African American Drama

In this course we will respectfully investigate African American performance and theatre history since the late 19th century by exploring works of playwrights such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Amira Baraka, Adrienne Kennedy, August Wilson, and Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. We will also engage with theoretical essays by Alain Locke, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Patricia Hill Collins and more, that illuminate how, despite centuries of lethal stereotyping, the stage has been and continues to be a forum for self-representation, unification, resistance, and liberation. Guest artists will provide firsthand accounts in conversation with the students. Dramaturgical and critical responses to the materials will strengthen production interpretation and design skills.