New Clare Coss Play

    “Dr. Du Bois and Miss Ovington,” a new play by Clare Coss, will have its world premiere tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Castillo Theatre in New York City. The play captures the two founders of the N.A.A.C.P. — W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary White Ovington — at a moment of crisis in 1915, when Du Bois submits his letter of resignation.

    Du Bois, an educator, human rights activist, and African-American visionary leader, and Ovington, a white, Unitarian granddaughter of abolitionists and an outspoken justice advocate, spar, flirt, clash, reveal secrets, and compete to save their vital work. The play stars Timothy Simonson and Kathleen Chalfant in the title roles.

    Ms. Coss is a playwright, psychotherapist, and activist whose plays have engaged a wide range of social and political issues. She is a member of PEN, the Dramatists Guild, the League of Professional Theatre Women, and the Columbia University Seminar on Women and Society. She and Blanche Wiesen Cook, a historian and author of a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, are longtime residents of Springs.