A number of things have been said about my plays over the course of my ten year writing career. This morning, I sit in deep contemplation of the following: "You don't really write Black plays. I mean, there are Black people in them, but the play's aren't really about them being black." "If you weren't sitting here talking about your process, I wouldn't know if this play had been written by a Black person or a White person." Both sentiments were said in an attempt to praise the work, the writing, the characters, and the experience had in reading or viewing my work. I know this, because my facial expression in response to such statements have always led the speaker to clarify their meaning. ![]() In 1959, in a radio interview with social historian Studs Terkel, playwright Lorraine Hansberry faced a similar response to her play, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, and she explains: STUDS TERKEL: I'm sure you've been told a number of times, "This is not really a Negro play. It could be about anybody." LORRAINE HANSBERRY: [Sighs.] Invariably. I know what they're trying to say: it is not the traditional "Negro Play." It isn't a protest play. It isn't something that hits you over the head. What they're trying to say is something very good; that they believe the characters transcend category. Unfortunately, they couldn't be more wrong. I believe one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create the universal, you must pay great attention to the specific. Not only is this a play about a Negro family, specifically and definitely, culturally. It's not even a New York family or a Southern Negro family. It is specifically South Side Chicago. That kind of care, that kind of attention to detail, to the extent that people believe them, accept them. They can become anybody. But it is definitely a Negro play before it is anything else. So, I ask you:
8 Comments
MBW
8/1/2013 04:17:21 am
To your question of who determines the cultural specificity of the play....it's a combination of the writer and the viewer/reader....with a dash of director/actors thrown in. Everybody has their own lens through which they will view a play.
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Jacqueline E. Lawton
8/2/2013 12:02:11 am
Thank you for this powerful and thoughtful comment, and for taking the time to address this issues with such excellent points.
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I believe the writer determines the cultural specificity. The writer creates the setting, time period, characters, circumstances, and climate from which the director, designers, and actors work. The latter group can expound on the former elements but they must stay true to the text. You cannot deny what's on the page. At the same time, I don't take issue, although some do, with all black casts of Streetcar or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as long as the creative team can make that choice and stay true to the work.
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Jacqueline E. Lawton
8/2/2013 12:04:04 am
Thank you for addressing this complex issue in such a meaningful, thoughtful and detailed way. Your response resonates deeply with me.
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8/1/2013 07:39:40 pm
Speaking as a White gay male playwright who loves August Wilson plays because of their specificity, not in spite of it, I find those comments you've been getting strange. One issue I'd guess is that we still have so few Black, Asian, Latino/a, Indigenous American stories on stage that playwrights from those ethnicities are expected to carry on a certain trope, whether it be protest, angst or whatever. I love diversity in my theatre, and I love that all playwrights, not just White playwrights feel empowered to write diverse plays. We would have a very impoverished theatre if ethnic minority playwrights were restricted to one type of theatre.
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Jacqueline E. Lawton
8/2/2013 12:07:23 am
Thank you for sharing this! I hear that you're asking for social awareness and racial consciousness when making casting decision. This is smart and necessary.
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Rosemary McLaughlin
8/2/2013 06:37:03 am
Thanks, Jacqueline, for this blog & a chance for discussion.
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Jacqueline E. Lawton
8/7/2013 03:06:13 pm
These are really great points! It reminds me of the beautiful work that director Timothy Douglas did on Horton Foote's Trip to Bountiful for the Cleveland Play House and Round House Theatre co-production. He cast the family as African American. I had the great fortune to work as dramaturg. I've always appreciated the play as a Texan, but when reading it through the lens of the black family, I felt deep, powerful and lasting connection to it. Cultural specificity cannot be overlooked or erased.
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My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
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