African American Theatre

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African American Theatre
C. 3. b. on your printed notes
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1) Early 1900s, musical reviews and light musical
comedies featuring African American casts
capitalize on American love of minstrel shows
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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.
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• 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.

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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.
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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
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3) A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry,
1959, first play by African American female on
Broadway
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A Raisin in the Sun was directed by Lloyd
Richards, who would later direct and help to
shape the early works of August Wilson.
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Unfortunately for American theatre, Lorraine
Hansberry died very soon after A Raisin in the
Sun, completing only one additional play.
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A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in
2004, with Sean Combs in the role of Walter.
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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.
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The Broadway cast was reunited for an ABC movie
of A Raisin in the Sun.
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4) Revolutionary theatre in 1960s 1970s
Amiri Baraka (AKA LeRoi Jones), The
Dutchman, The Toilet, etc.
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• . . . Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have
  Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf
  (1976)

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• 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.
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• . . . 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.
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. . . Bubblin Brown Sugar (1976)
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. . . and Your Arms Too Short to Box with God
(1976)
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• 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

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Gem of the Ocean set in 1904
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Joe Turners Come and Gone set in1911
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Ma Raineys Black Bottom set in 1927
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The Piano Lesson set in 1936
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Seven Guitars set in 1948
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Fences set in 1957-1963
(Los Angeles production with Lawrence Fishburne)
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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.
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Two Trains Running set in 1969
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Jitney set in 1977
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King Hedley II set in mid-1980s
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Radio Golf set in 1997
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Entire cycle of August Wilson plays, alternately
called the Pittsburgh Cycle or 20th Century Cycle.

• 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)

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• 7) Since late 1990s Tyler Perry has tremendous
  success with pop culture plays satirizing racial
  stereotypes, imbedded religious/social messages

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8) Introspective plays currently being written
by black women, among them Suzan-Lori
Parks, Pearl Cleage, Dael Orlandersmith,
and Lynn Nottage. (see Female Playwrights)
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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

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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.
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Dael Orlandersmith

• Yellowman
• The Gimmick
• (2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist)

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Lynn Nottage

• A Stones Throw
• Fabulation
• Intimate Apparel
• Las Meninas
• Mud, River, Stone
• Crumbs from the Table of Joy
• Ruined
• (2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)

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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.