Chorus Line

August Wilson’s 1996 address entitled “The Ground on Which I Stand”, sparked a vigorous debate in the world of theater over the idea of “colorblind casting” and he presented the need for a Black Theatre. Mr. Wilson was outraged by the fact that of the 66 major companies belonging to the League of Resident Theaters, only one was black. He felt that the supporters of black theatre used their funds to increase black hiring in primarily white theatres as opposed to creating a theatre for the black community. Hw wanted to have more black theaters established to cater to the black actors as well as draw in black audiences. He attacks the increasingly popular trend of “colorblind casting” which basically meant casting black actors in roles traditionally

The article is about black creative production (theater) since the play is directed by African American playwright Richard Wesley. In addition, the predominantly black casts are spectacular and deliver a strong performance. The ability to be multi-skilled in your craft displays creativity and versatility where the actors can utilize their many talents.

The playwright, 40-year-old Young Jean Lee, is currently one of the most acclaimed writers in America according to New York Times. Her work revels in subverting generalizations. With Straight White Men, Lee was contemplating and investigating the issue: What do you do with privilege— and do we abuse it and take it for granted? Lee, who is Korean-American, aimed to make Straight White Men, a play with four straight white men discussing this issue on stage in front of an audience. For the 21st century audience this play is more relevant today than it would have been a few years ago. It portrays opinions and displays some of the world's most pressing problems and debates that are surrounding us today. Yet, to what extent has this impacted upon her work? Using only 3 brothers and their father as the driving force behind the production, Lee’s intriguing play, performed by La Boite Theatre in association with State Theatre Company South Australia, goes a long way past cheap satire. It turns into an

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

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.

On November 4th, 2016, my best friend and I went to see the play at the Charles Winter Wood Theatre. This play is set during the 1950s, and the scene takes place in a night club in Chicago. This play was sponsored by FAMU’s Essential Theatre, and it was quite entertaining. It presents realistic situations such as the affairs, jealously, and debt in relationships. The director, Maurice Kitchen, wrote this play to present the Black artists who used their talent to escape the difficulties they have faced. The main character, Billy Gamble, was a show host and performer, who used his patients with musical talents to be on his show. Important aspects seen in the play were love and fame. The musicians expressed their feelings within their music.

This play was an inspiring and motivational. I had a deep connection with this play by how they portray the Tuskegee airmen and the difficulties they faced in their time. They had to earn the respect from their peers. They have many challenges they have to face to accomplish this goal. many African Americans faced many government difficulties later on in the 1960’s leading to the Civil Right movement. Where many African Americans fought equality. In today’s society, there is much racial discrimination we face today. There are many tragic stories where cops killed innocent black teens. With a lot of killing of young African men, a group is developing for the protection for African Americans.

He pointed out that at the time he wrote this article, most American theatres are “racially mixed”. Black actors could cooperate with a white playwrights. It was no need to separate which theatres are “black” and which are

Who’s next? It seems that the issue about race in American history never reaches an endpoint. The intersection of race, gender, contradiction has been continually crucial to shape the identity of minority American. As early as the first wave of Asian immigrants, Chinese immigrants, arrived in west coast, Asian Americans was haunted by anti-Asian movement and intense hostility. Foreign Miners’ Tax passed in 1852 was a representative of racial campaign between whites and nonwhites. The requirement of monthly three dollars’ tax intentionally crashed the earliest American Dream of Chinese immigrants who expected to lead a better life in the US. Such Anti-Asian movement was eventually ushered into legalized level. California Supreme Court declared in People v. Hall in 1854 that Chinese migrants were not entitled to testify against the white citizens in US court based on the fact that people, other than whites, could never enjoy the same rights as white Americans. Since then, Asian immigrants were subjected to numerous social and legislative initiatives that specifically targeted them on a racial basis. In David Henry Huang’s semiautobiographical play Yellow Face, he mixed his own memory and fiction to depicting an image of Asian American racial identity. In 1990, Hwang led a group of Asian-Americans to protest the casting of a white British actor as a Eurasian character in the musical Miss Saigon. However, later in his own play Face Value, he mistakenly casted a white actor,

In the 1930’s and 40’s shows began to be integrated whereas before black and white were segregated and names such as Fred Astaire and Leonard Reed danced separately. With the invention of motion pictures, Broadway stars found new heights of fame with lavish feature length

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

African American Theatre has a very dynamic and rich entity which comes from ancient Egyptian practices, and the African background of Greek legends contributed by Shakespeare. While black theatre was in its early stages, plays echoed of the lives they were living. Black American artists were constructing and preforming plays for mixed audiences as early as 1821. The dance and rhythm black people inherited caught the eyes of European audiences. Black theatre involves all sorts of black tradition with ancient stories, mythology, dances, music, and rich practices. It also contributed to the formation of America’s musical comedy acts. Social restrictions that

The play Avenue Q represents diversity in American theatre. Avenue Q tackles multiple social issues that contribute to diversity in theatre. It addresses ideas such as racism, sexuality,poverty and even pornography. Avenue Q addresses these ideas through song numbers, making it a musical. This play was first performed in March of 2003, off broadway at the Vineyard Theatre.

The Bucks County School of Performing Arts is preparing to present 2017 Broadway Revue. Tonight was the night-dancers in position, the rest of the cast lined up backstage, band tuned and ready for the top of the show. My director gives the cue, “Lights on stage, open the curtain.”

There has been a steady decline in musicals being produced, since the 1970’s. The movie Chicago has helped to bring the genre of musicals back into public favor. With the help of the movie, and articles that have been written about the return of the musical, I will convey how this has come to be. I have looked at the history of this genre to see how it has gone down in popularity, and how it has come back.