A later adaptation, not based on the Green-Wright script, was written by Nambi E. An adaptation by director Kent Gash was presented in its stead. The script by Green and Wright was adapted again in 2006 by Cheryl West for Seattle's Initman Theatre, however, she withdrew the right to perform it prior to the play's opening. The 1941 adaptation of the novel was revised in 1978 for the dedication of the Paul Green Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ray Collins as Paul Max, defense attorney.

Philip Bourneuf as Buckley, District Attorney.

Flashe Riley (Jack), Canada Lee (Bigger Thomas) and Wardell Saunders (Gus Mitchell) Houseman believed that the religion twist went against Wright's viewpoint.

Green's original script called for Bigger to become devoutly religious at the end of the story, a theme not present in the novel Wright helped Houseman remove this aspect and did not inform Green. He kills Mary by accident, as in the book, but is shortly found after a manhunt through Chicago. It becomes simpler and more objective-Bigger becomes the Daltons' chauffeur because of a social worker. He also becomes the Daltons' chauffeur only after a failed robbery attempt of a white man's store. Bigger even tries to collect ransom for Mary's supposedly missing body. In the novel, the daughter of Bigger Thomas's employers, Mary, has a communist boyfriend, Jan, whom Bigger tries to blame for Mary's murder. Certain parts are edited or cut completely. Richard Wright and Paul Green edited Native Son's plot to fit the time constraints of a play more easily. Native Son has sold close to three million copies.This section needs expansion.

An undisputed classic since it was first published in 1945. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is just as meaningful today as when it was written, both in its unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and in what it means to be black in America. He felt a sense of freedom and identity in his acts of violence that neither his woman, Bessie, with her whiskey, nor his mother, with her religion, had been able to give him. He killed his first young victim in an unpremeditated moment of panic-and found himself caught up by forces outside his control and understanding. He was a 'nigger' in a white man's world, and his crimes upset the whole of Chicago. It could have been for assault or petty larceny by chance, it was for murder and rape. Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail.

Native son written by richard wright