A History of African American Theatre

Shakespeare in Sable

A History of Black Shakespearean Actors. Forew. by John Houseman

Errol G. Hill

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Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology

Charles Aidman

Charles Aidman, conceived from Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology Dramatic Platform Readings w/incidental music, songs Characters: 3 male, 2 female Bare Stage. Via musical interludes, we are introduced in a cemetery to the ghosts of those who were inhabitants of this town, and whose secrets have gone with them to the grave. There are 60 odd characterizations and vignettes in this constantly interesting entertainment offering an amazingly varied array of

Dogeaters

A Play about the Philippines

Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn

Hagedorn's remarkable play based on her best-selling novel.

Jean-Claude Van Itallie and the Off-broadway Theater

Gene A. Plunka

This book, the first on van Itallie's theater, examines how his experiments with dramatic structure have expanded the limits of theater. Experimenting with diverse dramatic forms van Itallie has done more to expand the range of dramatic structure than any American playwright since O'Neill. This book also illuminates the Off-Off Broadway era.

Side Man

Warren Leight

Lauded by Peter Marks of The New York Times as "powerfully unsettling...an enormously moving play," Side Man is the comic and tender story of Clifford, a young man who looks back on his family life; prior to leaving home, Clifford reconciles the role that he has long played as parent to his parents. Smoothly gliding between present and past, the play tells the story of a time before the Beatles and Elvis, when jazzmen were heroic like ballplayers and there was no shortage of Saturday-night gigs. Side Man is both a tribute to the men whose lives were their music and a sober look at a family drama left in the wake of that passion.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

A nineteenth-century boy from a Mississippi River town recounts his adventures as he travels down the river with a runaway slave, encountering a family involved in a feud, two scoundrels pretending to be royalty, and Tom Sawyer's aunt who mistakes him for Tom. The story follows Huckleberry Finn, a young boy and the narrator, who escapes from his abusive father and embarks on a journey down the Mississippi River. Along the way, he meets Jim, a runaway slave who is seeking freedom. Together, they encounter various characters and have numerous adventures, including encounters with con artists, feuding families, and other colorful figures. The novel explores themes such as racism, freedom, and the hypocrisy of society. Through Huck's experiences and his evolving relationship with Jim, Twain offers a scathing critique of the institution of slavery and the deep-seated prejudices of the time. Despite its critical acclaim and enduring popularity, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has also been the subject of controversy due to its language and portrayal of race. Twain's use of dialect and racial stereotypes has led to debates over whether the novel should be taught in schools and how it should be interpreted in modern contexts. Overall, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" remains a classic of American literature, celebrated for its humor, its insight into human nature, and its exploration of complex moral issues.

Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan

A Collaboration in the Theatre

Brenda Murphy

This is a book-length study of the intense creative relationship between Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan.

African-American Performance and Theater History

A Critical Reader

Harry Justin Elam, David Krasner

An anthology of critical writings that explores the intersections of race, theater, and performance in America.

African American Theatre

An Historical and Critical Analysis

Samuel A. Hay

This book traces the history of African American theatre from its beginnings to the present.

The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre

Harvey Young

This new edition provides an expanded, comprehensive history of African American theatre, from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Including discussions of slave rebellions on the national stage, African Americans on Broadway, the Harlem Renaissance, African American women dramatists, and the New Negro and Black Arts movements, the Companion also features fresh chapters on significant contemporary developments, such as the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the mainstream successes of Black Queer Drama and the evolution of African American Dance Theatre. Leading scholars spotlight the producers, directors, playwrights, and actors who have fashioned a more accurate appearance of Black life on stage, revealing the impact of African American theatre both within the United States and around the world. Addressing recent theatre productions in the context of political and cultural change, it invites readers to reflect on where African American theatre is heading in the twenty-first century.

Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre, 1895-1910

David Krasner

The history of African American performance and theatre is a topic that few scholars have closely studied or discussed as a critical part of American culture. In this fascinating interdisciplinary volume, David Krasner reveals such a history to be a tremendously rich one, focusing particularly on the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The fields of history, black literary theory, cultural studies, performance studies and postcolonial theory are utilized in an examination of several major productions. An enlightening work which unveils new information about its subject, Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre offers insights into African American artistry during an era of racism and conflict.

Barbara Ann Teer and the National Black Theatre

Transformational Forces in Harlem

Lundeana Marie Thomas

While chronicling the development of Teer's National Black Theatre of Harlem, this study explores the National Black Theatre's quest to develop a new black theory of acting. Teer's theory of performance was realized in a theater that combined elements of Pentacostal worship and African ritual, melding spontaneity from the performers, percussive music, singing, dancing, emotional expression from both actors and audience, and spectacle. The National Black Theatre's major achievement is the creation of an original art form that helps African Americans identify with their roots and invites spontaneous audience interaction. The study offers the National Black Theatre as a model African American community theater with valuable lessons for other theaters. The innovative methods of the National Black Theatre provide a model for enlightening and sensitizing audiences to cultural diversity. A pioneering institution, the National Black Theatre has proven itself over its 25 year history to be a cultural treasure and the quintessential theater in Harlem. Also includes maps.(Bibliography, and index; foreword by Dr. Winona Fletcher, Professor Emeritus of Theater and Drama and Afro-American Studies; Founder of the National Black Theatre)

Historical Dictionary of African American Theater

Anthony D. Hill, Douglas Q. Barnett

African American Theater is a vibrant and unique entity enriched by ancient Egyptian rituals, West African folklore, and European theatrical practices. A continuum of African folk traditions, it combines storytelling, mythology, rituals, music, song, and dance with ancestor worship from ancient times to the present. It afforded black artists a cultural gold mine to celebrate what it was like to be an African American in The New World. The Historical Dictionary of African American Theater celebrates nearly 200 years of black theater in the United States, identifying representative African American theater-producing organizations and chronicling their contributions to the field from its birth in 1816 to the present. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on actors, directors, playwrights, plays, theater producing organizations, themes, locations, and theater movements and awards.