Nan Bagby Stephens

Stephens was from Atlanta, Georgia,{{Cite book |last=Carby |first=Hazel V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k07mdumCDIAC&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA70 |title=Race Men |date=2009-07-01 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02919-4 |pages=69–70 |language=en}} the daughter of James McConnell Stephens and Zipporah Bagby Stephens. Both of her grandfathers were slaveowners in Georgia.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Sterling A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onyOqAw8aaUC&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA182 |title=A Son's Return: Selected Essays of Sterling A. Brown |date=1996 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-55553-275-8 |pages=182 |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Stephens |first=Nan Bagby |date=1924-01-06 |title=Her Colored Cook Inspired 'Roseanne'; Author Tells History of New Play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-her-colored-cook-inspired-ro/163767026/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=Daily News |pages=141 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her younger sister Frances married French opera conductor Louis Hasselmans.{{Cite news |date=1933-08-25 |title=Louis Hasselmans Weds in Atlanta; Metropolitan Conductor Takes Miss Frances Stephens as His Bride |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/08/25/archives/louis-hasselmans-weds-in-atlanta-metropolitan-conductor-takes-miss.html |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} She graduated from Girls High School in Atlanta and Agnes Scott College,{{Cite news |date=1946-12-30 |title=Miss Nan Stephens, Musician, Author, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-miss-nan-stephens-m/163767907/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The Atlanta Journal |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}} and trained as a pianist in Vienna with Johanna Müller and Theodor Leschetizky.{{Cite magazine |date=June 23, 1928 |title=Nan Bagby Stephens, Playwriting Instructor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8p4UnsUT-4C&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=RA7-PA35 |magazine=Billboard |volume=40 |pages=35}}

Stephens, who was white, was known for writing songs and plays based on traditional "negro music" of the American South, often with regional themes and dialect lyrics. Her Broadway play Roseanne was initially produced in 1923 with white performers in blackface, including Chrystal Herne.{{Cite journal |last=Walrond |first=Eric D. |date=February 1924 |title=Roseanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cH7XAAAAMAAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA60 |journal=Opportunity |volume=2 |pages=60}}{{Cite news |date=1924-01-04 |title=Miss Stephens' Play 'Roseanne' Wins Unstinted Praise of Critics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-miss-stephens/163752665/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}} Soon after, in 1924, it was produced with a Black cast, including Charles Sidney Gilpin, Paul Robeson, and Rose McClendon.{{Cite news |title=Negroes Play 'Roseanne'; Charles Gilpin Proves Disappointing in Role of Preacher |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/03/11/104244845.html?pageNumber=16 |access-date=2025-01-23|date=March 11, 1924|page=16 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} Roseanne became a source for Oscar Micheaux's film Body and Soul (1925).{{Cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_JnsmXU_sUC&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=RA1-PA281 |title=Screening a Lynching: The Leo Frank Case on Film and Television |date=2009 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-2752-5 |pages=281, note 44 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Fullerton |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AebLY8OZckcC&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA13 |title=Screen Culture: History and Textuality |date=2004 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-86196-645-5 |pages=13 |language=en}} Black critic Eric D. Walrond called Roseanne "good art and punk propaganda" in his 1924 review. Roseanne was revived in 1945, at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine.{{Cite news |date=1945-08-19 |title=Atlantian's Negro Play, 'Roseanne', is Revived |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-atlantians-negro-pl/163767289/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The Atlanta Journal |pages=39 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Stephens was a vice-president of the National Federation of Music Clubs, representing the South Atlantic states,{{Cite news |date=1922-02-12 |title=President of Atlantic District |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-president-of-atlanti/163793349/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |work=The Atlanta Journal |pages=42 |via=Newspapers.com}} and taught play writing at Agnes Scott College in the late 1920s.

