What was the first racially integrated play?

Answer 1

Because the origins of theater remain woefully uncertain, there is little one can say about the early days of theater and the plays it produced. Historically speaking it has been generally accepted that theater revolved around mythology. In this regard, the revered and sacred rituals of humanity were, for all intents and purposes, the first plays to be produced. That is, at least, historically speaking. The earliest examples of ritual that might have evolved into what we now know as theater are the ancient Egyptian "Pyramid Texts" that are nearly five thousand years old. These Pyramid Texts include the Memphite Drama that recounts the tale of death and resurrection of the god Osiris and the coronation of his son Horus. Because this drama includes characters that are gods and lesser gods one could argue that this would be the first racially integrated play. However, one suspects, that is not what the questioner meant by racially integrated.

Simply using words such as First, Racially, Integrated, Play, Theater and so on does not produce much in the way of any thing near a definitive answer as to what that first play might have been. Indeed, the results yielded by such search engines focused on modern day integration of theater much of which is for the time period of 1960 to 1970. It is this writers opinion that Othello by William Shakespeare probably serves as the most famous of "first" plays to racially integrate characters into a play. The story of a Moorish Prince General who rose to power and prominence only to be brought down by his own hubris.