SOURCE: “From Mule Bones to Funny Bones: The Plays of Zora Neale Hurston,” in The Southern Quarterly, Vol. XXXIII, Nos. 2-3, Winter-Spring, 1995, pp. 65-78.

In the following essay, Lowe studies Hurston's dramatic works and the difficulties she experienced getting them into production.

Zora Neale Hurston has recently been rescued from literary oblivion and installed as a major figure in the American literary canon. Her stature thus far, however, has stemmed from her success as a novelist, especially in her masterwork, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). Some Hurston aficionados were therefore surprised when the play she coauthored with Langston Hughes, Mule Bone, had its Broadway debut in 1991. Did Hurston write plays as well? Indeed she did. In fact, one of her first publications was a play, and she never gave up trying to mount a successful production.

As a preacher's daughter, Hurston came by her dramatic gifts naturally. John...