What was the first racially integrated play?
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.