ALICE CHILDRESS (1916-1994) was a playwright, novelist, and actress. Among her best-known plays are Trouble in Mind (1955), Wedding Band (1966), and Wine in the Wilderness (1969). She is also the author of A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich, a young-adult novel that was also made into a film.

KATHY A. PERKINS is a Professor Emerita of Theatre at the University of Illinois. She is the editor of Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950, Black South African Women: An Anthology of Plays, and African Women Playwrights. She is co-editor of Contemporary Plays by Women of Color and Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women. She has been an award-winning lighting designer for productions throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa.