—I'r-“v-——— - _ .__ '_ __
. _ .

 

THREE HAYS OF THE
BLACK THEATER

... A mscussmN -
THESIS FOR THE DEGREE. OF MA.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
CORRINE LOUISE JENNINGS
I 9 7 3

ABSTRACT

THREE PLAYS OF THE BIACK THEATER
-- A DISCUSSION --

by
Corrine Louise Jennings

ABSTRACT

mm PLAYS or m BLACK MR
-- A DISCUSSION --
by

Corrine Louise Jennings

In ”A Discussion of Three Plays of the Black Theater,” the
stated problem is an examination, exploration and couparison of B__a__st
of Jordan, Who's Got His 0mm, and In the Wine Tins in the context or
the heightened Black consciousness thet developed in Alerice during
the 60'. end found expression in s new Black Arts movement. There-
fore, the paper focuses on the artistic innovators and philosophies
of the 60's as the framework in which to review these works by
Even Walker, Ron Milner and Ed Bullins. This thesis also plsces
the three dramas in the historical perspective of the Blsck Ian's ex-
periences in the west, both in the theater arts and in the socio-
economic and political arena.

The plays utilized ere full-length structured (crafted)
plsys and ere discussed in terns or the Aristotelian concepts of
plot, cheracter, thought, diction end spectacle. These criteria are
supple-ented with those suggested by the burgeoning Black Aesthetic.
0f perticular importance in the study ere personal interviews with
the three authors, in which they stress their obJectives in writing
these plays. In addition interviews with innovators in the new
Black theater in the areas of direction, production, criticism, and

ecting were conducted and this co-entary on both the psrticuler

Corinne Louise Jennings
works and the philosophy of Black Theater are included. Articles
by Black writers in the Black media and the mass media are used as
secondary sources in examining the plays.

This thesis does not examine the work of Imamu Amiri Baraka
(Ieroi Jones), who is certainly a vital force in Black Art, nor does
it consider any of the one act plays which are the most prolific form
of the new Black Revolutionary Theater. Also this thesis does not
discuss any of the ritualistic theater pieces which seem to be de-
veloping into a significant direction for Black theater.

The major findings of this research are that all three
writers are manipulating the form of traditional European theater to
reveal various aspects of the Black experience. And that the
writers have attempted to revitalize this traditional form through
the use of various devices that are akin to Black culture. However,
Ron Milner, author of Who's Got His Own, has been the most innovative
by structuring his play on the basis of a form of Black Music (”Jazz”).
In all three plays theme and character are the most significant ele-
ments. But all three writers have utilized vital cultural material
to deal with and raise issues of pertinence to Blacks--particu1arly

the problems of the survival of the Black male in a racist society.

ms: PLATE 0? m BLACK THEATER
‘-- A DISCIBBIOI --

’By

Corrine Louise Jennings

ATIISIB

Submitted to
Michigan Btste University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

WOFARTS

Department of heater

1973

Copyright by
Corrine Inuise Jennings

197 3

AWN

I would like to acknowledge w debt to Gilbert Lewis, Ron Inlner,
Hoodie King, Jr., Ivan Walker, George Bass, 8d Bullins end Clayton Riley,
from whom I received invaluable infomtiom and encouragement in gathering
and cmpilimg this nterial. And special thanks to w Advisory Co-ittee,
Ir. Prank Rutledge, It. Parley Richmond and Dr. Alfred Owbor for their
assistance and advice.

11

TABLE OF COITBNTS

Immon 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Chapter
1. BLACK THEATER IN AMERICA

A Survey .........................................
Introduction to this Study .......................

II. EAST 0? JORDAN ...................................
III. WHO'S GOT HIS OWN .......... ....... ...............
IV. In THE VINE TIME ....... ...... ....................

V. CONCLUSION .......................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................
APPENDIX ......... ..... .. ........ ... ..... .................

iii

Page
2

33
MI

69
87
103
no
116

The intent of this thesis is to examine, enlore amd capers
thefenuiagfnll-mplwl.lastcherdambylvaaianer,M
GoblisOwabyRonlilnerandIatheIiaeTimabyldlallims.

Theplaeeefthesethreedramasinthelmericani'heataris
specific. heyarewrittembynlaekmuthoragtheyarewritteafr.
thepeimtefviewetfthellacknmamdaredirectedimtemtiually
towardllaekaadieaees. Thus, these materials representneapres-
siuefthesemlsandlivessfllackpeopleimdmsrica.

mthreeplarsverewrittenintheyearsbetweenmmamd
1970;eaehwaswrittembyayeamgmaminhisearlythirties. These
plusdrawtheirvigerfrcmtheemperiemeeefthellacknmimthe
western world and their creation coincides with other creative and
virile develepamts in theBlack enmity apolitical, cultural and
sociallevels.

CHAPERI

BLACK WEB IR ”ERICA

A Survey

The 1960's brought a trace of revolution to the Black com-
munitiea in America, in the form of protests, boycotts, marches,
riots and rebellion. nut, however, auch attention was focused on the
Black nation by the white press and white men in general, it was far
surpassed by the attention Blacks paid to their own cmitiaa.
Blacks have always had a dual-consciousness ,1 have always been
strained by the antagonistic climate of racism operating in the United
states. For Black people, this fact of life generated specific phi-
losophies of change in the mid-Twentieth Century in the form of Black
consciousness or letionaliam.

ihe emergence of the "Black Power" slogan makes 1965 a con-
venient date for historians to isolate the failure of integration as
a practical philosophy in America (this is inaccurate, since it has

 

J'Duhois called this split vision ”Double Consciousness”:
"this sense of alreys looking at one's self through the eyes of others,
of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in con-
tempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness--an American, a negro"
two souls, two thoughts, two unrecmciled strivings; two warring ideals
in one dark body, whose dogpd strength alone keeps it from being torn
asunder.” $3.3. DuBois, The Souls of Black Polk (Greenwich: Pawcett,

1969) a P° 16'

3

always failed, except in isolated instances) , and to isolate the ap-
pearance of Cultural nationalism in the Ghettos. While it is true
that Black-oriented political, cultural, spirittml and economic devel-
opments multiplied rapidly in the Sixties, the seeds and impetus were
already present and had um progenitors.2

The ten years following 1960 produced outstanding cultural
advances in the Black co-unity in music, literature, art, theater,
religion, custa and dance. These developed concurrently with po-
litical and social events, and influenced one another. One of the
most vital of these developments was the growth of the Black theater
as a distinct entity.

Historically, Black people have a rich theater heritage,
both in the African past and in the West. In traditional African
society, what is co-only called ”art" was not separated from the
rest of life as it has come to be in European cultures. Rather it
was integrated into the entire framework of the life of the African
peoples.3

while there was no fornlised theater until recently in

Africa of the kind known in Europe, there was a participation in

 

2» early as 1831 David wsiher in his Amal exhorted Black
people to develop Black consciousness. Since that time poets. phi-
losophers, scholars and politicians have fostered the same idea.
Thus men and women are too numerous to name here, but among the
most famous were: Frederick Douglass, Martin Delaney, H.E.B. DuBois,
llarcus Garvey, lliJah Nona-ad, Malcolm x, stohely Carmichael and
3. "Rap” Brown.

3lirgarwat Trowell and Hans lever-sun, African and Oceanic
_A_r_t_ (law York: Barry ll. Abraas), p. 12.

\J

I;
what is called here ”pure” theater in the form of rituals, which in-
cluded dance, music and the "call and response" that is still found
in the Black Pentecostal church. These rituals, which are in some
way a part of the Oral Tradition of African peoples, involved the
religious, historical, social, economic and political aspects of
life and constitute a kind of traditional theater.

Although this cultural continuum was ripped apart by the
Slave Trade and the centuries of slavery which followed, the basis,
the style and the instincts were passed down from generation to
generation, and reappeared in the early Jigs, dances, folk tales,
sorrow songs, riddles, Jubilees, shouts, work songs, and particularly
children's games,“ creating a fantastic theatrical resource, which,
while only partially tapped, has frequently been distorted.

”The year 1767 marked the beginning of interest in the
negro as dramatic aatsrial.'5 tree this time when the first Black
character (played by a white actor) appeared on stage until 1923
when the first Black playwright had a one-act play produced on
Broadway, white playwrights established five nJor stereotypes of

Black Americans:

 

“as African origins of these early forms of Black dramatic
effort can be traced. There are certain areas of the south, such
as the Georgia Sea Islands, where the Gullah dialect is still used
and where many of these fons are preserved intact that clearly
show the African connection. A recent book by Bessie Jones and
Bass Dome: Hawes, Step It Down (saw York: Iiarpsr and Row, 1972),
includes directions for performing a umber of these pieces.

5Frederick Bond, The Iago and Drama (College Park: mm,
1950), p. 20.

The Buffoon, a comically ignorant type.

The Tragic Ilulatto, the product of miscegenation who

is destined to tragic exclusion from white society,

which will not accept her, and black society, which

she will not accept.

The Christian Slave, a docile individual who worships

both his mortal white master and his inortal mater.

The Carefree Primitive, an exotic, amoral savage.

The Black Beast, a villain who seeks equality with

white people.6
These stereotypes which most frequently appeared in comedy created
distorted inges of the Black man that still exist.

It is a widely-held opinion that early Black theater in
America was insignificant, yet new of the indigenous dramatic forms
co-only practiced in America were created or inspired by Black
artists. For example, llinstrelsy which began as a crude mockery
of Black plantation theatricals, became the most popular form of
American entertainment from 18150-1900, and was directly responsible
for the development of American misical comedy.7

Yet llinstrelsy further personified the caricature of the
Black man as a lazy, shiftless, cunning, happily singing and dancing
fool. While the early companies of kinstrels were entirely white,
and utilised the conventions of burnt cork and thickened lips, when
Blacks were admitted to the professional stage they took over the

entire limstrel tradition, including the maheup, and although they

 

6Darwin Turner, "Introduction,” in Black Drama Antho ,
ed. by William Brasmer and Dominick Consolo (Columbus: Charlie
brrill, 1970) , p.3 .

'4

has» welaon Johnson, Black Ianhsttsn (saw York: Atheneum,
1969). pp. 93-98.

6

added new life to the form, were actually imitating an imitation of
themselves, and accepting this negative definition of self.

In the following excerpt from Anne Cora Mowatt's Fashion,
produced in 18155, there is an example of a negative definition in an
early American comedy.

Act I

A splendid drawing room in the house of Mrs. Tiffany.
Open folding doors discovering a Conservatory. On
either side glass windows down to the ground. Doors
on right and left. Mirror, couches, ottomens, a
table with albums, etc. beside it an arm-chair.
Millinette dusting furniture, Zeke in a dashing livery,
scarlet coat, etc.

‘. Dere's a coat to take de eyes of all Broadway:
Ah! Missy, it am de fixins dat make de natural born
ge-an, a libery for ever: Dere's a pair ob in-
suppressibles to 'stonish de coloured population.

HIM. 0h, oui, Monsieur Zeke. (Very politely)
I not comprend one word he say (Aside).

‘. I tell ee wlmt, Missy, I'm 'stordinary glad to
find dis a bery 'spectabul like situation! low as
you've made de acquaintance ob dis here family, and
dere you've had a supernumerary advantage ob me--
seeing dat I only receibed my appointment dis morning.
What I wants to know is your publicated opinion, pri-
vately expressed, ob de daestic circle.

MILLIMBTE. Monsieur is a man of business, -Madame is
a lady of fashion. Monsieur make the money, - Madame
spend it. Monsieur nobody at all-~Madame everybody
altogether. Ah! Monsieur Zeke, de money is all dat's
necessaire in dis country to make one lady of fashion.
Oh! it is quite anoder ting in la belle hence:

I“. A bery lucifer explanation. Well, now we've
disposed ob de heads ob de family, who come next?

lama-rm. First dere is Mademoiselle Seraphina
Tiffany. hdemoiselle is not at all one proper
personne. hdemoiselle Seraphina is one coquette.
Dot is not de mode in la belle France; de ladies, dere,
never learn la coqueterie until do do pt one husband.

7

ZEKE. I tell 'ee what Missy, I disreprobate dat
proceeding altogeder!

EILLIm. Vait! I have not tell you all la
famille yet. Dare is )hmselle Prudence-thdame's
sister, one very bizarre personne. Den dere is
lb'mselle Gertrude, but she is not anybody at all;
she only teach Mademoiselle Seraphina la musique.

ZEKE. Well, now Missy, what's your own special de-
functions?

m. I not understand, Monsieur Zeke.

In. Den I'll amplify. What's de nature ob your
exclusive services?

MILLIIIE'M. Ah, oui, Je comprend. I am Mademe's
femme de chambre . . . I teach lhdame lea modes de
Paris. . . .

28KB. Yah! yah! yah! I hab de idea by de heel.
Well now, p'raps you can 'lustrify my officials?

mum. Vat you will have to do? Oh! much
tings. You wait on de table,-—you tend de door,--
you clean de boots,--you run de errands,--you drive
de carriage,--you rub de horses, you take care de
flowers ,--you carry de water,--you help cook de din-
ner,--you wash de dishes ,--and den you always remem-
ber to do everything I tell you to!

BIKE. Wheugh, am dat all?

MIIHIBTE. All I can tink of now. To-day is
lbdame's day of reception, and all her grand friends
do make her one petite visit. You mind run fast van
de bell do ring.

ans. TIFFANY. (Outside) Millinette!

Elm. Here comes Madame! You better to,
Monsieur Zeke.

-. Look ahea, lbssa Zeke, doesn't dis open rich!
(Aside)3

 

8Anna Cora Mowatt, Fashion in Six Ear American Pla :
w, ed. by William Coyle and Harvey Damaser (Columbus: Charles
Ma

rri . 1965), pp. 106-107.

8

In the opening scene of Mowatt's Fashion Zeke is used as a
tool of exposition. At the same time the prevalence of exaggerated,
poorly written dialect, establishes Zeke as egotistical, supersti-
tious, foolish and above all, satisfied with his menial position.
And he is not far removed from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom,
the well-known satisfied slave of the Abolitionist drama. It is
interesting to note here that in early productions, Uncle Tc- was
not played by a Black actor, as Blacks were barred from stage ap-
paaranoes.9 Thus, the troublesome stereotype of Uncle Tom's pas-
sive collusion with the slave system was defined and concretisad
by whites.

In retrospect it appears that on at least sue levels,
Blacks tolerated the images promulgated by the racism of Minatrelsy.
Perhaps this provides a partial explanation for the slow development
of serious dramatic writing from William Wells Brown (1858) to
Lorraine husberry (1959)-

As early as 1821, five years before Daddy Rice10 became
known for his caricatures, the African Company was performing
Shakespeare and other classics in New York in the area that is now
known as Off-Broadway. Thus, a tradition began that is still oper-
ative, of Black companies performing plays written originally for

 

9ldith Isaacs, The logo in the American Theater (College
Park: McGreth, 1968), p. 126.

when "Daddy” Rice was an itinerant actor-singer. He popular-
ised "Jump Jim Crow” and acne authorities believe him to be the first
white minstrel in blackface.

9
white casts. This company is said to have influenced Ira Aldridge

(1807-1867), and although ”neither the company nor Aldridge were a
direct factor in the Megro's theatrical development,"n Ira Aldridge
became the first Black man to achieve a successful career as a seri-
ous dramatic actor in Europe, a fast that was not duplicated in the
United States until Paul Robeson performed in the 1920's.

The African Company and other similar later groups were not
trying to develop plays out of the Black experience. The first
serious drantic efforts of Blacks were not in dreams, but a continu-
ation of the declining Minstrel tradition in the form of musical
"Coon Shows" (1895-1905).]2 These successful parodies continued
the typical stereotypes, and involved the talents of such serious
artists as Paul Lawrence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson, who along
with others, “pandered shamelessly to the expectations of white
audiences. James Weldon Johnson later described the manner in
which Black song writers even avoided love duets for their heros
and heroines because American audiences, who presumed semral
amorality to be characteristic of legro life, refused to believe
that romance could be a serious topic for Afro-Americans."13

The Black musical theater tradition has been maintained con-

tinuously from the earliest stage experiences through the well-known
productions of Shuffle M (1921), Pom and Base (1935), Golden

 

1'J's‘l’ohnson, Black Manhattan, p. 87.
”Turner, Introduction, p. h.
13Ibid.

10

_B_oy (1961:) and Pearl Bailey's Hello Dolly. Darwin Turner, who has
researched the success of the Black msical theater and the relative
failure of early seriom Black drama, believes "it is an indication
of a predilection to view Blacks as simple, happy, occasionally
pathetic people who constantly express their emotion in song and
dance!“

By repetition, white playwrights had given reality

to these stereotypes of Afro-American character and

life for numerous white Americans who rarely experi-

enced intimate personal relationships with Black

Americans. Therefore, producers did not seek plays

written about the actual characters and lives of

Afro-Americans; from Black and white playwrights, they

wanted dramas which would repeat the familiar.

Finally, playwrights, more than other writers,

depend upon acquaintance with people who have money.

Poets and novelists may submit manuscripts to publish-

ing firms; a dramatist needs to know someone who knows

a producer. In the segregated society of the United

States, personal contact between Black artists and

wealthy producers has been very limited.15

Mr. Turner points out that the serious Black dramas that
were the first to appear on Broadway in the 20's worked within the
framework of stereotypes used by white authors. This includes
Black playwrights, such as Willis Richardson (me Chip Woman's
Fortune, 1923), Prank Wilson (Meek Mose, 1928), and Wallace narrman
(Barlam, 1929). while there is little coaparisoo in qmlity of
writing and many years between Anna Mowatt and Eugene O'lleill, who
was acclaimed for writing two productions about Blacks (m
Jones, 1920 and All God's Chillun Got Wipe, 19210), both authors de-

picted stereotypes of the usual kind.

 

1""Ibid., p. 5.
15I‘oid., p. 5.

11

Following the Cast Depression, the era of the thirties
ushered in a period of protest drama that lasted until the end of
World War II. During this period Black writers began to deal with
such sensitive tapics as lynching, and the Scottsboro Case. In 1935,
Langston lughes' Isrlatto began the lonpst run of any Black play on
Broadway before Raisin in the Sun. Mulatto dramatized for the first
time a violent conflict between a mulatto and a white parent.

While Black writers were trying to move toward real depic-
tions of Black America, productions such as Cabin in the pg (19h0)
successfully repeated and reinforced the familiar images. ”How-
ever, by the late hO's, Theodore Ward's Our Lsn' made a definite
move toward real characterization, as does William Branch's play
about Frederick Douglass, In Splendid Error. At this time the
Black dramatists sought to educate white audiences by writing more
realistically about problems of the past and present.“-6

"When A Raisin in the Sun won the Drama Critics Circle Award
in 1958-1959, terrains Bensberry achieved the success dreamed of by
so many earlier Black writers. In its initial run, Raisin in the
Sun completed 530 performances, and it was the most perceptive pre-
sentation of American Blacks on the professional step up to that
point in tiae."17 rst:

 

15113141., p. 13.
l7I'bid., p. 16.

 

12

The racial values that make up Lorraine Eamberry's
fictive world, also could make sense only if pro-
Jectad to a white or white seeking audience. The
virtues of the Younger women in A Raisin in the Sun--
thrift, caution, hard work, good sense-~contrast with
the lack of these virtues in the men. Walter Younger
attempted to -he a quick killing and in the process
lost the family's savings to a Black con-man. The
wcmen want to leave the Black ghetto. To do this
they attempt to big a house in an all-white district.
When the whites try to buy them out, Walter is will-
ing, but the women convince him that it is in the in-
terest of his manhood to insist on fulfillment of the
deal.

The Younprs Imva the viability of their Black
lives destroyed, but are denied the white life they
seek. They are being forced to measure their lives
by the standards set by their oppressors. This is
of course, senseless for Negroes. In short, Miss
Esnsberry is saying to a white audience: here are the
Ioungers, a good American family, operating in the
tradition of thrift and hard work, the trademark of
successful mobility in society. They only want a
chance to prove to you what neighbors they can
be. Why don't you let them?1

Raisin in the Sun nrks the triumph as well as the and of a period
of growth in the Black American 'meater. In 1961‘ the presentation
of Imsmu Daraha's 'lhe Dutchman caused a furor that resulted in a
definite break with earlier traditions and the initiation of a new
direction in Black drama.
It was Ieroi Jones' Dutclnsn tint radically

reordered the internal structure of black theater,

first of all by opening up its linguistic range and

breaking with the social realism which dominated

the forties and fifties, and second (more important

in spite of the vague allusions to the theater of
Artsud and the Absurdists) through the decidedly

 

18Adam Killer, "It's a long way to St. Louis," in Tulane
Drama Review, m, No. it (Bu-er, 1968), lh8-lh9.

13

utilitarian strategy that informs the play--it is

implicitly but very clearly addressed to the radical

sector of black socio-political consciousness.19

Throughout the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries
there were Black theater groups operating in America, and some Blacks
succeeded in the couercial theater. But the difference between
the early groups and the Black artists of the sixties and early
seventies is that now a significant number of talented artists wish
to create and produce fra the wellspring of the Black cos-unity,
and turn their backs on the white artistic establishment, because
defining their own goals and directing their attention to the Black
life-style, Black experience and Black people is more important. In
other words, for a significant number of Black artists, white accept-
ance and approval are no longer guidelines.

Prior to the Sixties, there was Black involvement in theater.
But, “those Blacks who worked in the Black Community theaters had a
sense of, if I succeed, and if scueone sees me here, I can move
downtown'eo (into white theater, success, money). Yet, when Blacks
moved downtown, they encountered limited work opportunities, stereo-
typical roles, exploitation, conercialisation and cooptation, which

frequently resulted in professional or often personal tragedy, as in

 

19Larry leal, ”Into Nationalism, Out of Parochialism,” in
Performance, I, no. 2 (April, 1972), 35.

2°Clayton Riley, personal interview, July 25, 1969.

1%
the case of Bert Williams21 or Paul Robeson»?2

The knowledge of this historical sitmtion has caused many
young Black artists: writers, actors, directors, designers and mu-
sicians to move instinctively to create their own cultural media, at
the same time and parallel with the development of Black controlled
political, economic and educational institutionsuinstitutions that
will truly serve Black people.

It is significant that in the mid-Sixties a number of Black
theaters developed throughout America at the same time, yet inde-
pendently of each other. Iostly in heavily conpsted urban areas ,
these theaters were started and sustained by a small nucleus of peo-
ple, who fulfilled all the necessary functions. Among these were:
me Black House in San Francisco, where Jilly Garrett, Ed Dullins,
Harvin x and Eldridge Cleaver worked: Concept-East in Detroit,
founded by Woodie King, Jr. and Ron Milner323 m1 Cohran's Afro-
Arts iheater in Chicago; The Elma Lewis School in Boston, PASLA in

Dos Angelas and dozens of other less well-known groups.

 

213cm Williams (1872-1922) singer, musician, dancer and
comedian was a part of the famous vaudeville team, Williams and
Walker (1896-1910), who introduced the cakewalk. Williams wanted
to be a serious actor, but was limited to performing in the tradi-
tion of minstreley. Es is anerally not credited, but did help
to create the Ziegfield Follies.

22'Robsson's autobiography, Here I Stand, was reprinted in
1971 and details how he was convicted without trial and his career
destroyed.

23Deteils of the founding of the Concept-East Theater in
Detroit can be found in: "Black Theater: Present Condition," in
Black Poets and RM? ed. by Woodie King, Jr. and Earl Anthony
Tiew York: bntor, I972 .

15

Earlem, located in uptown )hnhattan, is often called the Mecca,
or cultural capital of Black America. And Harlem produced the van-
guard Black theater in America in the ill-fated Black Arts Repertory
Theatre and School, established by Imamu Dar-aka (leroi Jones),
Charles Patterson and others in 1936 and 196k The Black Arts was
a school as well as producing theater company, and offered classes
in painting, music, poetry, dance, mathematics, photography, and cre-
ative writing.

frm the Black Arts heater sprang Black Arts West

and a multitude of other theaters on its basic model:

a theater in the coauunity, and a manifesto for the

theater as a total national institution, a reflection

in miniature of the entire nation, which was meant

above all to be an instrument in the raising of po-

litical, ethical and aesthetic consciousness. its

Black Arts Theater believed in political activity on

the part of its company members. ‘mey held classes

in nationalist political theory and black history;

naroid Cruse taught there for a while.2‘*
While it was disrupted in 1965 by internal dissension, and the can-
cellation of its funding (”with considerable assistance from outside
sources in the local and federal government")?5 it established a
model of Black co-unity-oriented theater that cannot be dismissed.
i'he Black Arts master and School also developed the concept of
mobile performing units; its dance, theater and music mobiles made

over two hundred appearances on the streets of brilemfi6 Since

 

2“Deal, "Into Nationalism," p. 36.

25Clayton Riley, "On Black Theater," in The Black Aesthetic,
ed. by Addison Gayle, Jr. (Garden City: Doubleday, 1972" )‘,""p."'3"66"".

26Jamas Hinton, personal interview, July 15, 1972.

16

the demise of the Black Arts, this idea has been incorporated in the
City of law York Park Department's program of answer entertainment
in the form of the Jazz and Dance mobile units.27

In 1972 the new York area had at least five or six"profes-
sional" Black theaters: The New Lafayette, The New Heritage Repertory
Theater, Harlem School of the Arts, The New Federal Theater, The
Spirit House Movers and Players (Newark) and several other splinter
groups, such as the AJASS. These groups are ”theaters where the
administration is Black, actors and directors and technicians are
Black and where the plays that are done are written by Black
writers."28

Of this group of professional Black theaters, the How
lefayette has the best facilities. It was founded by its present
Artistic Director, Robert Macbeth in 1967. This resident company
of actors, directors, writers and technicians is located in the
heart of Harlem and produces theater based on what they believe the
needs and aspirations of the conunity are.

The low lafayette Opened its first season in 1967 with a
production of Ron Hilnsr's Who's Got His Ow_nJ followed by Athol
Pugard's Blood Knot. Their home base was in the same building oc-

cupiad by the original Lafayette Theater Company 29 from which they

 

27Joseph Papp's mobile theater and the Theater of the Streets
were working with the same concepts of theater earlier than the Black
Arts. However, they did not concentrate on the Black audience, nor
did they organize dance and music troupes, which was an innovation
of the Black Arts.

28woodio King, Jr., personal interview, July 22, 1969.
29The original Lafayette theater housed one of the foremost

early Black theater groups in America, the Lafayette Players. Their
period of greatest popularity was from 1912-1920.

e‘..

De

la

1?

drew their name. During the first season their headquarters were
destroyed by fire.30 and the company was temporarily without a home
base, although they continued their training program and productions.

The following season the law Lafayette moved into a restored,
beautifully equipped plant (formerly the Renaissance Theater) in a
prime Harlem location. In December of 1968 they opened their second
season with Ed Bullins' play, In the Wine Time, following it with his
We!» Bombers. In 1972 Mr. Bullins is still the unofficial
resident-playwright of the company. Since it reopened in 1968, the
Lafayette has produced several other Bullins plays, as well as their
specialty, productions that are called "Rituals.” These rituals re-
flected the concepts of Robert Ilacbeth as stated in 1969, "The clas-
sic function of the theater is to project and illuminate the feelings
and concerns of the cos-unity which sustains it.”31 Since the Rev
Lafayette receives its funding from foundation grants, and is still
not self-supporting, this statement seems somewhat contradictory.

The law Lafayette, which is controlled by hcbeth, sponsors
a magazine, Black Theater, which Mr. Bullins and Richard Wesley edit,
and which frequently serves the theater as a house ”organ." The
Lafayette is essentially a closed company and does not provide work
opportunities for the countless unemployed Black artists in law York

 

3°Woodie King, Jr., "Black Theater: Present Condition,” in

Black Poets and Profit}, ed. by Woodie King, Jr., and Earl Anthony
(Haw York: Renter, 1972 , p. 183.

31nd Bullins, personal interview, July 17, 1969.

18
City, nor do they share their performing space.

Members of the lew Lafayette Company participate in a
writer's‘workshop, directed by Bullins and Macbeth, During the
1971-1972 season, while the company was producing a movie, §§2331_
Masters, a pseudo~documentary,32 severa1.writara from the workshOp
had productions mounted at other theaters in new York: Dirty
Charles' Js-ima was produced at the New Federal Theater; Richard
Healey's Black Terror succeeded at Joseph Papp's Public Theater,
and Sonny Jim's Don't Let it Go to Your Head ended the season at
the Henry Street Playhouse. In addition Mr. Bullins' In New nd
11232 was performed at Henry Street and a controversial production
of his The 9321.: rocked the easplseency of Lincoln Center.”

There are several other traditional theater groups operating
in Harlem, working in churches, the Harlem MA and there is Ernie
Heelintock's,Afro-American Studio, "which.did highly competent pro-
ductions of Amen Corner, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, Black Nativity
(and The Toilet and The Baptism), performing only on weekends. This
group survived for some time in Eerlem‘with no foundation or city
support,"3“ although in 1971 they received a City stipend for space.

During the 1971-1972 season the Afro-American Studio produced a

 

32Erika Hunk, "Up From Politics, an Interview with Ed Bullins,"
Purformance, 1, lo. 2 (April. 1972), 57.

33rd Bullins, ”letters to the editor." New York Times,
lurch 26, 1972, p. 23.

3|‘Peter Bailey, "Report on Black Theater" in reg-3 Digest,
XVIII (April, 1969), 21.

19
widely-acclaimed version of N. R. Davidson's 31 Re,“ lmlik.
The National Black Theater Workshop, Inc., established by
Barbara Ann Teer in the Fall of 1968, is of special interest. Miss
Teer expressed her philosophy then as follows:

we are in the first phase of our program: train-
ing the compaxw. we have spent the last five months
experimenting with new techniques of working and are
developing totally new and different methods of com-
munication. Our goal is to establish a black art
standard. The first word deleted from our theatrical
vocabulary was the word "actor.” we have declared
ourselves ”Liberators,” keeping in mind that before
we can psychologically liberate black people, we must
ourselves be liberated. In order to do this, we have
to expose all our nigger/negroness because liberators
mat first be strong, wholesome, positive African-
Americans caspletely committed to revolution and revo-
lutionary black art. We have, therefore, through a
process of decruding ourselves--that is cleansing our
minds so that we can change images, reappropriate
velues and constantly strive to reaffirm our gpiritual
essence--become revolutionary black artists.3

The National Black Theater, Inc. has performed in the com-
munity frequently, and is involved with film proJects. They have
used material by Charles Russell, Larry Neal and Don L. lee in their
workshops. During the winter of 1969-1970 the workshop produced
their only formal play to date, live on the Black Rand Side by
Charles Russell and directed by Miss her, at the American Place
Theater. Since 1970 Miss Teer's group has been performing in
churches, and on such television programs as ”Soul.” National
Black Theater (are) performed at The Apollo and in the Black Burner

Festival at Lincoln Center in July, 1972. m performances are

 

35nsrhsrs Ann her “To Black Artists with Love," in m
blast, XVIII (April, 1969 , 5.

20
characterised by high energy and reliance on traditional African forms,
as are found in the music and in the religion.

The nationalist ideology, with its philosophi-
cal trappings, when added to a stress on musical
structure, was responsible for the development of
new ritual forms, while the overtly political and
social aspect of Black thinking led to a parallel
reliance on naturalistic forms--Ed Bullins is now
called the ”new O‘Neill" by the Times. Barbara
Ann Teer of the national Black Theater, for example,
moved away from the crafted play and toward a ritu-
alist theater. (The only crafted play performed
by llBT was Charlie Russell's Five On the Black Bend
Side. And it wasn't done in Harlem, but at the
American Place Theater.) Teer came into the Black
theater after a considerable amount of work on the
off-Broadway and Broadway stage. At first she
emphasised the development of the black actor through
a training technique that would be an organic exten-
sion of black music. One series of improvisational
exercises arose out of a blues modality and was
called the ”Rigger Cycle ," another set was accompanied
by the music of John Coltrane, and was referred to as
the "Righteous Cycle”--I recall this was the highest
”cycle." Each cycle below the cycle of righteous-
ness contained negative as well as positive elements,
elimination of the negative e1ements--European values,
bourgeois attitudes, self-destructive tendencies--
was called ”decrudification,” i.e., a particular kind
of psychic purgation. Teer's pieces are big, with
many performers, and she uses her work in a functional
manner-mat the Congress of African People last year,
she opened up one of the sessions by moving her whole
brightly costmed troupe into a huge auditorium, carry-
ing red, black, and green flags, singing, chanting,
dancing down the aisles. Ber texts for the rituals
are unimportant and corny, but her canpany's energy
is extraordinary--proved by the fact that they played
the Apollo Theater successfully.

