In the 1960s at the height of civil rights movements, most black theatre concerned itself either with the polemics of black-white confrontations, pleading the causes of social injustice, or with the complex and subtle differences between black and white characterizations. Lonne Elder III captured the attention of the theatre world with Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (1969), a play that avoids the usual stereotypes and exotic events. Though Elder has written five plays and has contributed significantly to film and television, his reputation as a dramatist rests primarily upon this single, major work.

His personal life, which he weaves into his plays, has been multifaceted. Shortly after his birth in Americus, Georgia, in 1931, the Elder family moved to New Jersey. In 1943, after having lost both parents, Elder was placed in the custody of an aunt and uncle in Jersey City. His uncle was a numbers runner, and as he...