Fraser Kent papers, 1952-1957

  • IdentificationMSKent67
  • TitleFraser Kent papers MSKent67
  • PublisherSpecial Collections
  • LanguageEnglish
  • RepositorySpecial Collections
  • Physical Description2.5 Linear feet
  • Date1952-1957
  • AbstractThis collection contains the dramas written by playwright and journalist Fraser Kent. It also includes selections of his newspaper articles and correspondence.
  • OriginationKent, Fraser

Old Resource ID was FKent

Initially a journalist by trade, Fraser Kent worked for the Windsor Daily Star in Ontario, Canada. While there, he won an award from B. F. Goodrich in 1958 and received an honorable mention from the same company the following year a series of stories on the challenges facing developmentally disabled children. Kent wrote plays such as Marie and A Weekend Affair while still a reporter. He also collaborated with Saul Honigman in the musical Country Livin'.

In 1965, Kent accepted a position as director of the newly created Playwrights' Center of the Hull House Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Located near the intersection of Broadway and Belmont Avenues, this center provided a rare opportunity for amateur playwrights to see their work performed before a paying audience. During his brief tenure at the Center-he left in 1967-Kent conducted symposia through which budding writers received guidance.

Through the 1960s, Kent continued writing his own plays and saw several of them performed. Tony Johnson, who produced Kent's The Choice, The Chosen, The Strike, and The Stricken, remarked on the author's deadpan humor and avoidance of indulging in "the sustained fury that is often used today to create theatrical excitement." The plays take place in such prosaic settings as business offices, living rooms, and bars. Most of the plays comment on contemporary society. In Where a Man Can Live Like a King, for instance, Kent examines the culture shock of trans-Appalachian migrants upon their arrival in Chicago.

This collection of 2.5 linear feet holds primarily the notes and working drafts of several of Fraser Kent's plays. It also contains some clippings of his newspaper articles and samples of his correspondence with other reporters and artists. These papers also include a folder of miscellaneous lyrics for musicals and a folder of transcripts of interviews with trans-Appalachian migrants.

Fraser Kent papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago

  • Names
    • Hull-House (Chicago, Ill.).
    • Kent, Fraser -- Archives
  • Geographic CoverageIllinois--Chicago.
  • SubjectTheater.