Playwright, Green Grow the Lilacs
Lynn Riggs, a Cherokee, was the only Native American dramatist writing for the Broadway stage during the beginning of the 20th century. Born in Claremore, Oklahoma, Riggs studied for three years at the University of Oklahoma. He later moved to New York where he worked as a proofreader and clerked for Macy’s department store and the American Express Company. Riggs’s first play to receive a New York production was The Big Lake, which was presented by the American Laboratory Theatre. As a result, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent a year in France, where he wrote Green Grow the Lilacs. The play was originally produced by the Theatre Guild in 1931 and later used by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II as the basis for their musical Oklahoma! When originally produced, Lilacs had a New York run of 64 performances, while its musical adaptation had an original Broadway run of 2,202 performances. Riggs’s other plays include The Lonesome West, The Cream in the Well, Laughter from a Cloud, Russet Mantle and Borned in Texas.