The Talented Provocative Hazel Bryant
By Claude Reed, Jr.
Hazel Bryant is a well-known, na
tionally acclaimed theatre producer,
pJaywrite and directress who has had
her own theatre workshop since the
mid-sixties. Prior to this effort, she was
a popular opera singer working in Eu
rope. Recently, Ms. Bryant produced
or the first time ever an all Black cast
in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Jour
ney Into Night" (see National Scene
June issue). This production was so
highly regarded that it is being pro
duced for viewing on public television.
Hazel Bryant, in our interview, proved
to be both candid and thought-provoking.
Due to the length and quality of our
conversation, her interview will be pre
sented in two parts. This is the first
installment.
NS One of the things I would like to
ask you about is your educational
background. Where did you go to
school?
Bryant Well, I was born in Ohio, and
my parents are in the Amish church.
My father is a minister. We moved to
Baltimore, Maryland, and so I grew up
for the most part in that city. 1 attended
public schools in Baltimore, and then I
went to the Peabody Conservatory of
Music, and then Overland Conserva
tory of Music. Then I was very fortu
nate to go to Europe to study at the
Mozartaum in Salzburg, Austria, to do
graduate work, as an opera singer and
as a musician. Afterwards, I came back
to this country and studied at Columbia
University to do graduate work in arts
administration and studied with Stella
Adler and Harold Clorman as an ac
tress. So my education has spanned
music, acting and administration.
NS When did you first decide that
you wanted to get involved with the
arts?
Bryant Well, I've always been inter
ested in the arts, because, as I men
tioned, I grew up in a preacher's house,
and he always encouraged good music
at the church. I was always in a choir of
some kind, and of course, at the music
schools I attended, so I always kind of
thought that since I wasn't going to be
come a lawyer, (which is what my
mother wanted) that I would become
some kind of musician. So the bulk of
my training is as an opera singer, and I
went over to Europe and did that for a
number of years.
But it wasn't until in Europe as a
singer and being exposed to having to
change my color in order to do operatic
roles you know, they would make me
up with very white makeup and make
me wear blonde and red wigs and I saw
the ridiculous, man, the absurdity of
my participating in a field that could
W- vl ; ltJ
Yu 1 '...11 I I J
Hazel Bryant and production staff confer at rehersal for an upcoming play, "Black
Nativity" by Langston Hughes, from left to right are Ed Cambridge-director; Hope
Clark choreographer; Bryant and Howard Roberts-musical director.
not accept my black womanness. I de
cided that I would come back to Amer
ica to study in the theater and perhaps
be able to play what I know, and that's
being a black person as well as a
". . . they would make me up with very
white makeup and make me wear blond
and red wigs and I saw the ridiculous . . .
the absurdity of my participating in a
field (opera) that could not accept my
black womanness."
woman. I'm not saying that every im
portant role in the world is that of a
black woman, but being able to bring
what I know about being a woman,
which is a black woman, to bear on the
preparation of that role. I didn't feel I
could do that in opera in Europe at the
time that I was there, which was in the
early and mid-sixties, so I studied thea
ter, and acting. When I had begun to
move through that preparation and
study to the point where I could audi
tion and work on Broadway and take
tours both here and abroad, I discov
ered that the same problems existed.
The kinds of roles that I wanted to audi
tion for were not proper for a black
woman, or at least that's what I was
told by the casting person. So I decided
that it was important that we have a
theater of our own, where we could de
velop our own plays and musicals and
operas and be what we are and pull on
what we know to help us. I finally dis
covered that I would have to start a
theater of my own, and in the mid and
late sixties that was something a lot of
people were doing. So I joined that host
of people who were starting theaters.
NS When did you first get involved
with singing opera?
Bryant I first started singing opera
in 1959, and I hung in there with it until
about 1965. I was fortunate in that at
the time that I was singing in Europe,
black sopranos, even though they made
us turn into blondes with every perfor
mance, were very much wanted. So I
worked a lot in European opera houses,
and sang a lot of major and wonderful
roles, but by 1967 I was ready to come
back to America and deal with starting
a theater that would enhance the op
portunity for American artists, singers
and performers to work.
NS I just have one more opera
question. What were some of the op
eras that you performed in?
Bryant Well, my roles were But
terfly, Tosca and Fuere de Ligi, and
Cosi Von Tutti. Primarily those were
the roles I did over and over again. I
also did Suzanna in Marriage of
Figaro, and several modern operas.
NS When did you write your first
play?
Bryant When I started my theater it
was very difficult to get plays, because
most of the leading black playwrights
of that time were already connected
with other theaters-LeRoy Jones, Ed
Bullins, Charles Fuller all of these
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