African American Theatre

C.

3.

b.

on your printed notes

1) Early 1900s, musical reviews and light musical comedies featuring African American casts capitalize on American love of minstrel shows

Shuffle Along by Noble Sissel & Eubie Blake (pictured left), Flournoy Miller, and Aubrey Lyles, opened on Broadway in 1921. Featuring jazz dancing and ragtime music, it was the first musical written and performed by African Americans to play in white theatres.

Josephine Baker, whose first major performance was in the chorus line for Shuffle Along, performed a Topsy incarnation in the 1924 musical The Chocolate Dandies.

Note that she is wearing black face and clown shoes.

Frustrated with the roles she was allowed to play, Josephine Baker moved to France, where she was considered exotic, and had a fabulous career there.

2) Take a Giant Step, by Louis Peterson, 1953, first serious play by African American to move to Broadway

It introduced Louis Gossett, Jr., as the teenaged lead.

Here is a more mature Gossett:

3) A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, 1959, first play by African American female on Broadway

A Raisin in the Sun was directed by Lloyd Richards, who would later direct and help to shape the early works of August Wilson.

Unfortunately for American theatre, Lorraine Hansberry died very soon after A Raisin in the Sun, completing only one additional play.

A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in 2004, with Sean Combs in the role of Walter.

Philicia Rashad was awarded the Tony for Best Actress, the first time an African American woman was so honored.

. . . And Audra McDonald was awarded the Tony for Best Featured Actress.

The Broadway cast was reunited for an ABC movie of A Raisin in the Sun.

4) Revolutionary theatre in 1960s & 1970s: Amiri Baraka (AKA LeRoi Jones), The Dutchman, The Toilet, etc.;

. . . Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (1976)

5) Musicals with all or virtually all African American casts in 1970s: Purlie (1970);

Purlie was based on a stage play written by Ossie Davis, seen here with wife Ruby Dee in the Broadway production of Purlie Victorious.

. . . The Wiz (1974);

The Wiz was revived on Broadway for a short run in the summer of 2009 with Ashanti in the role of Dorothy.

. . . Bubblin’ Brown Sugar (1976);

. . . and Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1976)

6) Since 1980s, August Wilson (d. 2005) most frequently produced African American playwright

- Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990)

- Plays chronicle African American experience in 20th century by decade

Gem of the Ocean [set in 1904]

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone [set in1911]

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom [set in 1927]

The Piano Lesson [set in 1936]

Seven Guitars [set in 1948]

Fences [set in 1957-1963]

(Los Angeles production with Lawrence Fishburne)

Asheville High graduate Chris Chalk played the son, Cory, in the 2010 Broadway revival of Fences. He is pictured here with Viola Davis and Denzel Washington.

Two Trains Running [set in 1969]

Jitney [set in 1977]

King Hedley II [set in mid-1980s]

Radio Golf [set in 1997]

• Gem of the Ocean (1904) • Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1911) • Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1927) • The Piano Lesson (1936) • Seven Guitars (1948) • Fences (1957-63) • Two Trains Running (1967)• Jitney (1977) • King Hedley II (mid-1980s)• Radio Golf (1997)

Entire cycle of August Wilson plays, alternately called the Pittsburgh Cycle or 20th Century Cycle.

7) Since late 1990s Tyler Perry has tremendous success with pop culture plays satirizing racial stereotypes,

imbedded religious/social messages

8) Introspective plays currently being written by black

women, among them Suzan-Lori Parks, Pearl

Cleage, Dael Orlandersmith, and Lynn Nottage. (see Female Playwrights)

Suzan-Lori Parks

• The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole World• Topdog/Underdog

(2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)

• The America Play• 365 Plays

Pearl Cleage

• Flyin’ West• Blues for an Alabama Sky

Ms. Cleage, who lives in Atlanta, is also the author of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, an Oprah Book Club selection in 1998 that appeared on the New York Times best-seller list for nine weeks.

Dael Orlandersmith

• Yellowman• The Gimmick

(2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist)

Lynn Nottage

•A Stone’s Throw

•Fabulation

•Intimate Apparel

•Las Meninas

•Mud, River, Stone

•Crumbs from the Table of Joy

•Ruined

(2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)

Lynn Nottage with members of the Ruined cast and producers. AHS graduate Chris Chalk was in the Off-Broadway cast and is pictured on the lower right.