Zoom: African American Theatres

Wednesday 10/21 at 1:30pm - Zoom Room Link

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

Acquire vocabulary to discuss various forms of African American theatre;
Identify and make critical connections between the Harlem Renaissance and later black theatre traditions;
Contextualize Zora Neale Hurston and Amiri Baraka's literature within its economic, political, and cultural moments;
Learn to problematize inherited historical attitudes towards black theatre;
Make a case for the continued production/consumption of black theatre.

Vocab to Know: Harlem, New Negro Movement, diaspora, Double consciousness, In Dahomey, KRIGWA, Shuffle Along, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes

I. Introduction to Module

Free Write: Color Struck and Dutchman are set (in part or in full) on a train. What is the dramaturgical relevance of staging a scene in a train? How are these plays doing the same thing by setting scenes in a train? How are their settings operating differently?
Survey Results
- Action item: Open office hours 12:30-1:30 Fridays
- Action item: more interactive zoom content GAME

II. The Harlem Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston

Vocab Breakout Rooms
- Harlem
- New Negro Movement
- diaspora
- Double consciousness
- In Dahomey
- KRIGWA
- Shuffle Along
Color Struck
- Hurston's Color Struck was rarely performed during the Harlem Renaissance. Why do you think this might be?
- David Krasner argues that Hurston's play "shifts the locus of the Harlem- New Negro Renaissance from the urban North, with its relatively positive, upbeat outlook, to the impoverished rural South, where she attempts to depict a tragedy of epic proportions." What tragic events is he referring to? What part of the American South is Hurston depicting? What did you think of her use of language?
- What is colorism and how does this play represent it?
- As a director, how might you stage the cakewalk scene?

III. Radical Black Theatre and Amiri Baraka

Dutchman
- Why is it titled “The Dutchman”?
- Why set it in New York? Why a subway?
- What does Lula’s apple symbolize?
- What stereotypes is this play portraying and/or problematizing?
- What genre is this play?

IV. Announcements & Coming Due (more details on the course schedule)

This Week:
- Practice Quiz, Discussion Post, and Test on Modules 4-8 Due Friday
Next Week is Module 9: Indigenous and Immigrant Theatres
Ongoing
- 5 comments/views on your peers' Partner Video Projects on this Discussion Board.