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My Name is Ossian Sweet
Purchase Application:
$60.00 Royalty per Performance
$20.00 Single-Use Copyright Fees
Play Features:
My Name is Ossian Sweet
A Docu-Drama Based on the 1925 Sweets’ Trials
14 Actors/ 25 Characters
7 Black Actors/7 White Actors + Extras if desired
Approximate Playing Time: 1 hr. 40 minutes
1925; Detroit, Michigan. Sweet, a Negro migrant from Florida seeking a better life in the North, became a medical doctor, married Gladys Atkinson from a middle-class black family, and ultimately bought a “dream house” in a white neighborhood in a city rife with members of the KKK. Over two days and nights a mob gathered, screamed racist insults and threw stones, attempting to evict them. In the ensuing pandemonium Ossian’s brother Henry fired shots from an upstairs window, killing one white man and wounding another. All were arrested and charged with murder. The bold defense of the Sweets by the renowned defense attorney Clarence Darrow over two trials marks one of the most courageous and pivotal moments in the long struggle of African Americans to secure their civil rights. By definition, “My Name is Ossian Sweet” is a work of fiction, yet an epic docu-drama based on well-researched historical events and providing insights into Ossian’s childhood, family traditions and the life experiences that shaped his world.
$20 Single Use Copyright Fee plus $60 Royalty per Performance for Amateur Theatre. Professional Theatre Royalties Calculated on Application.
$60.00 Royalty per Performance
$20.00 Single-Use Copyright Fees