You could never put one of Robert Ihcbath's
rituals in the Apollo. The New Iafayette rituals are
for me (and such reactions are very personal) failures,
failures of energy. Their modality is oriental, char-
acterized by silence and darkness. (I haven't seen
the last one which I understand has African drunming
and dancing.) They tend to be slow, plodding, studi-
ous, and done with a very solemn air. Pieces Open in
a darkened theater, perhaps to symbolize a plunge into
the inner self. An off-stage voice lays down the text,
mich is too long, and too mysterious. 'me only

21

reason to stress all this is that when ideology is

removed from the rhythms and vigor of the people

on whom it is based, it becomes self-defeating and

cannot be made into meaningful images and gestures.36

Every Sunday afternoon the National Black Theater has a Sym-
posium with a guest lecturer on current topics to keep the "artist
liberators" informed. They and each session with spiritual emer-
cises, and these sessions are Open to the commity. Tney plan to
acquire a permanent house in Harlem, when they have the finances,
and since they are one of the groups moving away from traditional
European theater, it should be interesting to watch their growth
and direction.

Another recent and important development was the establish-
ment of the Puerto Rican Travelling Theater and the Soul and Iatin
Theater (SALT). These groups attempt a cultural merger between
Blacks and Puerto Ricans and they directly service both Blacks and
Puerto Ricans in that they perform in the street on floats in the
adJacent ghettos--Harlem and El Barrio.

Finally, there is the most well-known producing group in
new Ybrk City, the Begro‘Ensemble Company (use). while this group
was originally organized by Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Hooks, and
Lonnie Elder III as a Black Theater, it was located downtown on the
Lower East Side and had a Board of Directors, Business Administration
Staff and Technical Staff who were not Black. In their first year,

EC fell into the trap indicated by Harold Cruse, ”They crossed the

 

35nssl, "Into astionsliss,” pp. 36-37.

 

22
integration breach by performing plays by whites with Black casts ,"37
thereby ignoring Black authors. Indeed during its first season
(1967-1968) the Negro Ensemble Company did not produce any plays
written by American Blacks.

This situation has since been rectified and the Negro Ensemble
Company is known for its quality productions. Its training program
has been very successful, in terms of preparing such artists as
Hattie Winston, Denise Nicholas and Rosalind Cash to succeed in the
comercial theater. NEC's work has generated numerous professional
drama awards, including those won by Lonnie Elder's Ceremonies in
Dark Old Men. During the 1970-1971 season NBC introduced the New
York area to the work of Trinidadian playwright, Derek Walcott with
an exhilarating production of The Dream on Mongy Maintain that starred
Roscoe Lee Brown.

Under the sole leadership of Douglas Turner Ward,the Negro
Ensemble Company abandoned its permanent repertory company in the
1971-1972 season in favor of Open casting. In the winter months
they experimented with an ambitious "Works in Progress Series” in
which the work of more than twenty young Black writers received pro-
ductions. The Negro Ensemble Company has performed a maJor service
in training actors, directors and technicians, and is now actively

encouraging young untested writers as well.

 

373lr01d Cruse, Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (New York:
William Morrow, 1967), p. 537.

23

Most EC productions are highly polished, and
the group is one of the few which presents a wide
variety of Black theater. It's too bad they're
downtown; the presence of such a theater in the
black comunity would have far reaching effects;
particularly now that the extreme separatism of
the other theaters is being reevaluated. . . .

The NEC Just represents another tendency within
the movement. It wants to be accepted off-
Broadway, wants to be accepted by critics, and
honestly says so. Everybody else wants the same
thing but won't admit it (When the New Lafayette,
for example got bad reviews from white critics
they stopped white critics from coming to the
theater. Now Eric Bentley gives them a good re-
view of Psychic Pretenders in the Times, and in my
mail comes a copy of Bentley's review sent by the
New Iafayette theater!) The EC advertises plays
in newspapers, their thing is in the open, they
want to be accepted as theater in the same way
other theaters are accepted. In other words ir
ideology is that of the civil rights movement.3

Outside of New York, but using professional New York talent,
the Bee Southern Theater (PST) was established in 1961‘ by artists
working within the Civil Rights Hovement in the South. EST has
its headquarters in New Orleans, and tours rural areas of the South
attempting to bring material to enrich the lives of rural Blacks
and energize their political and social consciousness.

Very shortly after its inception, which began the new Black
theater movement,39 EST became caught in the crossfire of the diver-
gent philosophies of Integration and Cultural Nationalism as the
book, no Pres southern meter by Dent, noses and scheehner"o docu-

ments. However, as Larry Neal says:

 

33loal, "Into Nationalism," p. 38.

39Neal, ”Into Nationalism," p. 35.

k0Through a publishing oversight Gil Moses' name does not

appear as an author of this document.

2h
Since 1965, PST has moved up tempo in their
search for a relevant and comitted theater. Under
the direction of Tom Dent and a comaunity board of
advisors, PST has deepened and extended its base in
the black enmity. More importantly, it has be-

gun to find itself in the spiritual sense. No
longer is there the agony of trying to speak out of

a sensibility that is not truly their own or not

truly rooted in the black conunity. They are mov—

ing to rid themselves of the divided consciousness

that has destro or marred the work of some of

our best artists. 1

In a move to strengthen local participation, PST established
a Writer's Workshop early in 1966. Emanating from this is a lit-
erary magazine called 311132, and recent seasons have included plays
developed in the workshOp. While the ambitions of the Free Southern
Theater have still not totally come to fruition, they have influenced
the development of at least three comunity theaters in Ipuisiana
and Mississippi. In addition it has proven to be an excellent
training ground for a number of artists who have since made signifi-
Cant contributions to the national Black American theater. Among
them is Gilbert Hoses whose feted production of Slave Ship was first
accomplished under the auspices of PST.

following the legacy of the original Black Arts Theater,“2
there is a recognizable trend toward the development of total cul-
tural institutions, which offer political and educational materials,
as well as theater, dance, music and poetry. (Most new Black poetry
is a form of theater, as illustrated by the work of the original

Last Poets and Melvin Van Peebles). Places like the Black Mind,

 

l“terry Neal, "Conquest of the South,” in The Drama Review,
m. No. 3 (m, 1970). 17347“.

ham-12") I" 150

25

the East Wind and The East are examples of this trend. In Newark,
the Spirit House utilizes poetry, music, theater and martial arts,
and works to raise the political consciousness of Newark's Black
majority. As a direct result of his work at Spirit House, Imamu
Amiri Baraha (Ieroi Jones) was arrested by the police. Evidence
for prosecuting Black America's outstanding playwright was offered
in the form of one of his dramatic poems, ”Up against the Wall,”
which was read at his trial. The success of Barska's work in Newark
and the intent of merging art, religion and social consciousness
that is so much a part of new Black Art can be seen as an important
factor in the election of Kenneth Gibson as Mayor of Newark, New
Jersey,“ and the proposed construction of Kawaida Towers.

While Black Art based on the ideology of Cultural National-
ism is comparatively new, snd has only begun to tap its potential
to reach Black people, it is a phenomenon that has made rapid
strides in less than ten years, overcoming many serious obstacles.
Certainly it has spawned some of the most creative and fertile cul-
tural events of the decade. And these vital forms are being ap-
proached with rapidly increasing optimism, encouragement and expect-
ancy by Black audiences. '

Yet as the young Black artist builds relevant philosophies
on which to base his work and attempts to unify his soul and his

 

I‘3Michael T. Kaufman, "Leroi Jones Defines Role in Newark
Race," New York Times, May 31, 1970, p. 19.

26
co-unity, he is faced with the need to build a discerning audience.
The factors of racism that are so oppressively obvious in the Black
man's day-to-day existence, are also still undeniably evident in the
media that are meant to determine and reflect the values of the so-
ciety. Even in the recent appearance of popular films and television
shows with Black casts, such as ”Shaft" that have proven to be eco-
nomically rewarding for their white producers, there is little to do
with the reality of Black life, and Black audiences know this.

While everything about the culture of Black people indicates
that it is rich in the resources that are "the meat" of the theater,
formalized theater, as accepted by white society, has played so sig-
nificant role, in the lives of millions of Black people who also
populate North America. This is partially explained by the failure
of Western theater to deal with the actuality of Black people. Ron
Milner suggested that Blacks are not theatergoars because:

The American theater still deals with white lives,

white culture, white stereotypes and white concep-

tions. For example, if an American play deals with

white family life, it would not involve Black peo-

ple except in the capacity of servant or employee ;

if the play created a love story, it would not in-

volve Black people unless the integrated couples

were being ostracized; if the play dealt with heroes,

it would not be a Black hero, unless it was a run-

away slave, because on practically no oc ion have

whites accurately portrayed Black heroes.

Stereotypes and derogatory images of Blacks are still being

perpetuated through the performing arts. The Minstrel tradition

 

m‘Ron lulner, personal interview, July 16, 1969.

2'?

gradually passed out of practice in the early Twentieth Century,
yet ”Blackface" was alive and well on the American stage in the
winter of 1969. P_ea_ce;, an off-beat musical, adapted from the
Aristophanes comedy by Al Carmines and Tim Reynolds utilised two
slapstick characters, played by white actors who used exaggerated
blackfacemakeup and postures until they were removed by the pres-
sure of angry Blacks.

gig Time Buck White, produced by Budd Schulberg, was the
effort sent to the New York stage by the Watts Writer's Workshop,
a group established after the Watts riot with public funding.
"Supposedly a satire on the shenanigans of Black militants (steal-
ing poverty funds), what it turned out to be was a white author
creating Amos and Andy images of Black men to the i-ense pleasure
of the predominantly white audience . . . ’15 Time Buck White had
no meaning for Black people. A satire on some of the more rhetori-
cal militants we may need, but a satire on Black militants by a
white author we can do without. . . ."uS

Since 1969 three plays about three well-known Black heroes
were written by white authors that resulted in plain distortions.
The first, Message to Grass Roots, was based on the life of Dhlcolm X,
and covered a thirty-year period of his life. ”It was the white

playwright's interpretation of what he wanted Malcolm to be, not

 

”Peter Bailey, ”Report on Black Theater, " in Item Digest,
XVIII, no. 6 (April, 1969), 21.

28

the forceful Black Nationalist that Brother Malcolm was. Author
Robert Riche almost made him into a minor thrtin Luther King,
Jr. . . .'“5

In the spring of 1970, a statesman of international reputa-
tion, Patrice Immumbe, was turned into a vaudeville stock character
in a production entitled Three Murderous Angle, which was written
by Conor Cruise O'Brien and performed in Los Angeles during a three
week run. This piece was later resurrected and produced on Broadway
in the winter of 1972 to the accompaniment of picket lines from sev-
eral African legations.

The third, according to Black critic Peter Bailey, was the
“moat bellyhooed play to open during the 1969-1969 season. "1‘7
Howard Sectler's Great White Hope became the hit of the year and
won all the maJor awards. "The Broadway hit was based on the life
- of the heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson and gave veteran actor,
James Earl Jones a vehicle for a bravura performance. A Black
person attending the play 1nd best keep in mind that this was a
white man's version of Jack Johnson, Just as William Styron's book
is a white man's version of lat Turner. If you take a hard look,
forget all those rave reviews, you will see that many of the old
stereotypes creep through. For instance Jack Johnson's white woman
is sanctified, while his Black women is depicted as a constantly

 

“5;;rg,, p. 22.
l"Trina” p. 20.

29
nagging shrew. Be aware that the real Jack Johnson married three
white women, with at least one rumored to be a whore.”h8

0f obvious importance here is the fact that when white writers
deal with Black material they are not speaking to Black people, but
to whites. As Ron Milnar said:

The minute I began to identify and get in a

groove behind what they (white writers) were saying,

if any one of them introduced a Black character, I

knew automatically they weren't talking to me from

the way they treated their Black characters. That's

true of nearly all the great white writers, who dealt

with Black characters. The minute they bring in

what they call an African or Negroid or whatever it

is, they would bring in this strange creature that

they didn't know what to do with, which was supposed

to be me."9
Hilner's cements illustrate Black reactions to most plays by white
authors with Black themes. While occasionally white distortions of
Black material seem deliberate, frequently it is also caused by ig-
norance of Black culture, which may be the case of Howard Sackler
who compiled much of his information from Black Fire, written by
Robert De Kuy, the author of the himr Bible.

It is interesting to note that Mr. SackJer also drags out
the strange creature that Ron Milner discussed. Sackler included
an African student in the script, and as Milner suggests, he did not
know what to do with him. Although most Africans studying in Europe
are erudite and lettered, Mr. Sackler's African was strange and

stumbling and could not be understood without the help of sign

 

“81bit, p. 20.

I‘9Milner, personal interview.

30
language. This scene was as pointless as the Uncle Tom and Tepsy
scene that followed. Thus, the Great White Hope remained in the
same vein as other white authored plays on Black themes. Luckily
for Howard Backler, excellent direction and fine performances gave
his play an undeserved credence and credibility.

Seckler had the controlling interest in the production, own-
ing eighty-five percent, after having sold fifteen percent to Herman
Levin to act as producer. There was also a film version and a na-
tional tour. Thus, Sackler's Black venture was highly profitable.
One question raised by his project is that if a play based on the
life of Jack Johnson had been written by a Black author from a Black
point of view, would it have been produced on Broadway at all?

Black writers have great difficulty getting their work pro-
duced in the American Theater. Woodie King, Jr.,producer of The
Black Quartet, The Perfect Party, Slave Ship, Black Girl, Jemima
and numerous other Black productions comented on this issue:

If a Black writer can't get a production, than

that play, no matter how you read it and look at it,

is only fifty percent of the whole theatrical experi-

ence. That's all it is . . . unless the play gets

on. And that's what whitey has really stopped, be-

cause they can't understand what the Black life-style

is. . . . There are no real difficulties, except get-

ting the money--_i_f_ you can get the money. Black peo-

ple don't invest and white people invest in traditional

theater pieces, and Black theater is not traditional.

You can lie, you know, like Leroi could write a play

with no sweat that would make money, if he wanted to

sell out.50

While preparing to mount The Black Quartet, Mr. King encountered

 

SOKing, personal interview.

31

other problems. Many theater managers refused him the use of their
empty theaters, because they did not want the Black plays, _T_h_e
Militant Preacher by Ben Csuldwell and Great Goodness of Life by
I-mu Baraka, in particular, to be shown in their premises. In
some instances, managers even refused to read the scripts. King
was also offered investment capital, provided he would change cer-
tain nterial.

lost of Woodie King's producing experiences have been Off
or Off-Off Broadway, but Ilelvin Van Peebles and Gilbert Moses en-
countered the same hostility with their Broadway production of m

Mead to Die a natural Death. natural Death was a brilliant,

 

exciting and polished evening of dramatized poetry with music, and
was certainly one of the best entries of the 1971-1972 season.
While the tone and tenor of the material was not that far removed
from the earlier work of Iangston Hughes, most of the critical as-
tablishment found the piece angry and threatening and attempted to
kill the production.

natural Death's reception was so hostile that Van Peebles
went on record in tte press and on the air to state his determination
to heap the production alive. Not only was he able to do this for
six months, but he accomplished the coup of opening a second and
simltaneous Broadway musical, Don't Play Us Cheap. During Natural
Death's run Van Peebles frequently supported the show with his own
personal financing. And of course, as Woodie King suggested, the

key is that Van Peebles had his own money, from early film investments,

32

particularly Sweet Sweetback's Baddasss 30113.51

White investors generally want control of the production,
and as Mr. King states, "These problems are further compounded be-
cause white sponsors often insist that Black material be directed
by white directors."52 There is thus an implicit conclusion that
no qualified Black directors exist

Most whites can't really perceive what the Black

life style is all about. So I don't see how you can

have Black theater with them directing the life styles

of the performers on stage. let me be more specific,

I don't see how a white critic or director and white

theater company can really understand what a play like

Ceremonies (In Dark Old Men) or Who's Got His Own is

saying. And I know what happens in those cases, be-

cause I've been involved in so many theater productions

that you can't miss it. What they do is run past that

small nuance that's very meaningful, into the next

thing, or either the director will cross it out.53

This recognition is responsible in part for the development
of the new Black theater that has moved home, "psychologically,
mentally, esthetically and physically."5h

It is no longer necessary for the young Black writer's work
to be vindicated by Western Aesthetics or to win the acceptance from
white audiences or critics. As in the case of Who's Got His Own,
”the critics did not want to hear Mr. Milner saying that nothing had
changed in terms of the Black Experience. They didn't want to

hear this and they went into all kinds of academic Jujitsus to find

 

51ml Gussow, "The Baadasssss Success of Melvin Van Peebles,”
in the New York Times Magazine, August 20, 1972.

52King, personal interview.
5311mm .

51'Ronsld Milner, ”Black Theater, Go Home," in Negro Digest,
xvn, no. 6, 5.

33

things wrong with the play. They were not unsuccessful and unlike
many other American Place (Theater) productions, this one did not
move to another house to continue for a run.”55

The opinions of the white critical.estab1ishment are not of
great significance to most young Black writers, and "this is a very
liberating factor.”56 Many earlier Black.writers lost precious
time and sacrificed their creative style in an effort either to ex-
plain or placate:

The more seriously the Black Artist tries to affect

the white consciousness, the more explicative he must

become. The more explicative he becomes, the less

attention he gives to the essentials of‘his art. A

kind of negative value field is established. Racism

systematically'verifies itself when the slave can

only break free by imitating the master, contradict-

ing his own reality.57
Young Black writers turn to the theater, because it is a direct and
immediate method by which they can communicate to other Blacks, and
they know that the Black audience is their’most critical, most aware

and most sensitive forum.

Introduction to this Stag!

To'be known, to be called by one's name, is to find
one's place and hold against all the hordes of hell.
Howard Thurman

 

551nm Mitchell, Black Drama (New York: Hawthorn, 1967).
p. 22.

5éEvan Walker, personal interview, July 10, 1969.
57Thomas c. Dent, Richard Schechner and Gilbert Moses (eds.),

The Free Southern Theater'b; the Free Southern Theater (New York:
EDEN-knifi, 1%9)’ pa 1

3’:

"Black is beautiful" is presently the password during
these times of heightened and assertive ethnic con-
sciousness among Black Americans. It is a time when
old negative images are being discarded and new posi-
tive ones are emerging in their place. No more
cringing or flinching or even fighting when called
black: no more disgust and shame at kinky hair; no
more self-hatred, but a new confidence that comes
with arming oneself géth a shield of black pride and
black consciousness.

Something new, yet something somehow linked with the past
began to happen all over America in the sixties. After four hundred
years of subjugation and oppression, Black peOple began to find them-
selves, primarily in a spiritual sense, but which affected every as-
pact of life. The sixties were about coming together and about
change: the dynamic and emerging power in Black life--the Arts.

The current Black Art movement is in many ways older than
the concomitant "political” movement.

It is primarily concerned with the cultural and spir-
itual liberation of Black America. It takes upon
itself the expressing through various art forms, the
Soul of the Black Ration. And like the Black Power
movement it seeks to define the world of art and cul-
ture in its own terms. The Black Arts movement

seeks to link, in a highly conscious manner, art and
politics in order to assist in the liberation of Black
people. The Black Arts movement, therefore, reasons
that this linking must take place along lines that are
rooted in the Afro-American and Third World historical
and cultural sensibility. By ”Third World”, we mean
that we see our struggle in the context of the global
confrontations occurring in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. The identity with all the righteous forces
in those places which are struggling for human dignity.

 

57am» Bailey, "m Black Theater,” Ebony, mv, No. 10
(August, 1969), 126-1315, cited by Edgar B. Sorrels, ”To Be Known
. . . (A Discourse on fly Role as a Black Artist Today)," Monograph
in Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1971.

35

The Black Arts movement seeks to give a total vision
of ourselves. Not the split vision that Dubois
called the ”Double Consciousness”. Today the sons
and daughters of DuBois in the Black Arts movement,
go forth to merge these "warring ideals” into one
comitted Soul, integrated with itself and taking
its own place in the world. But this is no new
thing. It is the road that all oppressed people
take enroute to total liberation. In the history
of Black America, the current ideas of the Black Arts
movement can be said to have their roots in the so-
called Negro Renaissance of the 1920's. The 20's
was a key period in the rising historical and cul-
tural consciousness of Black people. This period
grooved with the rise of Garvey's Black laticnalism,
danced and made love to the music of Louis Armstrong,
Bessie Smith, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Perry
Bradford, Fats Waller, and the Holy Father, Duhe
Ellington. There was a flowering of black poets,
writers and artists. And there was the ascendancy
of hip, blues talking Iangston Hughes who came on
singing songs about Africa, Haiti and Harlem:

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

Rocking back and forth to a mellow

croon, I heard a Negro play.

Down on Ienox Avenue the other night

By the pale dull pallor of an old gas

light

Hedidalasysway. . .
Hedidalazysway. . .
to the tune 0' those weary Blues . . .

There were other writers of that period; Claude McKay,
Jean Toomer, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen.
. . . But Iangston hast personifies the Black artist
who is clearly intent upon developing a style of
poetry which springs forcefully and recognisesbly
from a Black life style. No matter how it is cut,
the blues and the people who create them are the
soul force of the race, the emotional current of the
Ration. And that is why Langston Hughes and Ralph
Ellison based their esthetics on them. The Black
Arts movement strives for the same kind of an in-
timacy with the people. It strives to be a move-
ment that is rooted in the fundamental experiences
of the Nation. Artists of today such as uroi Jones,
Quincy Troupe, th Roach, Aretha Franklin, Abdul
Rahman, Even Walker, Ed Bullins, Maya Angelou, Eleo
Pomare, Sun Ra, Don L. lee, Ron Milner, Romare Bearden
assert . . . assert that Black art must speak to the
lives and the psychic survival of Black people, they
are not speaking of "protest” art. They are not
speaking of an art that screams and masturbates be-
fore white audiences. This is the past of Negro

36

literature and civil rights literature. Instead
they are speaking of an art that addresses itself
directly to Black people; an art that speaks to us
in terms of our feelings and ideas about the world 3
an art that validates the positive aspects of our
life style ; an art that Opens us up to the beauty
and ugliness within us 3 an art that makes us under-
stand our condition and each other in a more pro-
found manner that unites us, exposing us to our
peaceful weaknesses and strengths; and finally, an
art that posits for the vision of a liberated fu-
ture. So the function of Artistic technique and
a Black esthetic is to make the goal of cos-unice-
tion and liberation more possible.

The Black artist studies Afro-American culture,
history, and politics and uses their secrets to open
the way for the "brothers” with the heavy and neces-
sary political rap. We know art alone will not
cause the liberation of Black America and that cul-
ture as an abstract thing within itself will not
give us Self-Determination and llationhood. How-
ever, a cultureless revolution is futile. It
means that in the process of making revolution, we
lose our vision. We lose the soft undulating side
of ourselves--those known beauties lurking rhyth-
mically below the level of material needs. In
short, a revolution without a culture would destroy
the very thing that unites us: the very tging we
are trying to save along with our lives.5

Peter Bailey writes :

Black theater advocates accept the idea that
the theatre along with other aspects of black cul-
ture, must play a strong supporting role in the over-
all black movement. Culture cannot replace politics
or economics, but in the total black movement, it has
an important function.”

Vantile Whitfield of the Perfoning Arts Society of has Angeles

explains :

 

531nm Heal, ”Any Day How: Black Art and Black Liberation,”
XXIV, Ho. 10 (August, 1969): Sit-62. Excerpted and cited by

Edgar H. Sorrels, "To be known. . . ."

”Bailey, Black Theater, pp. l26-13h.

37

Black people have been robbed of their culture and
are therefore lacking in direction and self-awareness,
self-respect and direction. Without these things, we
fight a futile battle and even if it is won, the peo-
ple will only destroy themselves in the aftermath
without t s love of self and knowledge ”from whence
we come". 0

Larry Neal states:

The Black Arts movement is rooted in a spiritual ethic.
The artists carry the past and the future memory of
the race, of the nation. They represent our various
identities and link us to the deepest, most profound
aspects of our ancestry. In saying that the function
of art is to liberate Men, we propose a function of
art which is now dead in the West and which is in
keeping with our most ancient traditions and with our
needs. Because at best, art is religious and ritual-
istic; and ritual moves to liberate Han and to connect
him to the Greater Forces. Thus man becomes stronger
physically, and is thus more able to create a world
that is a extension of his spirituality-his positive
humanity. 1

Ron Milner says :

Affirmations and inspiration that is what the black
artist must mean to the black man. Speaking of him-
self and his living-place as truthfully and artistically
as he can with no one's standards or acceptance in mind
but his own, the artist strikes empathy and identifica-
tion; there is the reaction of acknowledgement and the
changing and toppling--first inner, with the body per-
sonal, then outward through the bodies, social, politi-
cal, etc.--is on its way.

And if you think all this sounds very romantic,
you are right. In any revolution, or evolution- -if
you'd rather-there must be romantic art; the wishes
and longinga must be symbolized and proJected: the
pains and transgressions mat be fixed in hated

 

6°Vantile Whitfield, ”The Black Theater,” Ebony, mv, Ho.
10 (August, 1969). 126-131;, cited by Edgar a. Sorrels, "To be
known . . ."

6I'llesl, "Any Day Now," pp. Sit-62.

38

pictures. Jazz so far, the blackest of the arts--
is probably the most romantic music since brother
Beethoven ve up the ghost. And that is how it
should be. 2

Ron Karenga adds :

let it be enough to say that the artistic considera-
tion, although a necessary part, is not sufficient.
What completes the picture is that social criterion
for Judging art. And it is this criterion that is
the most important criterion. For all art must sup-
port and reflect the Black Revolution, and any art
that does not discuss and contribute to the revolu—
tion is invalid no matter how many lines and spaces
are produced in proportion and symmetry and no mat-
ter how many sounds are bored in or blown out and
called music.

All we do and create, than, is based on tradi-
tion and reason, that is to say, on foundation and
movement. For we begin to build on a traditional
foundation, but it is out of movement, that is ex-
perience, that we complete our creation. Tradition
teaches us, Leopold Senghor tells us, that all Afri-
can Art has at least three characteristics: that is,
it is functional, collective and co-itting or com-
mitted. That is why we say that all Black art, re-
gardless of any technical requirements, mist have
three basic characteristics, which maha it revolu-
tionary. . . . For art reflects the value system from
which it comes . . . art is everyday life given more
form and color. And what one seeks to do then is
to use art as a means of educating the people and be-
ing educated by them, so that it is g mutual exchange
rather than a one-way communication. 3

Finally Imamu Amiri Bsraka (leroi Jones) states the seven princi-

ples of Wguso Saba in the doctrine of the Kawaida, "literally that

 

62Ron Milner, ”Black Magic, Black Art,” in Black Poets and
ts, ed. by Woodie King and Earl Anthony (New York: Mentor,
2 , ppe l69'170a

63. Ron Karenga, "Black Art: Mute Matter Given Force and
Function," in Black Poets and ts, ed. by Woodie King and Earl
Anthony (new York: Mentor, 1972 , pp. 17t-179.

39
which is customary, or traditionally adhered to, by Black people."6l‘

mods (Unity)--to strive for and maintain unity in
the family, commity, nation, and race.

KuJichagulia (Belf-Determination)--to define our-
selves, name ourselves, and speak for ourselves,
instead of being defined and spoken for by
others.

UJima (Collective Work and Responsibility)--to build
and maintain our con-unity together am to make
our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems
and solve them together.

UJamaa (Cooperative Economics)--to build and maintain
our own stores, shops and other businesses and
to profit together from them.

His (Purpose)--to make as our collective vocation the
building and developing of our co-unity in order
to restore our peeple to their traditional great-
ness.

Kuumba (Creativity)--to do always as much as we can,
in the way we can in order to leave our community
more beautiful and beneficial than when we in-
herited it.

Imani (Faith)--to believe with all our heart in our
parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people
and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.65

Baraka continues :

Black creativity, Kuumba, is the sixth principle.
Which tells us how we must devise a way our of our
predicament. How we must build, with what methodol-
og. In what emotionalism, the fire of blackness.
So that UJsmaa is Kuumba in regards to the distribu-
tion of wealth among man. When we said, Black Art,
we meant nimba the spiritual characteristic of reve-
lation through the creative. The artist is respected
in the Bantu philosOphy because he could capture some
of the divinity. Because it flowed through his
fingers or out of his mouth, and because he would lend
his divinity to the whole people to raise them in its
image, building great nations reared in the inmge of

 

6"Imamu Amiri Baraka, ”Esthetics, a Black Value System,” in
Black Poets aw, ed. by Woodie King and Earl Anthony (New
York: lientor, 1972 , p. 139.

651bid. , pp. 137-138.

1&0

righteousness. What is soul (like the one sun the
sole solar force in this system) is our connection,
our relation with the infinite. And it is feeling,
like inner revelation, that is the connection, the
force of the uncreated, which we constantly make
reference to, bringing into creation. Yehh! we
scream, bringing witness to the power of Khumba.
But Black creativity is what will save us--not
Just ”artists” but all of us--after all is said and
done--nothing else. An antidote to birth and mind
control! The ngzo Saba itself is one of the
strongest examples of Kuumba and each idea or act
must be measured against the Nguzo Saba in each of
its components. You must ask of each new idea or
dissociation that comes to mind, what does this have
to do with bringing about unity for black people,
what does it contribute to black people's self-
determination--does it have anything to do with
‘UJima, collective work and responsibility, and so
on. So, for instance, a ”black TV program" with a
straight-haired sister dancing a Martha Graham--
Marce Cunningham tribute to the ghetto“) g not
Kuumba--neither the dance nor the program.

To be known, to be called by one's name, is to find
one's place and hold against all the hordes of hell.

Howard Thurman

There is a certain ineffable magic that makes Ella Fitzgerald's
scatting and Aretha Franklin's singing so great, or Coltrane's music
electrifying; that makes a way of walking down 125th Street spec-
tacular--that explains why this same walk-style can be found in
Georgia or Accra. If the words could be found to describe this
certain celebration, this would be the basis of the Black Aesthetic--
perhaps this quality cannot be yet verbally identified, in the
English language, and should not be separated, therefore Kuumba.

The statements quoted previously begin to formulate a Black

Esthetic~-an area that is still essentially virgin territory. ‘While

 

6611116., pp. Ink-115.

#1
these statements are primarily philosophical and ideological, certain
general criteria are common to each passage:

1. Black Art must give back self-knowledge and self-
respect to the Black man.

2. Black Art must come from the actual source--the
life of Blacks.

3. Black Art in order to be relevant--to create

change must have a social comitment to the liber-
ation of Black America.

Thus it becomes the responsibility of the artist, in this
case the playwright, to "help Black folks more clearly see and under-
stand the life forces that engulf us so that we might deal more in-
telligently with our problems--problems such as the master-slave
psychosis, acute self-hatred and feelings of inferiority. The
Black writer can help us to see the beauty, goodness and strength
inherent in the experiences of Black people and to achieve positive
collective images which would serve us in celebrating and developing
this strength, beauty and goodness, as we seek to restore order and
harmony in our lives."67

The Black man is African, yet that very distinct cultural
background has been filtered through many violent centuries of
Western experience, which lave had important effects on the Black
American. Thus the developments of the sixties and early seventies
in the Black lation did not happen in a vacuum, but are intrinsically
tied with the past. Consequently, this thesis which deals with three

contemporary Black plays, presents a brief historical overview of the

 

67tleorge Bass, personal interview, August l2, 1972.

1.2
major trends of the Black experience in American Drama , particularly
in terms of the stereotypic molds which have been cast on Blacks
that have had a maJor impact on the quality of Black life in America.

The thesis also presents a cursory view of the important de-
velopments in the Black Theater Art of the sixties, and discusses
some of the major producing groups out of the sixty Black theaters
that have come into being in the last ten years, when a definite
change in the sense of a new direction occurred. Yet this change
has been and is gradual, and can be seen as the logical development
of earlier Black philosophies.

The three plays discussed in this thesis are full-length
and structured in form. Although the playwrights attempt to make
them relevant to Blacks, both in tense of content and to some (ex-
tent form, they are crafted pieces and are not a part of the alter-
native move toward ritualistic theater that utilizes the Africal
Oral Tradition.

While these plays form an important part of new Black
theater, they are not blunt, angry, primarily political, and
satirical, as many of the one-act plays from the sixties were.

The three plays were all produced in the Black theaters
discussed earlier, and in each case the initial productions repre-
sented different phases and levels of Black theater: East of Jordan
by Evan Walher was produced by the Free Southern Theater in a rural,
activist Black theater experience. Who's Got His Own by Ron Milner
premiered at the Off-Broadway American Place Theater in an integra-
tionist setting, and In the Wine Time by Ed Bullins was performed

at the New Lafayette Theater in an urban Black theater.

1‘3

In correspondence with the impulse and tenets of the Black
cultural Revolution, this thesis does not utilize the evaluations
of‘white critics. Supplementary material to the actual scripts
includes personal interviews with each author, and interviews with
Woodie King, Jr., influential producer, actor and writer; and Clayton
Riley, Drama Critic and Arts Editor of the Amsterdam news. Further
secondary sources were provided by papers, periodicals, Journals and
magazines, published by Black artists and writers; Black reference
books and articles by Black writers appearing in the white press.

