Poet and playwright Robert Earl Price blended words, music, memory

His work spanned continents, mediums and generations. From the theaters of Atlanta and Johannesburg, South Africa, to the poetry circles of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Price was a beacon to those who believe art can reshape the world.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Price grew up across the street from the public library that would quite literally shape his voice. The librarians knew him by name. He devoured tales of adventure and biography, paging through the lives of explorers, warriors and artists. The seeds of language were planted early and deep.

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

He was educated at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1960 and went on to attend Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), where the dream of becoming a writer crystallized. At first, he aimed for the great American novel. But a rejection letter from Toni Morrison would reroute his journey.

“You occasionally write a little too gorgeously,” Morrison wrote of his prose. That single line, Price later recalled, changed his life. “Upon digesting that thought,” he wrote, “Erato (the muse of poetry) swooped in and captured my heart, my imagination and my future.” Poetry, not prose, became his true instrument. Its rhythm, breath and musicality gave shape to everything he would later create.

The 1960s offered another education. As the Black Arts Movement took root across the country, Price found his voice among artists who rejected assimilation and embraced a radical, self-determined aesthetic. He would become a lifelong student of that movement — never static, never sentimental but always grounded in a fierce love for Black culture, music and memory.

In the decades that followed, Price carved out a singular space in American theater. From 1985 to 2007, he served as playwright in residence at Atlanta’s 7 Stages Theatre, where he formed a prolific partnership with director Del Hamilton. Together, they produced works that fused poetry, improvisation and historical storytelling into something completely new.

Among his signature plays were “Black Cat Bones for Seven Sons” (1988), “Yardbird’s Vamp” (1990), “Blue Monk” (1996), “HUSH: Composing Blind Tom Wiggins” (2002), “Come on in My Kitchen” (2006) and “All Blues” (2011). His final work for 7 Stages was “Blood Flow” (2020), a filmed poetic meditation created during the pandemic.

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

Each play challenged traditional narrative forms. In “Blue Monk,” later staged in Johannesburg, actors were asked to become the instruments in Thelonious Monk’s band — embodying their vibrations, decoding Price’s poetic reflections on the music. In “HUSH,” the life of enslaved piano prodigy Tom Wiggins was reimagined through the lens of 20th century Black artistry. “All Blues” chronicled the secret travels of journalist Ray Sprigle, who passed as Black to report on the Jim Crow South.

“He created ceremony,” Hamilton recalled. “Robert’s writing was like smudging — cleansing, spiritual, powerful.”

In rehearsal, Price was present and pragmatic — generous with his collaborators, trusting in the process. Yet he also guarded the deeper magic of his work: the invocation of spirit, memory and transformation. Like his poetry, his plays reminded audiences that history is not something we watch. It’s something we carry.

Price’s poetry collections — “Blood Flow” and “Wise Blood,” among others — earned national honors, including the William Meredith Award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. He called his style “free verse with the prosody of a jazz trio” and insisted that every line stand on a tripod of meaning, image and rhythm.

“My style showers the listener with sheets of sound,” he once wrote. “To me, a successful poem finds language that draws attention to the unusual and is important in bringing our existence into sharper focus.”

Music was not an influence, it was the foundation. He borrowed from blues, from bop, from call-and-response traditions. Even in silence, his lines carried percussive weight. His poems invited reflection, offered healing and sparked joy. He wanted people to feel his work, not just understand it.

“I see poetry as an act of resistance to the stale and static status quo,” he wrote. “Writing poems is freedom to repaint the world.”

Alice Lovelace, a longtime collaborator, said Price’s greatest strength was his ability to hold complexity without compromise. “Robert knew how to let anger and joy live side by side in a poem,” she said. “He reminded us that the past isn’t gone — it’s still with us, shaping every moment.”

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

Credit: Photo courtesy of 7 Stages Theatre

He was also deeply generous with his time. In Atlanta, he worked with the Writing Resource Center and read widely at community events. Younger poets adored him — he called himself “a geezer” with pride — and colleagues from all generations looked to him for guidance and grace.

Throughout his life, Price remained devoted to the love of his life and creative partner, Carol Colgate. The two met at 7 Stages, where she served as an early administrator. Their relationship, friends said, was a wellspring of support, inspiration and joy.

“Carol made him happy,” Alice Lovelace said. “He smiled a lot.”

Colgate remembered Price’s passion, his purpose and his pen. She wrote: “I am so lucky to have been witness to the tableau from inside the scene.”

In the 2000s, Price moved to Chestertown, Maryland, where he continued to write, teach and serve the community with the same intensity he brought to the stage. As artist in residence at Washington College, he taught playwriting and developed new works that explored the legacy of slavery and the complexities of American identity.

He cowrote “Red Devil Moon” with singer-songwriter Pam Ortiz, based on Jean Toomer’s “Cane,” which was featured at the New York City Fringe Festival. He also wrote “The Unlading,” a theatrical exploration of Black history during the Revolutionary War, which became part of Chestertown’s annual Tea Party Festival.

Offstage, Price became an active steward of Black heritage in the region. He helped restore the historic Charles Sumner Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 25 and cofounded the Kent County Poetry Festival, now in its 16th year. He worked closely with the Kent Cultural Alliance to ensure the voices of the past remained present.

In Chestertown, as in Atlanta, Price’s poetry readings became rituals. He brought people together and made them listen.

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Matthew Terrell is an assistant professor of media and entertainment in Kennesaw State University’s School of Communications.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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