No Place to be Somebody

Synopsis

In NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY a black bartender in New York City attempts to outwit a white mobster syndicate.

The play received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Charles Gordone’s Pulitzer signified two firsts: he was the first African American playwright to receive a Pulitzer, and NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY was the first Off-Broadway play to receive the Pulitzer.“Charles Gordone's NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY … seemed to grow in theatrically, raw energy, power and stature …. The denizens of Johnny's bar, like those of Harry Hope's saloon in THE ICEMAN COMETH, are waiting for a fulfillment of their dreams, which are illusions, and in some cases delusions … Its humor is full of bile.

On one level this was an extraordinarily funny play and it now seems even funnier in the most malicious way … NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY is a drama of great force and commitment, one that must be seen — wherever it is playing.

If nothing else — and there is much else — Gordone has a marvelous talent for dialogue, for bitter epithets and insults; for confrontations (each one a striking set piece); for small details that reveal character … and for creating whole and vivid characters.”

—Mel Gussow, The New York Times