• "Lafayette, we have come!" (1918, song, words by J. W. Greer){{Cite web |title=Lafayette, we have come! : song |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2014570112 |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}
• Tradition's Daughter (1918, play){{Cite book |last=Library of Congress Copyright Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slocAQAAIAAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA252 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series |date=1919 |pages=49, 54, 55, 252 |language=en}}
• Lazy Daisy (1918, play)
• Noblesse Oblige (1918, a comedy)
• Angelo (1918, play)
• "Morning Song"; "Plantation Ditty"; "Little Tin Ho'n" (1921, songs, words by Frank L. Stanton){{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUccAQAAIAAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA1436 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions |date=1922 |publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office. |pages=1394, 1419, 1433, 1436, 1454, 1473, 1498 |language=en}}
• "My Dearie", "When the Little Boy Ran Away", "Hymn to Mother" (1921, songs, words by Frank L. Stanton)
• "A Song of Georgia" (1921, song)
• Roseanne (1923–1924, play)
• "Negro Spirituals" (1924, essay in The New York Times){{Cite news |last=Stephens |first=Nan Bagby |date=January 27, 1924 |title=Negro Spirituals |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/01/27/104029835.html?pageNumber=140 |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |pages=4 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}
• John Barleycorn (1927, play){{Cite news |title=To Give 'Success' and 'Barleycorn.' |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/11/28/101444777.html?pageNumber=15 |date=November 28, 1927|page=15|access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}
• Tares (1927, play){{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64r0aBkYLawC&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA344 |title=Catalogue of Copyright Entries: Pamphlets, leaflets, contributions to newspapers or periodicals, etc.; lectures, sermons, addresses for oral delivery; dramatic compositions; maps; motion pictures |date=1927 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=153, 155, 344 |language=en}}
• The Auction Block (1927, one-act play)
• Charivari (1927, one-act comedy set in Louisiana)
• Barbed Wire (1931){{Cite news |title=Theatrical Notes |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/09/05/118229086.html?pageNumber=7 |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}
• Cabildo (1932, one-act opera, music by Amy Beach)
• Glory (1932, novel based on the same story as Roseanne){{Cite news |last=Stafford |first=Bessie S. |date=1932-02-02 |title=Nan Bagby Stephens First Novel is Entitled 'Glory' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-nan-bagby-steph/163752991/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Rome and July (1933, radio serial){{Cite book |last=Library of Congress Copyright Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNFDAAAAIAAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=RA1-PA8 |title=Catalogue of Title Entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, at Washington, D.C. |date=1933 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=8, 224, 262 |language=en}}
• First Lady, or, Madam President (1933, a play about Mary Todd Lincoln)
• Cousin George (1933, a comedy about a ghost, also known as The Green Vine){{Cite news |date=1946-11-13 |title='The Green Vine' Junior Play to be Given Nov. 22d |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/seward-county-independent-the-green-vin/163768592/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=Seward County Independent |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• "Habeas Corpus" (1935, short story){{Cite news |last=Stephens |first=Nan Bagby |date=1935-04-17 |title=Habeas Corpus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-habeas-corpusnan-bagby/163768825/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The Toronto Star |pages=52 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Lily (1940, play){{Cite book |last=Library of Congress Copyright Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFdhAAAAIAAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA200 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series |date=1941 |pages=99, 200 |language=en}}
• If I Ever Cease to Love (1941, play){{Cite news |date=July 22, 1941 |title=Abbott Cancels Tour of 'Pal Joey'; Gene Kelly Signed by Selznick for Hitchcock Film, So Show Will Close Here Sept. 27 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/07/22/104296039.html?pageNumber=21 |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |pages=21 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}

Stephens died in 1946, in Georgia. Her 1932 collaboration with composer Amy Beach, a one-act opera named Cabildo, about a prison in New Orleans, was first recorded in 1965,{{Cite book |last=Wlaschin |first=Ken |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZMuEQAAQBAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA58 |title=Encyclopedia of American Opera |date=2024-10-16 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1238-6 |pages=58 |language=en}} and saw its first professional production in 1995, at Lincoln Center.{{Cite news |last=Ellison |first=Cori |date=May 7, 1995 |title=Classical Music: A Woman's Work Well Done |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1995/05/07/325695.html?pageNumber=254 |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |pages=29 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} It was part of the Muffled Voices Festival, with performances in Moscow and other Russian cities in 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-06 |title=Inaugural 'Muffled Voices' Festival Announced |url=https://operawire.com/inaugural-muffled-voices-festival-announced/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=OperaWire |language=en-US}} Her letters to Beach are in the Amy Beach paprers at the University of New Hampshire.{{Cite book |last=Bomberger |first=E. Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4k3XEAAAQBAJ&dq=Nan+Bagby+STephens&pg=PA225 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach |date=2023-11-02 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-84584-7 |pages=225-226, notes 49 and 50 |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.fortworthtexasarchives.org/digital/collection/p16084coll50/id/110/ A portrait of Stephens] in the Fort Worth History Center Archives
• {{Playbill person|id=0000027084}}

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Category:1883 births

Category:1946 deaths

Category:American librettists

Category:American women writers

Category:People from Atlanta

Category:American women composers

Category:Agnes Scott College faculty