Ten plays: Each play takes ten to fifteen minutes to perform. Each can be presented with minimal costumes and props and without theatrical scenery or lighting. Out of Time- A customer attempts to purchase a used watch. But the store's proprietor is reluctant to sell a watch to someone who does not understand what time is. Widgets- In 1908, a newspaper reporter interviews the recently named Employee of the Year at the World Wide Widget Works. A Fond Farewell- Charlie Burns is dead. His wife and ex-wife do not agree about how Charlie's fond farewell should proceed. Then, Mr. Barber arrives. Do You Care Enough?- Three "diverse" greeting card executives have a mandate from their boss to devise a new imperative for consumers to purchase cards. Move the Car- A couple married for over thirty-five years hires an auto shop to refurbish a twenty-eight-year-old car and move it into their bedroom. Tee-shirt History- A novice entrepreneur sells souvenirs near Atlanta's Piedmont Park as an event celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday begins. The Great Xmas Race- It's reality television. It's the second coming. Each contestant's last name is King. Fame and fortune await the first three Kings to arrive in Bethlehem and present their gifts. The Kings prepare to board a flight at the world's busiest airport. Silver Tongue- A political hopeful learns the secret to the father's success while endeavoring to win the office held by the father for decades. Kin Ship- The Global Union of Nations is sending all the Black people to its Lunar Colony. The Racial Identity Determination Bureau decides who goes and who stays. Twin sisters have appealed the Bureau's decision. The twin ordered to go wants to stay, and the one ordered to stay wants to go. Our Dreams (Last Supper)- A Memphis caf staff prepares supper for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the eve of the historic march in support of sanitation workers.
Our intention, explain the Mollettes, is to describe the nature of African American theatre as an expression of culture and a medium for communicating values. We have divided this book into two sections. Part One, PREMISE, describes the terms and concepts needed to examine African American theatre from an Afrocentric point of view. Essential to that discourse is an understanding of culture and values and their impact upon an individual's point of view and subsequent interpretation of what is seen and heard. We cite examples of historical interpretations and analyses to illustrate the differences in these statements of evaluation that result from variations in culture and values. Part Two, Presentation, delineates values that influence theatrical presentations by and for African Americans and their impact upon style, form, and the performance environment. The values of specific cultures also control concepts such as space and time that are crucial to the way in which performance art is perceived. Both Afrocentric and Eurocentric concepts of time and space are described in order to contrast Afrocentric and Eurocentric conventions of theatrical presentations.
Afrocentric Theatre updates the Molettes' groundbreaking book, Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, that has been required reading in many Black theatre courses for over twenty-five years. Afrocentric theatre is a culturally-based art form, not a race-based one. Culture and values shape perceptions of such phenomena as time, space, heroism, reality, truth, and beauty. These culturally variable social constructions determine standards for evaluating and analyzing art and govern the way people perceive theatrical presentations as well as film and video drama. A play is not Afrocentric simply because it is by a Black playwright, or has Black characters, or addresses a Black theme or issue. Afrocentric Theatre describes the nature of an art form that embraces and disseminates African American culture and values. Further, it suggests a framework for interpreting andevaluating that art form and assesses the endeavors of dramatists who work from an Afrocentric perspective.
Afrocentric Theatre updates the Molettes' groundbreaking book, Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, that has been required reading in many Black theatre courses for over twenty-five years. Afrocentric theatre is a culturally-based art form, not a race-based one. Culture and values shape perceptions of such phenomena as time, space, heroism, reality, truth, and beauty. These culturally variable social constructions determine standards for evaluating and analyzing art and govern the way people perceive theatrical presentations as well as film and video drama. A play is not Afrocentric simply because it is by a Black playwright, or has Black characters, or addresses a Black theme or issue. Afrocentric Theatre describes the nature of an art form that embraces and disseminates African American culture and values. Further, it suggests a framework for interpreting andevaluating that art form and assesses the endeavors of dramatists who work from an Afrocentric perspective.
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