Read complete books and articles on: African-American Drama

At Questia, we offer:

Exclusive access to more than 67,000 books and 1.5 million articles.
Trusted resources from leading publishers.
Time saving tools to do better, faster research!

16 of the Best Books and Articles on: African-American Drama

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

African-American Performance and Theater History: A Critical Reader » Read Now
by Harry J. Elam Jr., David Krasner. 367 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

African-American Performance and Theatre History is an anthology of critical writings that explores the intersections of race, theater, and performance in America. Assembled by two respected scholars in black theater and composed of essays from acknowledged authorities in the field (Joseph Roach and...
Read More

African-American Performance and Theatre History is an anthology of critical writings that explores the intersections of race, theater, and performance in America. Assembled by two respected scholars in black theater and composed of essays from acknowledged authorities in the field (Joseph Roach and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. among other), this volume is organized into four sections representative of the ways black theater, drama, and performance past and present interact and enact continuous social, cultural, and political dialogues. The premise behind the book is that analyzing African-American theater and performance traditions offers insight into how race has operated and continues to operate in American society. The only one-volume collection of its kind, this volume is likely to become the central reference for those studying black theater.
Show less
2.

A Sourcebook of African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements » Read Now
by Annemarie Bean. 362 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

A Sourcebook on African-American Performance is the first volume to consider African-American performance between and beyond the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and the New Black Renaissance of the 1990s.As with all titles in the Worlds of Performance series, the Sourcebook consists of classic...
Read More

A Sourcebook on African-American Performance is the first volume to consider African-American performance between and beyond the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and the New Black Renaissance of the 1990s.As with all titles in the Worlds of Performance series, the Sourcebook consists of classic texts as well as newly commissioned pieces by notable scholars, writers and performers. It includes the plays 'Sally's Rape' by Robbie McCauley and 'The American Play' by Suzan-Lori Parks, and comes complete with a substantial, historical introduction by Annemarie Bean.Articles, essays, manifestos and interviews included cover topics such as:* theatre on the professional, revolutionary and college stages* concert dance* community activism* step shows* performance art.Contributors include Annemarie Bean, Ed Bullins, Barbara Lewis, John O'Neal, Glenda Dickersun, James V. Hatch, Warren Budine Jr. and Eugene Nesmith.
Show less
3.

Archetypes, Imprecators, and Victims of Fate: Origins and Developments of Satire in Black Drama » Read Now
by Femi Euba. 204 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

In searching for a "definitive concept" of black theatre, Euba delves deeply into the Yoruba culture and gods, specifically the attributes and ritual of Esu-Elegbara. The resulting vision goes beyond the standard interpretations to place Esu, the "fate god," squarely at the center of Yoruba ritual...
Read More

In searching for a "definitive concept" of black theatre, Euba delves deeply into the Yoruba culture and gods, specifically the attributes and ritual of Esu-Elegbara. The resulting vision goes beyond the standard interpretations to place Esu, the "fate god," squarely at the center of Yoruba ritual and drama, and by extension, at the center of the black writer's concept of character, actor, and audience as victims of fate and satire. This is a sophisticated study that will be of great interest to those seeking to understand African influences on black drama and culture.
Show less
4.

Black American Poets and Dramatists of the Harlem Renaissance » Read Now
by Harold Bloom. 160 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
5.

Modern Black American Poets and Dramatists » Read Now
by Harold Bloom. 182 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
6.

Black Drama of the Federal Theatre Era: Beyond the Formal Horizons » Read Now
by E. Quita Craig. 239 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
7.

Their Place on the Stage: Black Women Playwrights in America » Read Now
by Elizabeth Brown-Guillory. 168 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

"This is the first book-length study of black American women playwrights. It will be useful to scholars in the fields of black and women's literature and an excellent source of background reading in graduate and undergraduate courses on American women playwrights. The author's training as both a...
Read More

"This is the first book-length study of black American women playwrights. It will be useful to scholars in the fields of black and women's literature and an excellent source of background reading in graduate and undergraduate courses on American women playwrights. The author's training as both a scholar and a playwright is evident in this book." Choice
Show less
8.

