Tensions between the two came to a head in 1927 when Spence’s play The Fool’s Errand competed in the Fifth Annual International Little Theatre Tournament.
The plays of Eulalie Spence helped to make a name for the Krigwa Players amongst both Black and white critics, however Spence and Du Bois did not see eye to eye, artistically or politically. She went on to win four additional cash prizes from various other literary magazines for her plays Her, The Hunch, and The Starter. Spence finished second in the 1926 Krigwa playwriting contest for her one act play Foreign Mail. Krigwa sponsored a yearly literary contest that included a playwriting competition and fostered a theater company, the Krigwa Players, which rehearsed and performed at the 135th St. In 1926, he founded Krigwa (Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists). Du Bois, founder and editor of The Crisis, the monthly journal of the N.A.A.C.P., surmised that Black Drama must be built from scratch, by Blacks for a Black theater. in speech in 1939 from Columbia University, where she studied under the great Hatcher Hughes. in 1937 from New York University and an M.A. In 1924 she was a student at the National Ethiopian Art Theatre School, which was dedicated to the training and employment of Black actors. She graduated from Wadleigh High School and the New York Training School for Teachers. Spence overcame her impoverished childhood and managed to obtain an exceptional education.
Because of her father’s difficulty in finding steady employment, Spence and her family lived in meager circumstances. The plantation was destroyed by a hurricane, and she moved to New York City with her family in 1902, living in Harlem before eventually settling in Brooklyn. She spent her formative years on her father’s sugar plantation. Spence was born on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies on June 11, 1894, to Robert and Eno Lake Spence, the oldest of seven girls. Perhaps most notably, she became the first Black woman produced on Broadway when her play The Fool’s Errand played a one night bill at The Frolic Theatre. Du Bois’ Krigwa Players, and was also an early mentor to theatrical producer Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theater. Spence, who described herself as a “folk dramatist” who made plays for fun and entertainment, was considered one of the most experienced female playwrights of the early 20th century, and received arguably more recognition than other Black playwrights of the Harlem Renaissance period. She was an influential member of the Harlem Renaissance, writing fourteen plays, at least five of which were published during her lifetime. Eulalie Spence was a Black playwright, teacher, director, and actress who immigrated to New York City from the British West Indies.
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