlem as a stage director and choreographer, a role that would last for the next decade. In 1986, McClintock created the Harlem Jazz Theatre.

Through his teaching, McClintock developed his own acting technique that he called, “Jazz Acting,” or a “Common Sense Approach” to acting which according to McClintock "allows actors to use their own life experiences to enhance their characterizations on the stage." An actor asks himself a series a questions about identity to better understand the character beyond the script and also learn who he is an actor. He taught Black actors how to express themselves using their own Black experiences instead of the general acting techniques that were based on white experience. He directed over 200 theatrical productions, concerts, musicals, and club acts. McClintock believed that the depiction of hard life circumstances and the expressions of emotions in Black Theatre was a way of healing for African Americans.

In 1989, he and his partner, the artist, and designer Ronald Tyrone Walker, moved their life and work to Richmond, Virginia, renaming their studio the Jazz Actor’s Theatre. "Ronn" Walker was born in St. Louis and met Ernie McClintock in 1962 in Chicago. He won three Audelco awards for his technical scenes and creative work on set design and lighting. Walker was known for being amazingly resourceful in creating stunning visual images for the stage.

McClintock and Walker became heavily invested in the performing arts community in Richmond, bringing back the annual National Black Theatre Festival (which McClintock founded in 1989) and collaborating on the “Theatre for All the People” program with the Richmond Department of Parks and Recreation. After Ronald Walker died in 1999, McClintock created a new artspace for African Americans with a focus on multiculturism - the Ronald Tyrone Walker Memorial Gallery for the Creative Arts. McClintock consistently directed excellent theatre performances in his community and worked with local government throughout his life to promote world class Black theatre productions. He died in 2003 in Richmond, Virginia but his legacy lives on in this collection.

Source: Material in collection

Apreciation for Dr. Elizabeth Cismar, Geno Brantley (adopted son of Ernie and Ronn), Geno's partner and stage director Donna Pendarvis, actor and filmographer Derome Scott Smith, actors Mary Hodges, and Iman Shabazz for sharing their knowledge of the collection with the University of Virginia libary. The collection is a living archive of the work and legacy of Ernie McClintock and Ronn Walker for our users and future drama students.

Extent

24.44 Cubic Feet (40 document boxes, 1 cubic of awards, and several cubics of A-V materials)

0.0093 Gigabytes (1 PUB file) : 1 CDR

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The collection is organized into seven series with 5 subseries under Series 1. Series 1. Black Theatre Development. Subseries 1. Afro-American Actors Studio for Acting and Speaking, Subseries 2. Boys Choir of Harlem, 3. Jazz Actors Studio, 4. Jazz Theatre of Richmond, Subseries 5. Personal papers and career, Series 2. Scripts, production files, and poems, Series 3. Programs, Series 4. Reviews, articles, theatres, and theatre education, Series 5. Scrapbooks, photographs, and negatives, Series 6. Awards and certificates, Series 7. A-V materials.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Geno Brantley and Donna Pendarvis by the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 15 March 2023.

Separated Materials

These plays have been cataloged separately in VIRGO. A Shot in the Dark-Harry Kurnitz America Hurrah-Jean-Claude Van Itallie Anansi and Muntu-Sydney Hibbert The Baptism and the Toilet-LeRoi Jones Before It Hits Home- Cheryl L. West Bending Over to Pick Up A Snake-Felton Eaddy Black Drama Anthology-Woodie King and Ron Milner Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement poems-Nikki Giovanni Black Girl-J. E. Franklin Black Poetry edited by Dudley Randall Black Scenes-Alice Childress Black Theatre Present Condition-Woodie King, Jr. Black World A Johnson Publication December 1973 Black World A Johnson Publication February 1974 Blithe Spirit- Noel Coward Blues for an Alabama Sky- Pearl Cleage The Boys Next Door-Tom Griffin The Brute and Other Farces- Anton Chekhov Buffalo Hair- Carlyle Brown Colored Museum- George C. Wolfe Come Back Little Sheba-William Inge Coming of the Hurricane- Keith Glover The Crucible- Arthur Miller Dancing On Moonlight- Keith Glover Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays- Derek Walcott Dutchman and the Slave- LeRoi Jones East Texas Hot Links- Eugene Lee Equus- Peter Shaffer Famous American Plays of the 1950’s Five on the the Black Hand Side- Charlie L. Russell Flyin’ West- Pearl Cleage Four Dynamite Plays- Ed Bullins Full Gallop- Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson Handbook on Soviet Drama-H. W. L. Dana A Hatful of Rain- Michael V. Gazza Have You Seen Zandile? “Hey Garland! I Dig Your Tweed Suit”-Garland Lee Thompson, Jr. Inherit the Wind- Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Insurrection: Holding History- Robert O’Hara It’s A New Day-Sonia Sanchez Joe Turner’s Come and Gone- August Wilson The King’s Dilemma- Willis Richardson (signed by author to Afro-American Studio) The Little Tommy Parker Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show- Carlyle Brown Long Time Since Yesterday- P. J. Gibson Love and War Poems-Marvin X. MACBETH (study book)-Mary Duffy Thompson and Harry G. Paul Medal of Honor Rag- Tom Cole Moon On A Rainbow Shawl- Errol John My Sister, My Sister- Ray Aranha The National Black Drama Anthology- Woodie King Jr. New Plays for the Black Theatre- Woodie King Jr. No Place To Be Somebody- Charles Gordone The Old Settler- John Henry Redwood Othello- William Shakespeare The Owl and the Pussycat- Bill Manhoff The Piano Lesson- August Wilson Purlie Victorious- Ossie Davis 1940’s Radio Hour- Walton Jones A Raisin In The Sun- Lorraine Hansberry Remembrance & Pantomime- Derek Walcott Riff Raff- Laurence Fishburne The Rise-Charles H. Fuller Seven Guitars- August Wilson The Sirens- Richard Wesley A Soldier’s Play- Charles Fuller Sugar in the Raw- Rebecca Carroll 10 Short Plays edited by Jerry Weiss Tiger at the Gates translated by Christopher Fry Time Limit!- Henry Denker and Ralph Berkey To Be Young, Gifted and Black A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry adapted by Robert Nemiroff Tradition An Anthology Of Young Black Writers-Kevin Powell and Ras Baraka Trials of Brother Jero and the Strong Breed- Wole Soyinka Two Trains Running- August Wilson Up On the Downside-Layding Lumumba Kaliba What the Wine-Seller Buy Ron Milner Wit- Margaret Edson Woza Albert!- Mtwa/Ngema/Simon Zooman and the Sign- Charles Fuller

The Art of Western Africa The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Black Music

Condition Description

Fair

General

This material may contain offensive or harmful language or imagery. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials. Photographs have some nudity.

Title
Ernie McClintock papers
Status
Completed
Author
Ellen Welch
Date
2023-10-11
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Repository

Contact:
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22904-4110 United States