Harrison, Paul Carter, 1936-....

Playwright, professor and African American theatre expert, Paul Carter Harrison was born March 1, 1936 in New York City, New York. His parents, Thelma Inez Harrison and Paul Randolph Harrison were from North and South Carolina, respectively, with backgrounds rooted in the Garvey Movement, the A.M.E. Church and Gullah culture. Harrison's brother, Kenneth, was the first black basketball player at Villanova University. Harrison attended P.S. 113 and graduated from Commerce High School in 1952. At New York University in Greenwich Village, sixteen-year-old Harrison met cutting edge artists, writers and musicians including Billy Dee Williams, Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Ted Joans and Thelonius Monk. He transferred to Indiana University in 1953, where he met "Sweet" Charlie Brown, Freddie Hubbard, and David Baker. He was awarded a B.A. in psychology in 1957. Returning to New York, Harrison earned an M.A. in psychology and phenomenology from the New School for Social Research in 1962.

Shelving his plans for a Ph.D. in 1962, Harrison spent seven years in Spain and the Netherlands, honing his writing and experimenting in theatre. In Amsterdam he met students from Surinam with whom he dialogued about the drama of African ritual. Harrison wrote a film script,Stranger On The Square, and two plays:The Experimental LeaderandDialogue from the Opposition. From 1968 to 1970, Harrison taught theater at Howard University, where his students included: Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Linda Goss, Petronia Bailey, Clinton T. Davis and Pearl Cleage. At the State University of California at Sacramento, 1970-72, he wrote and directedTabernacleand directed Melvin Van Peebles'Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death. In 1973, his play,The Great McDaddy, produced by the Negro Ensemble Company, won an Obie Award. From 1972 to 1976, he taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is now professor emeritus and wrote movie scripts forLord Shango(1975) andYoungblood(1978). In 1976, Harrison was hired as professor and writer in residence at the Theatre Center of Chicago's Columbia College and served until his retirement in 2002. While in Chicago, Harrison directed ETA's acclaimed production of Marsha Leslie'sThe Trial of One Short Sighted Black Woman(1996) and Columbia'sDoxology(2002). Harrison's books include:The Drama of Nommo and Totem Voices: Plays From the Black World Repertory(1972),Kuntu Drama: Plays From the African Continuum(1974),In The Shadow of the Great White Way(intro 1989),Classic Plays from the Negro Ensemble Company(1995), andBlack Theatre: Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora(2003). Harrison lives in New York City and looks forward to annual vacations in Spain with his daughter.