History of African American Theater

elective courses

Interest in American theater, especially African-American theater, and readiness to follow its development. Interest in the history and phenomena of media representation in the USA and the issues of the history of the African-American community. Willingness to expand knowledge in this field and to search examples illustrating the issues discussed.

Classroom

A survey course on the history of African-American theater from before World War II to the present. The roots of black theater in the USA are discussed - from minstrels, through early musicals, vaudeville, and variety shows before World War II. The studied dramatic literature comes from the post-war period and represents the problems of each post-war decade until the 2020s.

This is a survey course on the history of African American theater from before WWII through the present. The study of Black theater begins at its complicated and contradictory beginnings in the minstrel show, Harlem Renaissance, the vaudeville, and the touring circuits in the Territory in the pre-WWII era. This period is covered in the first three introductory classes. The course proposes that Black theater emerges at the heart of the American Hieroglyphic universe (Postlewait) and that representational concerns are its dominant trait (as opposed to, for example, Afro centrism). Full length scripts are taken from the post-war period onwards.

Individually authored plays stand as representative for the concerns of each post-war decade all the way into the 2020s. In the process we discover the trajectory of change and continuities in African American drama over time, its aesthetics/ethics. Among authors discussed are: Adrienne Kennedy, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, August Wilson, George C. Wolfe, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, Jackie Sibbles-Drury, Roger Guenveur Smith, Tyler Perry, Rickerby Hinds, Anna Deavere Smith and others. Discussed are individual artists, regional theaters, and ensembles (New Federal Theater, Penumbra, etc.), methodologies, etc.

NOTE: Students may find some of the content of the course disturbing. The disturbing content in an artistic utterance is usually an element of a larger creative whole; it should never be taken literally.

The theater is a medium that responds to its times because it is compelled by the need to bring the audience. Hence it needs to speak about issues and in a language that will potentially resonate the strongest with spectators. Thus, the plays offer us windows into the lives of others on stage but also serve as portals into the lives of the audience at the time of the plays’ production. Therefore, despite the disturbing content this course is worth it.

LEARNING METHODS

Script readings, videos, written assignments, critiques, discussions, quizzes, short presentations, final papers, mid-semester and final projects.

TOOLS: Because theater allows us to enter other people's lives and is a public forum, the course uses the method of group readings of texts. To prepare such readings, the texts must first be interpreted and then practiced with the group before presentations. The aim of these projects, in addition to enabling students to directly experience the world of characters and performances, is also to practice public speaking, as well as build self-confidence, cooperation and mutual trust in the group.

NOTE: Students may be aware of the weight of the history of racist representations of African Americans in American culture. Our readings are supposed to allow us to embody the words of plays, not to repeat old performance patterns. The purpose of the readings is to enable us to overcome the division created by national teams.

TIME: To get the most out of class time, please allow time outside of class for this course. For every hour spent in class, students should spend at least 2 hours reading and studying.

Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun. Contemporary African American Theatre: Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller. Routledge, 1997.

Baraka, Amiri Dutchman (1964)

Childress, Alice Trouble in Mind (1955)

Denning, Michael The Cultural Front.

DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Elam, Harry J. and David Krasner, (eds.). African American Performance and Theater History. A Critical Reader. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Ellington, Duke Jump for Joy. (1941)

Fitzgerald, Sarah. “I Got Something to Tell You”: The Life and Comedy of Jackie “Moms” Mabley. Doctoral dissertation.

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. The Signifying Monkey (excerpts)

_____ . “The Chitlin Circuit” in Harry J. Elam, David Krasner. African American Performance and Theater History: A Critical Reader (2001) 132-148

Hansberry, Loraine. A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

Hinds, Rickerby. Dreamscape (2010)

Kondo, Dorinne. “(Re)Visions of Race: Contemporary Race Theory and the Cultural Politics of Racial Crossover in Documentary Theatre”

Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927.

Lott, Eric. Love and Theft. Oxford UP, 1993. Chapter 1: “Blackface and Blackness: The Minstrel Show in American Culture”

Nottage, Lynn. Sweat (2015)

Perry, Tyler. For Colored Girls (2010)

Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuff (1978)

Shannon, Sandra. “Audience and Africanisms in August Wilson’s Dramaturgy: A Case Study” in Elam, David Krasner. African American Performance and Theater History: A Critical Reader (2001), 149-168.

Sidran, Ben. Black Talk. 1972.

Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight (1992),

_____ . Fires in the Mirror (1993)

Smith, Roger Guenveur. Rodney King

______ . Blood and Brains

_____ . A Huey P. Newton Story. L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection

Palmer, Earl Backbeat

Parks, Susan Lori. 365 Days / 365 Plays (2006)

______ . Father Comes Home from the War

_____ . The Equation for Black People on Stage

Postlewait, Thomas. “The Hieroglyphic Stage: American Theatre and Society, Post-Civil War to 1945” in The Cambridge History of American Theatre. Don B. Wilmeth and Christopher Bigsby, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 [2007].

Walters, Wendy “Adrienne Kennedy Will Always Tell Stories”

Wilmeth Don B. and Christopher Bigsby. The Cambridge History of American Theatre, vol. Three, 1945-Present. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Wilson, August Fences

_____ . Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

_____ . “The Ground on Which I Stand”

Wolfe, George C. The Colored Museum (1987)

Worthen, W.B. “African American Theater” in “The American Theater” (939-942)

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Knowledge:

*Student has a knowledge of history and theory of African American theater

* Student is able to define main concepts of theater studies and African American culture and can apply them in discourse

* Student identifies turning points in the development of African American theater and explains their significance

*Student has in-depth knowledge of the history of African American theater and and its relation to the social history of the United States

Skills:

* Student can read/analyze dramatic texts using different methods (semiology, intertextuality, African American signifyin’, content analysis, contextual analysis, etc.)

*Student identifies different formats of plays and performances and refers them to particular periods in the development of African American theater

*Student identifies ways of stereotyping of African Americans and identifies ways of responding to representation in African American theater

*Student develops skills to gather, select and structure information to defend one's position

* Student critically approaches texts from the discipline of the history of African American theater

Social competences:

* Student participates in group work and tasks and can arrange it skillfully

*Student develops one's spectatorial skills to receive products of American culture in a conscious manner and to gain awareness about their influence on the audiences

*Student is ready for critical reception of African American theater and products of American media featuring black representations

Attendance = 5%

Class participation = 10%

Short presentations (5 min. max) = 10%

3 Quizzes = 15%

Response paper 1 = 10%

Response paper 2 = 10%

Mid-Term presentation = 10%

Final Presentation = 15%

Final paper = 15%

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