Examine O 'Neill's Emperor Jones as a Psychological play,revealing the disintegration of the psyche of Brutus Jones.
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The Emperor Jones is the first international triumph of expressionism by an American playwright; with it, Eugene O’Neill single-handedly introduced experimental American theater to Europe and established his reputation as the United States’ pre-eminent playwright. The November 1, 1920, premiere at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City was a groundbreaking literary achievement for African Americans as well. The Emperor Jones was the first play to have a black man, Charles S. Gilpin, perform the leading role for a white theater company. On the day following its premiere, the New York Times reported astonishing news: Gilpin, along with being an “uncommonly powerful and imaginative performer . . . is a negro” (quoted in Miller 21). But [with] O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones . . . another important page in the history of the Negro was written” (183–184).