The plays are generally evaluated through the traditional
criteria of plot, character, language, thought and spectacle with
the relevance of the criteria being determined by the content and
form of the plays themselves. The individual discussions of the
plays are not divided into these distinct segments. The plays are
also discussed in terms of what the authors, themselves, said about
their work, and the final chapter is a comparative study of the
three plays. .An attempt has been made to point out specific in-
stances where the authors work with important Black cultural.mate-
rial. These concepts have been supplemented wherever possible‘with
the characteristics of the Black Esthetic that are developing at this
very time and are discussed earlier. In all cases an attempt has
been made to tie the theoretical analyses of these plays in with the
current realities of the Black experience and the Black Arts move-

ment that is defining it.

emu
nsramnsrsuar.urna

hatefJu'damwaspu'fumadbythelreeSouthermmaterin
thal969tsaringseasaa,pramiariagdprilla,l9691alaw0rleaas,
Louisiana. It was presented in a repertory that included Slave Ship,
aaaeectplsybylmmmilarahs(lareihnas),amdlaet_;_s_by
Gilbertleses,theadrtisticbireeterafm,amdseveralplayadeval-
spadimtheir'ritar'siarkahsp. heseprednetiemsteuradmsrethaa
forty rural omitiea lathe Southern states of lississippi, mam,
m,mmu¢aom.

Duringthsmaathefhy,1969!astafJoa-daawaaalsepreseated
inhiladelphia,ramasylvaniabythamm,mefthebnr-
geanimgmflerafanflllackthesterms.

lutofludanwasamastnteulactimferthamerteireof
therreeBeatharnheater'sl969seasen. haearliesttimasllack
manmmhmmmlmhtu'pmminadm-
d... mmwwmwmwmm
scale-inetiaasdmrimgaadafterlerldiarn,nlaeksbelievadthay
cealdfiadsbetterlifeinthelartheraiadastrialsreas. Although
theseinaaiamswareshattareddnriagthaafter-thefistts,batroit
“Chicaglvanialhar's plqdeteilsanddrammtisesthssecial cea-
ditimthatthemimts foundinlarlam.

1.4

l+5

IaJIer'slaatefJardaa isafareefal, realisticdramsthat
illustratesthadestruetiemefshlackmaaandbisfsmilybythein-
human forces operating in am acquisitin society. thhaagh the pin
waswrittaaareamd1967, the ectieaofthaplay takes placeial9ll9-
l950,whaamaatilaahpesplastillbelievadthsttbelmaricandreu
amdthaPrstestantlthicwarsmsaningfnlmreechestelifefae-Black
mu. Iatthisplqis'relevamt'te)lackainthe8evamties,be-
cansethamfacetsefthefailareefthismreaehtolifefarmaehs
areefaaensnspertinaace.

haeqluaituatiaainlastefifordaadevelopsfruaaini-
tiallysi-laplotthatceuldbecalledaniversal:lnm(8-ni¢bt)
marriesthewmheleves(0assie81ater)amdstt~tsteprevideher
unsmum‘uunsmmn. hisisthapeimtetwhieh
thermbfitinlamdthapeculiararbaaherimaneriamceefnaeks
imitiatesthac-flict. hehsuseiac-plateaxeeytfarthasirimg,
mammuwwuwwsnmamu
autumnal-cam. mar-mutant.”
thamaaeylagiti-tely,resaltiaadealwithsloansharkthetleada
«mun-m.

heiateraaltemaiameflastofhrdaaresaltsfruthair-
recamciliablaaetureefialkar's Mic operatives. Iamhightis
thanersdficstiamaftheleekartflashimcteaphilesephthatm
dadicstadwu'kbyhlackswealdepanthedeerstefallpartieipetim
ind-arias life. ('Pall sarselvesapbyeurbestatrapsl')l

 

13am- r. W ”Atlanta. Exposition Address,” in ll_a_c_k_
Protest ed. by Joanne Grant Greenwich: l'ewcett, 1968), p. 197.

46

Pittodagaimsttheltrengthofrnight's ditias isahieru‘chical,
mercenary and sacroaaact social system that maintains its operation by
theservitmdeofllaeks:aayst.thatsplimtersthespiritamdfimally
takesthalifeofsnlnight.
Beceadly,lr.Ielkerraisesthaquestionthatifthaphilesephy
preselytisedbylaahingtomianetsnfficient,themwhatvilleaable
llaekstosurvivainaaystammaaattoerpleitthut Valkerdaesnet
directlyanswer,buthedoeasuggeatseveralalternativea.>
rinsllytheracialissua,whichisthelargerissueisaot
directlysterted,butitpermeatesthaentireplnaadisrevealed
througbmostofthesitnatioas. Sincelastothordaawaswritteafor
Blacksmdiemces, b.Ialkerseemstohaveaddressed himselftoiateraal
probl-s,rttherthmanlmttiusofthiusalreadym.
Animportaatthreadrmingthroughthaplqisthagradnal
destruction «Sam's family, his drone udideals. his is seen-
plishedtechnicaJJythroaghaserieaofsub-pleta. Beforetheirmar-
riege, lemmas-shipped Onassis for atleastfifteemyoars. Atthetime
efthaplayheisinhislatethirties,asishisbride. flussie,tha
danghterefapreaeher,wassmesedlywidowedbeforethabirthofher
eighteeayearoldsa, Johan Bleter. Charlie Knight, Sam's brother,
attemdedcellageiatheseathwithoussie,amdhosathatdussiewas
aevermcriedamdthattheremaaticisedtalasofherfirsthasbamdare
lies. laandhis wife, Illa, shareaten-antflat with Sam, Oussie
adeohnaySlater. Bahasaeverbeeatoldthetruth.
Walker'stechaicalakillsassplaywriglrtareinastratedin
themhehasweveathastraadaofhisplatintoatightlyhitunit

4?

thatflowarapidlytowardtheclimas. ihilehisstructnraltech-
miqaesarailportant, itisthroughcharecterisrtimthathemakeshis
stat-amtsabomtthewurlllimwhiehblaekpeople live. Walker's
eharaotersarereaognisable, believable, «well-developed; theyelse
and: specific Black life-styles.

Bambightisthemejos'figureinthepmamditsmst.
hauWflinhstofJordagisnotaspecificcharacter,butarmth-
less, oppressive, materialistic society that crashes the life force from
itsvictin,a1thoughtoamextemtthisisrepresentodbythe0andy8tick
Iid,theleansharkaaddbeIu-tin,8u'semployer:characterswhohava
aeosptedthevaluesofthesociety. Bamisdriveaiahisdesirefor
success,“hefails because hehasacceptod'lock,stockandberrel'
theidealsandsylbolsofapredatos'ysooiety. Ieactuallybelieveshe
congethis'shot,'ashecallsit,byhardwork,withouteverrealising
whetthatmaans. Seahuforgottemwharehecuesfromhisroots),
and he is blind. He cannot see what his brother Charlie sees with me
eyeamdheslearaedfremexperienee. Banisdeterminadaadsteadfsst
mdhehaabeemfoeledintobelievimgthedmaricandreamqpliestohin.
. dam is branded by the definitim devised for him by society.
InhisGaergiahua,hewasclassifiadasa'fieldnigger'aadwaslad
tobalievethstthiswassemathingnagativathatshouldbeovercomaby
strict addersace to the Protestantism-k Ethic. loving accepted this
innsien,8smellowshimselftobemisusedbyhisfamily,hiswife,
hisemployeramdhisowadrean.

Mhightbroughthisagingbridatothelorthern'promisod
mummy interminable comrtship,hefullyintendedtoimdalge

1&8
Gussieamdprovideharwitheverymaterialsymbolheruthicalfirst

hosbudwanldhaveprevided. Cassie representedallSamwasn't;ahe
wasedncatedaadrespected,andsoheworshippedher. lecauseofthis,
“acceptsallkimdsofaffrmtsinhisdoggedbattletomaintainhis
pride.

bahardersulnightstruggles, themoreeaplexandiqpossibla
hislifebocuaa. Ashiswerldbeginstefallapart,hebecomeaia-
masinglydesperateeadinoreasiaglyirrational. demiselreadybemtea
athetimahaisforcedtoperformuhisheesinordertogetthelaan
fruthaCandy Stick Kid. Therefore,whan81ick, Candy's'nin squease'
(m),kills8amattheendoftheplay,shaiskillingamanwhois
alreadydead. dellr.ia1kersm,”lkilled8aaoffattheendofthe
play, becausehehadnorighttolivve."2

In direct contrast to 8am, mum, Charlie mm, is arroo
gant,bitteramdwermy,inthesensethathahowafromerperiencewhat
toerpectfrusociety. Yet,6harlieisanetharkindefcasualty. Ila
begaahislifewithmorepr‘iseaadpossibilitythanh. lavas
brightamdcttemdedcollne,pluningtobeo.adootc. ”Charlie
leftcollegetoserveproudly,inthedirrorco,adecisionthatchanged
hislife.

Inadirectsmdstabbiag exchange, Walker discloses Charlie's
backgroundaad sets up therelationsbdp between the twabrothera, show--

ing their contrasting personalities :

 

aWalker, personal interview.

L19
‘ 8“

Ian, yoncooldbe aking. ’Iouhadascholarship to
Customs University to be a doctor. You coald've been
embody.

You wish it was you insteada mat

(a slight pause. mun senses la might have

hit a sore spot)

Isa'd show 'em, wouldn't you. Yeah, you'd mically
cease being a cotton picker. Then some old Jack leg
preacher, like Gussie's daddy, might let you in the
house nigger's church, and the white folks would call
yeabocterloyinsteada Jest plainbey.

an!
You Just got no respect, no faith in nothin'.
cum

faith! hell, no. Yougottwoeyesandcaaafferd
thatlaxury. Oneefweyes isgremdnpinthe
Alabama dirt.

(Angerponrseatefhianow. lainitatesthe

speech of Southern legroes)

I an white folks, boss, y‘all can't whap this nigger's
head for walkin' on the sidewalk. I's an ossifer and
g'lman in the lewnited Stated Air Corps. I's flyin
air plans. Gonna kill me some Oceans. Plus, white
folks, it's an eddicated nigger to boot. Been to the
Capstene. I can spell big words, l-L-l-P-H-A-l-T,
I-l-D-I-A shittt: Them motherrapers pluad the star
SpangleBannaronwheadtilltheygottired, and”
eye rolled aronndon tn ground like abloedymarble.
low that's where n faith in this lunatic asylnn is,
ole ever believin' brother. that's where it is.

res-get that, man, you still got a future. All that's
in the past.

WhatthahellamI,butwpast2 Ion,anymanbnt
hiapastt Amangottaberootedinsomething. Isa
don'tsnddenlywaheepandshaheyearreotsofflike
s-anightmu'e.

