African American Perspective Of Performance

The era during which a drama is written can altogether change or exemplify certain motives, that if written in another time, would not only be misread but could also possibly be entirely unrecognized. It is during the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, that two prominent dramatists, Amiri Baraka and Lorraine Hansberry, sought the perfect opportunity to create plays that brought forth, with earnestness and directness, the great trials faced daily by African-Americans throughout the United States. Through their two protagonist's interactions with a representation of the white race of that time, Walter Lee's handling Mr. Lindner in A Raisin In the Sun, and the oppression of Clay caused by Lula in The Dutchman, the very the

Performance. The interactions are viewed as a performance, constantly being shaped by the environment and audience, with the objective of providing others with impressions that are consonant with the desired goals of the actor. Specifically Goffman states as “all the activity of an individual which occurs during a period marked by his continuous presence before a particular set of observers and which has some influence on the observers” (1959, 32). Goffman (1959) uses the

The Phantom of the Opera also issued a similar type of casting method when naming Norm Lewis as the first black actor to play the Phantom. However, the idea of “color blindness” is not a problem on stage so much as it is off stage. The biggest problem that many black playwrights and directors face is not that their work is not being produced, but that the pieces written about black communities by white men are often racist. “Because much of white privilege doesn’t have any interaction with blackness they have a tendency to congregate around pathology, and only focusing on particular things in the urban environment—high crime, single parenthood, things like that— and then they sort of tag that as being the black experience” (Nichloson). Properly representing a culture different than the playwright’s or producer’s without being racist is a very tedious and difficult task which is why it is very important to have diversity in a show’s production team. Black people are needed on the creative team of a show about a black community in order to “have a fuller perspective of what black is, what black story is, and what black voice is” (Nichloson). American theatre has its definite struggles with gender and racial injustices, but theatres in Britain are facing the same problems on an even greater

Wilson stated that ''The truth is that often where there are esthetic criteria of excellence, there are also sociological criteria that have traditionally excluded blacks.'' He then continued on to say ''... raise the standards and remove the sociological consideration of race as privilege, and we will meet you at the crossroads, in equal numbers, prepared to do the work of extending and developing the common ground of the American theater.'' Through these powerful words Wilson is saying that in order to reflect American culture in the theater, the history of African American’s must be reflected. There have always been systems in place that have excluded African Americans and white Americans will never understand the way that sense of oppression felt. White Americans will never understand how it feels to be enslaved, be powerless in protecting your family, and being sold off as property, as Eliza Harris from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and millions of other slaves felt. Photographing the “American Negro” by Shawn Michelle Smith presented the idea that white Americans have tried to take away the histories of other races in America. People have always turned against embracing the histories of the African Americans because they were seen as alien to their owners. Their different skin tone separated them from the white Americans who thought of them as uncivilized before they were brought to work for them. Ultimately Wilson calls for Black Theaters to prevent the culture of the

After examining Goffman and Schechner's theories of reception and performance a performance is unique and interactive. The uniqueness of a performance is on the interactivity of the creation or production from the audience. Goffman defines performance by the influence it has on participants. If it doesn't influence the participants or audience it’s not a performance. While Schencher defines a performance by what is placed into the performance. Performances are bits of restored behavior that include living behaviors recombined, rearranged, and reconstructed. In other words performances exist as actions, interactions, and relationships. There are many kinds of performance in the arts, in sports , and in ritual. For example, War Horse Film was a

In analysis of the texts of these plays, it becomes evident that both periods and cultures suffered from similar types of problems with interracialism, though to a slightly greater and more violent extent in the latter piece of Hughes’s. However, merely analyzing the texts sketches an often incomplete picture, as these plays were, to a large extent, created for the purpose of protesting and attempting to manipulate the very attitudes they presented. Therefore, in order to truly consider how the nature and extent of attitudes towards interracialism had evolved from the pre-Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance, one must look not only at the texts of the plays, but also to their critical commentaries, manipulation in pre-production, and audience responses. These sources outside of the texts greatly contribute to the conclusion that although discrimination, maliciousness, and brutality were problems that accompanied interracialism in both periods, they were slightly increased in intensity and nature in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930’s compared to the late 1850’s.

