Metzger is a Ph.D. specializing in literature and drama at the University of New Mexico. In this essay she discusses some possible reasons why Mule Bone has failed to find an audience.

When Mule Bone finally opened on Broadway, it enjoyed only limited success, closing after sixty-seven performances and mixed reviews. Given the eager anticipation that greeted the play's opening and the audience's willingness to find a reason to accept and enjoy this long-awaited play, this brief run indicates that Mule Bone encountered some difficulties. Foremost is the fact that Hurston and Hughes left the play unfinished. The two wrote Acts I and III together, and Hurston wrote Act II later, but he drama never received the kind of polishing and finishing that a play typically receives just before performance.

Although Hurston and Hughes quarreled over the play's completion and over authorship, Mule Bone was briefly...