Caribbean Playwrights

Black theater is as old as the first tribes in Africa who would dance with wooden masks to represent gods or legends (Kerr, p3). The playwrights of this time were the Griots, who were known as the keepers of history in African tribes and mark the beginning of African literary tradition (Freeman.) But when does the development of black playwright actually take off?

Theatre is not only presented as a piece of art, but as a tool of social reform to express the feelings of humans and contemporary notions of society. Plays are designed to reflect significant issues of a society, on which they were created. The play Black Diggers by Tom Wright, uses certain devices and forms of symbolism to emphasise not only the historical relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but to link ideas to contemporary issues to provoke ideas of empathy. Wright creates a series of character encounters, to express how an Indigenous racial identity is perceived by society and compare a period of discrimination and infringement of rights to how it is expressed at war during World War 1. This provokes ideas of repentance

Her dad carried her away from the hospital without payment, and then her mom permitted her to cook again, moreover she said, “ Getting right back into the saddle” ( Glass Castle 47). Jeanette was not angry at such young age and soon the family had to pack their belongings into bags and “do the skedaddle” as her parents always said. The parents were fleeing from bill collectors. Although Jeanette's father was an alcoholic, he could get work almost anywhere, often in small towns. The family was moving because of these things, she never complained when they did not have enough food. Jeanette always forgave her parents, she understood what they were going through.

As Jeanette learns later on in the novel, ultimately in life all of the struggles and difficulties wont matter because life finds a way to work itself out. Throughout the novel the readers become aware of different messages being displayed. One of the messages relates to the fact that people need to trust in themselves and understand that they shape their own destiny. Just because Jeanette’s parents were not the ideal role models does not mean that Jeanette automatically prepares her life for

Her Mother seemed to be more put together than her father at times, even getting a job at one point helping the family out. Though her mother was a hedonist and did not contain the motherly love and sacrifice for her kids, this job helped Jeanette’s future. She helped grade papers which increased her knowledge of the outside world and “...the world was making a little more sense” as she read the papers and projects of her mother’s students (Walls 205). Her parents had such an opposition to the outside world that she hadn’t gotten every aspect of

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

Prior to this quote, Jeannette had to rely on her siblings for love and support which eventually would follow her to young adulthood. Whether their parents were supporting them or not, they all had each other to fall back on and in the end, having each other is what got them through the tough times.

She feels this especially when her father is so consumed in his drinking and her mother is so consumed in her artwork. With the parents worried about other things, they do not have time to worry about the actual concern: the safety and protection of their children. With the poor decisions they make in regards to their children's safety, it seems as though they do not love them which is where Jeanette feels she has to pick up their slack. Towards the end of the novel Jeanette and her new husband, John, invite her mom, brother, and sister to a family Thanksgiving dinner showing love and compassion even after all the pain and suffering her mom caused her, “It had been John’s idea to invite her and Lori and Brian out to the house for Thanksgiving, the first Walls family get- together since Dad’s funeral.” Jeanette’s love and compassion even during the hard times, helped her to gain love in her life. After leaving in poverty fir all her life, she was finally able to be apart of the upper-middle

the play are ―rich symbol[s]‖ that convey the barriers of a ―racist society‖ (Kenny par. 18). The

Another example of racism in Act 2 is the jokes that the cast keep saying back and forth to each other. For instance Steve asks the cast ‘”how many white men does it take to change a light bulb?” and Kevin replies by saying “one to hold the light bulb and the rest screw the entire world”. Then Steve replies with another racist joke asking “what is long and hard on a black man?” As the cast keeps bickering and talking over each other Lena decides to tell the most racist joke of the entire play. She asks “why is a white woman like a tampon?” As Steve tries to figure out the answer Lena tells them that it is because they are both stuck up cunts. After all of this is said everyone continues to argue and talk over each other. Nothing seems to be solved and people start to leave because of all the racist comments.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

Throughout the years the play Othello by William Shakespeare has been adapted both on the screen and on stage many times. The questions or race and racism that have quite often been a point of discussion with William Shakespeare’s play Othello can be seen through the bard, however some may argue that Othello’s skin colour was purely a plot device. This paper will look at two film that have been re-made since the 1960’s, which provides an analysis of the concept of race and how political ideas and events of that time have influenced each adaptation. It will be seen that the film version of Othello directed by Oliver Parker in 1995 compared to the film version directed by Geoff Sax in 2001 present’s race with differing degrees.

The production spearheaded with a solemn poem by Langston Hughes entitled "Harlem." Preparing for an emotionally empowering theater piece, the poem quieted the audience and placed a serious blanket over us. While appropriate for me, I found it extremely coincidental that the poem's title, ties in directly with James Baldwin and his extensive writings on the 1943 Harlem race riots. With the lights off and just a solitary voice reciting the poem, it gave us, the audience, an immediate notion of play's melancholy style.

My composition class had the opportunity to critique The Evolution of a Black Girl: From the Slave House to the White House which is a play by Morgan McCoy. In this play, she portrays 12 different characters. In the opening of the play, she begins with African American history. She then plays as different women who have have been through difficult times to get where they are now. The first woman she plays has had a difficult life; she represents all of the women in Africa who have struggled with violence in their country. I am going to critique The Evolution of a Black Girl: From the Slave House to the White House, and I am going to use a five star rating scale where one star is terrible and five stars is outstanding, using acting, setting

Racism seems to be a big concern in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Othello. Because the hero of the play is an outsider, a Moor, we have an idea how blacks were regarded in England, in Elizabethan times. There are many references that bring about the issue of racism from the very beginning to the end. In the tragedy, where Othello is coming from is not mentioned, yet through the descriptions the reader is informed that he belongs to one of the Eastern nationalities such as African, Ottoman Turk or Arab. In this paper I am going to analyze some episodes involving a prejudicial, racist attitude and try to discuss whether Shakespeare was a racist or not. Even though the play is full of offensive definitions of black