Wines in the Wilderness: Plays by African American Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present » Read Now
by Elizabeth Brown-Guillory. 251 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

"For those whose familiarity with black women playwrights is limited to the works of Lorraine Hansberry and Ntozake Shange, this collection of 15 plays written between 1925 and 1985 by eight authors will be a revelation. They express a passionate longing for social justice and for a stable...
Read More

"For those whose familiarity with black women playwrights is limited to the works of Lorraine Hansberry and Ntozake Shange, this collection of 15 plays written between 1925 and 1985 by eight authors will be a revelation. They express a passionate longing for social justice and for a stable, nurturing relationship between black men and women. Introductions for each author provide biographical information and critical analyses. A useful bibliography of plays and secondary sources is also included. This anthology helps to fill a serious gap in the standard histories of American drama." Library Journal
Show less
9.

The Crisis of Black Theatre Identity, in African American Review » Read Now
by Paul Carter Harrison. 12 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...discourse on black drama is thinkable only...subordination of the African American cultural ethos...usual stuff of drama--conflict, passion...dexterity of the African...
10.

Early Black Women Playwrights and the Dual Liberation Motif, in African American Review » Read Now
by Will Harris. 17 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...independent African American female presences...women to write drama. Margaret Wilkerson...Janet. Feminist Drama: Definition...Wilderness: Plays by African American Women...
11.

The Refusal of Motherhood in African American Women's Theater, in MELUS » Read Now
by Joyce Meier. 25 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...conjecture at this moment in African American womens drama, is thus introduced...White Drama." The Roots of African American Drama: An Anthology of Early...and Thorns. The...
12.

Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays: A Biographical Directory and Dramatic Index » Read Now
by Bernard L. Peterson Jr. 630 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

"This work provides a wealth of information on obscure and overlooked American playwrights as well as some famous ones; it will be a welcome addition for collections specializing in the theater arts." Reference Books Bulletin
13.

Contemporary African American Female Playwrights: An Annotated Bibliography » Read Now
by Dana A. Williams. 132 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Though Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) raised the world's awareness of the abilities of African American female playwrights, both the theater and the literary world often have neglected to include contemporary African American women dramatists within the circle of production...
Read More

Though Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) raised the world's awareness of the abilities of African American female playwrights, both the theater and the literary world often have neglected to include contemporary African American women dramatists within the circle of production, publication, and criticism. This reference book sheds light on the achievement of these playwrights and directs researchers to studies of their works. The first section includes a selected listing of anthologies that contain one or more plays by an African American female dramatist who has published at least one play since 1959. The second provides entries for reference works and for general and scholarly criticism about the dramatists and their plays. The third gives a selected listing of individual dramatists' published plays, with summaries of each drama; the dramatists' primary works related to drama; and secondary works that treat the dramatists and their plays. Entries are accompanied by concise yet informative annotations. The volume closes with a selected listing of periodicals that typically publish criticism of African American female playwrights, brief biographical sketches of the dramatists, and extensive indexes.
Show less
14.

Langston Hughes, Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition, 1921-1943 » Read Now
by Joseph McLaren. 196 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Though known primarily as a poet, Langston Hughes crafted well over 40 theatrical works. This book examines Hughes's stage pieces from his first published play, The Gold Piece (1921), through his post-radical wartime effort, For This We Fight (1943). Hughes's stage writing of this period includes...
Read More

Though known primarily as a poet, Langston Hughes crafted well over 40 theatrical works. This book examines Hughes's stage pieces from his first published play, The Gold Piece (1921), through his post-radical wartime effort, For This We Fight (1943). Hughes's stage writing of this period includes such forms as the folk comedy, the protest drama, the historical play and the blues opera. McLaren concludes that the "democratic" argument is ultimately employed by Hughes to challenge segregation in the military and that Hughes's iconography prefigures the black aesthetic of the 1960s. Photographs complement the text.
Show less
15.

The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups » Read Now
by Bernard L. Peterson Jr. 312 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

A comprehensive directory of more than 600 entries, this detailed ready reference features professional, semi-professional, and academic stage organizations and theatres that have been in the forefront in pioneering most of the advances that African Americans have made in the theatre. It includes...
Read More

A comprehensive directory of more than 600 entries, this detailed ready reference features professional, semi-professional, and academic stage organizations and theatres that have been in the forefront in pioneering most of the advances that African Americans have made in the theatre. It includes groups from the early 19th century to the dawn of the revolutionary Black theatre movement of the 1960s. It is an effort to bring together into one volume information that has hitherto been scattered throughout a number of different sources. The volume begins with an illuminating foreword by Errol Hill, a noted critic, playwright, scholar and Willard Professor of Drama Emeritus, Dartmouth College.
Show less
16.

Parody and Double Consciousness in the Language of Early Black Musical Theatre, in African American Review » Read Now
by David Krasner. 7 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library