博客來The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance is an outstanding collection of specially written essays that charts the emergence, development, and diversity of African American Theatre and Performance – from 19th century African Grove Theatre to Afro-Futurism. Alongside chapters from scholars are contributions from theatre-makers, including producers, theatre managers, choreographers, directors, designers, and critics. This ambitious Companion includes:
- A ‘Timeline of African American Theatre and Performance’
- ‘Seeing Ourselves Onstage’ explores the important experience of Black theatrical self-representation. Analyses of diverse topics including historical dramas, Broadway musicals, and experimental theatre allow readers to discover expansive articulations of Blackness.
- ‘Institution Building’ highlights institutions that have nurtured Black people both on stage and behind the scenes. Topics include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, festivals, and black actor training.
- ‘Theatre and Social Change’ surveys key moments when black people harnessed the power of theatre to affirm community realities and posit new representations for themselves and the nation as a whole. Topics include Du Bois and African Muslims, women of the Black Arts Movement, Afro-Latinx theatre, youth theatre, and operatic sustenance for an Afro future.
- ‘Expanding the Traditional Stage’ examines Black performance traditions that privilege Black worldviews, sense-making, rituals, and innovation in everyday life. This section explores performances that prefer the space of the kitchen, classroom, club, or field.
This book engages a wide audience of scholars, students, and theatre practitioners with its unprecedented breadth. More than anything, these invaluable insights not only offer a window onto the processes of producing work, but also the labour and economic issues that have shaped and enabled African American theatre.
