Clive Rickabaugh Theatre Designs, 1929-1972

This collection of Clive Rickabaugh’s theatre designs holds many original plates and sketches for scene designs or costumes produced by him between 1929 and 1972. The materials focus on his early work in Chicago for the Jewish People’s Institute and especially the Negro Theatre Unit (N.T.U.) of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in the 1930s. Productions were written by such playwrights as Katherine Dunham, Shirley Graham Du Bois, and Ruth Page. Most of the materials in the 9 oversize boxes include designs or photographs from these productions as well as some playbills, including some from the most noted ones such as Swing Mikado, Shirley Graham Du Bois’s Gilbert and Sullivan adaptation. Designs from his work in the 1950s and 1960s are represented and some of his own manuscripts such as Kwaidan Quartet and The Mischievous Raccoon Tanuki are included.