Three sources analyze the racial conflicts of white actors playing colored parts, and all agreed that it was not a trivial situation, for audiences, or actors. Racial tensions are very popular with the media. While there is some minor tension today, the movies and plays of Othello top the charts for most racial conflicts. First, The article, “Othello: the role that entices and engages actors of all skin colours,” by Andrew Dickson shows the history of the actors that played Othello, and when the actors were black, they were either not cast, due to segregationists, or were criticized in their performance for the same reason. Also, this article uses diction to convey the seriousness of white vs. minority crisis. Next, the video, “SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED White Actors Playing Othello” by PBS, shows the performances of many Othello actors that were white. Additionally, the video shows one white actor who used makeup to make himself more than than black. The video uses hyperbole to describe the absurdity of Othello movies. For example, Laurence Olivier, the 1964 Othello was black-top showing how far film industries will go to cover-up racial tensions, and the narrator describes the makeup as ridiculous,and dramatic. Finally, the last article, “Aladdin: putting a white character in Disney’s live-action remake is offensive,” by Hannah Flint displays that film industries feel obligated to please a white audience, keeping the minorities second fiddle by adding characters white people

It may be initially remembered but eventually forgotten as the world moves on. However, through a powerful performance of voice, Douglass cements the speech into the minds of those who’ve witnessed it. Such a long piece of text becomes captivating to a group of people that yearn for freedom. The white audience also has a greater chance of reflection as in front of them is a figure who is personally attacking their grievous errors. For example, by asking the rhetorical question ‘what to the American slave, is your 4th of July?’

Staging Race is a book that focuses on black performers between 1890 and World War I. During this time period blacks were dealing with many social events which included: the Jim Crow segregation, the Niagara Movement, and heightened racial tension. The goal of this book is to show the way that black performers were able to use public entertainment to present their political ideas and use them to appeal to the white audience and at the same time entertain and educate the black people in the balcony seats.

I am an African American and I want to give my perspective on how I think about events involved with the Civil War. My perspective on the Confederate States of America is that it is a lot of Southern States eleven to be exact. The Confederate States seceded from the Union and that’s what started the civil war. The war had a big effect on us they wounded about three million slaves. My perspective on African Americans serving in the army is not really good back because they just want to use us and if one of us dies the whites wouldn’t care. They basically treat us like slaves making us work in the army fighting their battle.

actually address the historical legacy of slavery, Lin Manuel Miranda’s casting brought light to the misrepresentation of non-whites in media and history. Throughout history, minority races, specifically African-Americans and Hispanics, are often whitewashed into stereotypical themes; thug life, segregation, or the “bad guy”.

As a result of slavery in a whole a distinct slave culture emerges. In this culture privileges are few, but the few privileges are greatly valued. For example, in the slave culture singing was a very popular and important part of their lives, it was one of the few ways they were allowed express themselves. They would sing of their sorrows and of their joys. In the words of Frederick,

When looking at the origins of African-American Dramas specifically in Mulatto, Native Son, A Raisin in the Sun, Funnyhouse of a Negro, Great Goodness of Life, and Dutchman, the emotions of all these characters created the sense that everyone in this time were still searching for their identity. Each character in the plays had to overcome difficulties relating to their skin color, thus causing either confusion or confidence in their search for what defines them as their self. It created internal conflicts and they often blamed society for specific expectations and stereotypes. How the characters decided to express their feelings in emotions demonstrates a sense of realism and how they viewed themselves. In each play, we are able to see how the characters deal with the searching of their identity through various emotions and internal conflicts through their life choices.

This view gives us a deeper understanding of behaviours as performances. A personal example of looking at a performativity culture and analyzing it, is the roles people play in everyday life. The role of a

Ever since I took drama classes in high school I felt that we always put on an act. A show almost, that we put out for the people we interact with daily. Erving Goffman, “Canadian-American Sociologist” (Encyclopedia In., 2017) also believed this, he compared social interactions to the theater, where individuals take a particular role. According to Goffman this “theatrical metaphor consists of a stage, actors, and an audience” (Crossman, 2014). It also consists of the onstage, backstage and offstage. These three stages show different behavior on a person.