Selected Topics in Literature and Performance: New Black Drama

Catalog description

The New York Times ran three articles on “a generation of black playwrights whose fiercely political and formally inventive works are challenging audiences, critics, and the culture at large to think about race, and racism, in new ways.” In order to better understand this “radical moment” in American theater, this course will cover fourteen plays all debuted in the last six years. Subjects will include historical and media representations of Black lives, the sexual politics of interracial relationships, comedy as a response to trauma, and the role of faith and ritual in public performance.