May 21, 1936
In his year end drama review, Ottley rated Edna Thomas’ performance as Lady Macbeth as the best performance of the year. “Footprints on the sands of the theatre were made this year by the Negro,” Ottley wrote. “True, they were at times halting, timid steps, but they left definite and unmistakable impressions. The trail blazed, the succeeding seasons should give us a developed art form in the theatre—and thus injecting a needed virus in a wan and failing American theatre.” Ottley noted that John Houseman, a white producer who initially led the Negro Federal Theatre project and helmed the “Macbeth” production, had been replaced by black personnel. Ottley thought the new theater would “be distinguished for its authenticity and audaciousness at getting to the kernel of the subjects it treats.”