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The
Roots of African American Drama
Edited by Leo Hamalian and James V. Hatch
Foreword by George C. Wolfe |
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This
important volume showcases thirteen historically significant plays by African-American
playwrights. Five of the scripts included here have never been in print,
and only three others are currently available. The plays represent a variety
of styles-allegory, naturalism, realism, melodrama, musical comedy, and
opera. Their subjects include slavery, sharecropping, World War I, vaudeville,
religion, and legend and mythology.
The Roots of African American Drama features
a crucial, yet virtually ignored segment of the African American tradition,
from William Wells Brown's abolitionist drama, The
Escape—the earliest extant black play
written in America—to Willis Richardson's Chip
Woman's Fortune, the first black play on Broadway,
and Abram Hill's classic, On Strivers Row.
This book also gives an account of American History
and dramatic concerns of the period. |
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"A
testimony to the roots of African-American literature and their influences
on contemporary work . . . Comparisons and contrasts between the traditional
canon and this new collection offer parallels that would . . . make this
work a fine textbook as well. [An] essential work." —Lou-Ann Cruther,
Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky |
