Alice Childress (Playwright) – In 1955 Childress’ play Trouble in Mind opened at the Greenwich Mews Theatre, Off Broadway, to critical and popular success. The play immediately drew interest from producers for a Broadway transfer. In an ironic twist echoing the tribulations of the characters in the play itself, the producers wanted changes to the script to make it more palatable to a commercial audience. Childress refused to compromise her artistic vision. Trouble in Mind received well-reviewed Off-Broadway revival in 1998 by the Negro Ensemble Company and has since been produced by many regional theatres throughout the United States. Throughout Alice’s career, she worked diligently to reveal the true experiences of black people in America; especially those of black women. As Childress herself once said “I concentrate on portraying have-nots in a have society.”