The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Acquires the Archive of Novella Nelson

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts' Billy Rose Theatre Division has acquired the archive of Novella Nelson, the actor, singer, and director who worked throughout a variety of stages from Off-Broadway to Broadway, and in film and television. The acquisition continues the Library’s mission to preserve documents of important figures who have advanced theater through the 21st century. The collection is now accessible to the public, and it significantly documents the life and work of an important Black artist who made remarkable contributions to the performing arts of the 20th century.

The Novella Nelson archive contains annotated scripts, journals, sheet music, photographs, correspondence, posters, programs, ephemera, and some clippings.

Novella Nelson

was a Brooklyn-based director, actor, singer, and producer. A prolific stage performer, Nelson originated the role of Missy in the 1970 Broadway production of Purlie!, the musical based on Ossie Davis’s play Purlie Victorious, and she appeared in important Broadway revivals of Caesar and Cleopatra (1977) with Rex Harrison and The Little Foxes (1981) with Elizabeth Taylor. She also appeared in a number of roles at major regional theaters, including Hartford Stage and Yale Rep, including as co-star in a critically-acclaimed production of Athol Fugard’sBoseman and Lena at Yale Rep (1980). She also had several important London theater credits, including a starring role in a highly-regarded production of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun at the Young Vic (2001). She also frequently appeared in TV dramas and in film, including Denzel Washington’s directorial debut Antwone Fisher, Thomas Vinterberg’s Dear Wendy, Francis Ford Coppopla’s The Cotton Club, and Yvonne Rainer’s Privellege.

Throughout the late 1960s and early ‘70s, she performed as a cabaret singer, collaborating with noted jazz musicians on stages in New York City, like Upstairs at the Downstairs, Reno Sweeney, and Village Vanguard where she was a headliner in 1969, as well as across the United States. She turned down an opportunity to sign a major recording contract because she demanded full control over the music and message of her work, and she self-released a self-titled album in 1970. 

An important figure in the New York theater scene for decades, Nelson was also an associate of Joseph Papp at The Public Theater, officially credited as “a consultant to the Producer” on landmark productions such as A Chorus Line (1975) and What the Wine Sellers Buy (1974). Working at The Public Theater, she also produced and directed several works that brought Black artists to the stage, including La Femme Noire by Edgar White and Sister Son/Ji by Sonia Sanchez, both considered landmark pieces of theater. She continued to work to attract and advocate for Black playwrights at the company in its early years. Her collection supplements the records of The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival.

The Library for the Performing Arts celebrates the acquisition, as well as Novella Nelson and her impact on the Black Arts Movement in the East Village, with a free, public event featuring Regina Taylor, George Faison, and Dwayne Grayman on Thursday, April 11.