Research Catalog

Title

Edmund Cambridge papers, 1929-2000 (bulk 1970s-1990s).

Author

Cambridge, Edmund, 1920-2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

17.6 lin. ft. (16 record cartons, 4 archival boxes)

Summary

• The Edmund Cambridge Papers reflect the professional activities of this actor, director and stage manager, primarily from the 1970s through 2000 in Los Angeles. There is nothing related to his career prior 1957, although his acting career began much earlier in New York City.
• The Professional Papers series, 1957-2000 (bulk 1970s-1990s) contains the major portion of this collection and consists of production material, including annotated scripts, reviews, correspondence, and material related to the many plays he directed, acted in, served as the production stage manager or stage manager, or in another capacity. The theaters or theater groups for which there are files include the Cambridge Players, Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School, Los Angeles Theatre Center (originally known as the Los Angeles Actors' Theater), Negro Ensemble Company, Oasis Dramatic Ensemble Company, the Philadelphia Drama Guild, and the Playward Bus Theatre West Company in Repertory. This section of the series contains Cambridge's production files for his work with the plays Eden and Nevis Mountain Dew for various theater companies. His television career is represented by production files for "The Jefffersons"and "227."
• The series Organizations and Publications, 1966-2000 contains files related to Cambridge's service to his profession. These include the California Arts Council where he was a panelist (1984-1989), and his participation in a conference related to non-traditional casting for the California Theatre Council (1988). The Scripts series 1929-1998 (bulk 1970s-1990s) consists of numerous scripts that do not seem to have been produced.

Subjects

• Stage managers
• Dramatists, American > 20th century
• Theatrical producers and directors > United States
• Oasis Dramatic Ensemble Company (Los Angeles, Calif.)
• Los Angeles Theatre Center
• Negro Ensemble Company
• Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theatre Arts School (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.)
• African Americans in the performing arts
• African American entertainers
• African American theatrical producers and directors
• African American actors
• Cambridge Players (Theater group : Los Angeles, Calif.)
• Crossroads Arts Academy (Los Angeles, Calif.)
• Theater programs
• Philadelphia Drama Guild
• Black author
• American drama > 20th century
• Scripts
• Cambridge, Edmund, 1920-2001
• Plays
• African American theater
• African American dramatists
• Theater > Production and direction

Genre/Form

• Scripts.
• Theater programs.
• Plays.

Note

• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
• Artifacts transferred to Art and Artifact Division.
• Audiotapes, videotapes and films transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
• Books and magazines transferred to General Research and Reference Division.

Source (note)

• Leona Smith

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Biography (note)

• Edmund Cambridge was an African-American actor, director, stage manager, drama instructor and producer who achieved success on stage, and in film and television in a career spanning sixty years. One of the founding members of the Negro Ensemble Company, he directed its first major production, "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men," in 1969.
• Following his move to California in the early 1970s Cambridge's career centered in Los Angeles where he taught acting and directed plays for the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School, which he co-founded in 1971. In 1975 he founded and served as artistic director of an acting troupe, the Cambridge Players. He also directed many productions for the Los Angeles Theatre Center and served as the director in residence and drama instructor of the Crossroads Arts Academy.
• In 1984 Cambridge directed the original production of Christine Houston's play "227" at Marla Gibbs' Crossroads Theatre in Los Angeles, and later directed a number of episodes of the television sitcom that grew out of the play. Among his many acting credits in television were guest appearances on "The Jeffersons," "Sanford and Son," "ER," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and "Family Matters."

Call Number

Sc MG 701

OCLC

312217996

Author

Cambridge, Edmund, 1920-2001.

Title

Edmund Cambridge papers, 1929-2000 (bulk 1970s-1990s).

Biography

Edmund Cambridge was an African-American actor, director, stage manager, drama instructor and producer who achieved success on stage, and in film and television in a career spanning sixty years. One of the founding members of the Negro Ensemble Company, he directed its first major production, "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men," in 1969.

Following his move to California in the early 1970s Cambridge's career centered in Los Angeles where he taught acting and directed plays for the Kilpatrick-Cambridge Theater Arts School, which he co-founded in 1971. In 1975 he founded and served as artistic director of an acting troupe, the Cambridge Players. He also directed many productions for the Los Angeles Theatre Center and served as the director in residence and drama instructor of the Crossroads Arts Academy.

In 1984 Cambridge directed the original production of Christine Houston's play "227" at Marla Gibbs' Crossroads Theatre in Los Angeles, and later directed a number of episodes of the television sitcom that grew out of the play. Among his many acting credits in television were guest appearances on "The Jeffersons," "Sanford and Son," "ER," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and "Family Matters."

Location of Other Archival Materials

Negro Ensemble Company located at Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Source

SCM 01-35, SCM 04-26

Leona Smith Gift 11/2001, 09/2004

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 701