5o
8“

Charlie, don't let bitterness eat . . .3

Invalkercentinuesthiserohangebetweenthetwebrothersin
astanningandaccaratedescriptionofhatewellingupinsideallack
man.

cum

Den'tstartlecturingma. Getajob. Codnnsgpy
hair. Greasewashylegs. Ian...man,thi's
mornin'lwenttogatthat soul savin'Job,youalwwa
talkin’about. Well,enthatrainlgottolookin' at
thisfat,roaycracher. Justlikelbe,gronfatand
greasyeffthewar.

h,Abegotnemeney.
cum

That'sthsliehetellsyou. lightnowhadustlike
thatbastardoathetrainthismornin',readin'the
Wall Street Journal, dreaminofbullsandbears,and
figurin'howhegonnastealalltheworld'sbread(mamey)
whenthenettwareaas. Anddan,lwantadto....
Tokillhim. Ia, Charlielnight,whostudiedtobea
doctor. I wanted to squeeze his throat, squeeze until
hiseyespeppedoutandrolleddownhisfatgreasyfme
like squashed eggs. low 8n, I get that feeling all.
thatimaandonedqlnightdustflipoutthere. 8o,
Igotoffthattraiaandranbacktolarlem...be-

cause that is a very dangerous thing.
The feeling that charlie describes is beyond the scope of

Bam'serperieaeeaadhedeesaotwanttehearaboatit:
ass

You ain'tgennadonothin' but talk. Aayercuse for
whatyoueeuld'vebeen. Iuaodtothinkyeuhadsoma

 

3“ was», last of Jordan (unpublished play).

51

brains, but you ain't nothin' but a dam fool.”

Charliohasaknowlodgcsmdrospoctforthewayaoftho
'stroot' thatdudooonothave. Yet in spitoofCharlio's aware-
nose, he is still a victin. la cannot move beyond his knowledge, his
recognition, his bitterness, in a sense, his past, to the next stop,
whichwouldbeaplanofaetion. Insteadhocontinuos tointornalisc
the effects of his predicament (the predicament of mast blacks). vhen
Charlie finally does act, whether oasciously or uneasciously, he
directly causes the ulti‘to destruction of his one brother.

Charlie ontoredthel‘nckybollarlarandfirillandsawsanon
his knees (s audition ordered by suck), begging for the loan tre-
Candy. howiagthatCandthieindisaleoch,whowilldrainsu,
Charlie tries to prevent the transaction. When he cannot stop 8m,
he tells himthat Cassie isn't werththa trouble 8a is about tobring
downealflnolf. CharlieturnsSam'ouorldupsidodswnbynvoaling
the truth of Johnny Blster's conceptim.

From the turning point of Charlie Knight's revelation to his
death, 8am deteriorates rapidly. he perceives Cassie differently and
cannotwithstndtheweight ofhis newly-receivedkneelodgeamdthe
snowballisg situation he has created.

Iruically, Charlie is rather pleased with himself for finally
uncovering the 'truth' and vindicating his can approach to life, until
he has a confrontation with Gusaie, who guessed that Charlie finally
told In about her past. In the following dialogue, Charlie Knight

 

he.

52

is forced to recognize some truths about himself:
cm
You could have tried honesty.
man
Honesty: Honesty? use the hell wants hesesty in this world.
' cum
I do:
MI!
Well, try this on for size. Your little brains haven't
gone soft with whiskey, but with bitterness and hate.
And what's worst you envy, despise your own brother.
m
lo. . . .
GUCCI!
That's Just for starters.
cum
net's a lie.
swan

Iorotruth. Andyouwon'tbohappyuntilho'slaidout

Did not want to hear that, did you?
cum
Shut your fuckin' mouth.

53
ovssn
Ionosty: luph, you can't even live with it for two

socuds.
(Pause)
- e
lo: leooedllll,ne. Snisaprinco. . .wdod. . . .

Inoverwantodtohurthim.
MCI!
Thatyouwillhavetotakaupwithyourcouscienco.
em

But. . m,whenllovehimsomch2 lo'sw
brethorj ,

Illa, Charlie's wifo,whomlvanialker describodasthe'only
one whofsclooninthis,'6 offersacentrasttodussiothroughher
warm, sincere,anddown-te-oarthmannor. lllaumderstandshernn
andtrieatocasehispainfulcxistenco,althoughshosucceedsmostly
inholdinghishoad. Charliemolongeroo-stosooorhoarhis
wife, and ittakoaGussiotobringhimtothis raalisatia.

throughoutlastoflardanllhusosherbasic 'metherwit' to
bringsensotoarapidlyerodingsituation. lllarecogniaeswhoand
whatdussiois,mdtriestohalphsrtosooandrospectluforwhat
heis. Itinlllawhetriastebrmhbaokteroality,“
CharliehaoshattcredGussio's image. Inavorymovingseenointhe
backronofthahekybollarlaranddrill,lllaatt-ptstesteah8am
udnudgehimbackonhiscoursowithhorkindnessaadgoodsonso.

 

51bid.
6Walker, interview.

5a
m

" whogotpride. You
thinkshewuttosayshogotasonaadain‘tmarriad?
Ionthiak it'seasylivin' lie solongitbocomestho
truth? Oh,8am,therearcsomothingswogottowalk
with. Likame. norearothingsl'dnevertell
Charlioabouthimself,suethings1gottokeepinmy
secrothoert.7

. . . .Iouain'ttheonlyone
a

Illaisdsterminodtomakohroalisewhatheisdoing.
undorstandingaadroasondon'twork,shetriesanotherapproach:
ma
. . . .levaisthestrengestwoodinthogasuene-if

it'sroallove. Iougottosoohernowandlevohor
now,whenain'tnosunshinin'throughnopines.

8"
lo: Hell, no.
(he moves upstage to leave)
an

Iouain’tnncnoughtolevoawhore?

(Santurnsonler. hewordhasstmghin
tothaquick)

net's whatyoucallodher,awhore. Bell, nigger,

goonandbolikealltherost. Goonandcallhcra

whsrotoherface. 0non,pullherdownwhansho

neodsyoutobuildherup.
(Benovestowardthodoor)

Iusedtothinkyouweremadeofbetterstuff.
(8am stops, faces her)

Dutlseoyouain't no different. Bitternessccs

drippin'offyoulikestalosweat.

It ain't Just like that Illa. The Job, debts, every-
thing comin' at me at once.

 

Wetter, last of Jordan.

55

ELLA

Ain't none of that no cause for your sweetness and

love and kindness to go on a permanent vacation.

lowifyoulostalltgnt, youJustgoonupthareand

tell her to her face.

As one critic said, ”last of Jordan, if it is understood, tells
us very plainly that TRUTH is in the understanding which we find in
relating to one mother."9 Illa is the character who represents and
understands this most clearly.

Gussic Slater, Sun's wife, is an attractive woman in her late
thirties, who has never utured. Through her lies, selfishness and
egotisn, aha destroys her family and is the indirect cause of her
husband ' a death. V

Gussic has been victimized by the society. The brutalising
experience she encountered in her youth has left an indelible stamp on
her personality. But, she consciously and willfully perpetratos
deceit as a way of life for herself and extends it to include her son
and her husband.

Gussic was a preacher's daughter in a rural Georgia town, and
grew up in what is suggested as the hypocritical, superficial and self-
rightoous atmosphere of the Black middle-class, or 'houseniggsrs' as
they are called in the play. In her pursuit of the false values
stressed by her father, she went away to college and moountored a

number of harsh realities. Returning to her hometown with a child

8.932-

9Vornollo Scott, "nest of Jordan, a review, " Gumbo (rm,
1969)) P0 270

56
bosnoutofwodlock,shemanufacturodachildishandruanticox-
pluntion which she maintained for eighteen years.

lotstrongenoughtoliveorthinkforhorsolf,dussie cheeses
illneienasaphiloaopw. ShecondnctsherlifeaecordingtoMJy
Post-onetter Ices anddardens andlaadios Ice Journal; andtho rigid
procoptsthatwereinatillodinharyouth. Shohasalsoraisedher
son, Johny Slater, acceding to her delusions.
lnowingthatSamlnightadarodher,shofinalchonsentodto
marryhim,butkopthinwaitingmtilafterthodeathofherfathor,
whethoughtSamwasnotgoodenoughforhigdaughter. Gussieonjoys
thopodestalSamhasplacodheronandaoceptsevu'yindnlgence,as
harm. Sherecitaaherrmntic fantasiesofhcrfirst 'husband'
likeawhip,whenevorshewantssuathing,whathoritistokeepher
sufzuioiningtholavy,ortoacquiroahomein!onkers.
ItisnetlikolythatSamoouldeversatisfyGussio. be
direct cause of his paralyzing situation is that Gussic can not stand
hernoighbora, theirlu-l. neighborhood, nor living with Charlioand
llla,whoknewhar'truth.'
locausoduseieisi-arsodinthavalnesofthissoeioty,she,
too, helpstodriveSamtohisdeath. Itisquastionahlethatshe
carosforhininanysenseothorthanhisprovidingforherbasic
needs. ShodeliboratelyrefusostoproparethokindoffoodSa
likestooat, bocanseshoconaiders it ‘law-brow,‘ andinsistsonpro-
paringenponsivemaalswhenhehasaskedhertocconemise. ihenSam
wasrofusodmoaeyattholoancaspany,hewasashaaedtotcllaussie,
andsaheliodtaharand-dethecmtractwiththehustler,0amdy

sauna.
' Gussie's anaconda-mum of herselfoccursnidveythrough
theaeoondaot,sadnothingvillservetorectifyitlator.
sun
Goddamfriggin'Brussels sprouts:
man
Iavofieldhaad: Rave: Icursethcdayleverlaid

Ania-l. Youlikedthis animal. Therevasatias
youcoflda'tgeteuoughofthiseuilal. Badn'thad
none since your husband died. Cray.

(Gussic crosses to tho bedro. door)
net's all you harried as for.

00881!
Ihetotberreas oncouldIhavepossiblyhad? Afield
headhugotto begoodfersoaething. .
(8a- alapshsracross thorouth. Without

bmkinganeyo,0ussieenterathe
bedroelendlocksthodoorJ-O)

[either this scene nor the confrontation with Charlie sipif-
icaatly change Gussie' s perspective. It is not until the last minutes
oftheplaythatsbebcginstorealixcvhatshehasdooe. Inthelast
scenes of last of Jordan, Gussic is also confronted by her son, John,
whoaskstbetruthabouthisbirth; shostilltries desperatehto
deceive bin. This coafreotatiai between lather and son illustrates
mt a pathetic figure Gussie is. When she receives ceasiderable
verbal abuse fro- her son, it does not penetrate. he prefers to
blaIeBaaferreveaJJhginfu-aatiootohersoa, rathertheuacceptthe

 

J"Wiener, last of Jordan.

58

resyasihility for the consequences of her deceit. Gussie's realisa-
tioncuesonlyinthefinelnonentsofSen'slife.
Ivauilalkerco-entedoneussie's ilpenetrabilityz'l didn't
wantSentelive,beoauaeIthoughtthathemstbethsultilatepen-
altyforher. Imtedfiuaaietegnmuandldidn'twanthilinthe
action. nereconciliation, thattine, didnotwork; themlything
thatceuubringhereutofherselfishnessendegotisnwastoseea
good-adieinthegutter,audthatwasherm.'n
Oussie's son, Johnny Slater, also contributed to Son's daise.
Johnniseighteenyeersold,wasraisedinthe8outhudhasbeeain
Harmforaboutayeargheiscontrastedwithotherbeysofthestreet
wheerenorewerldlynd'hip.’ Johnny'scharacterisdrmwitha
considerable count of ruanticisa; he is frequently described as
'havingthegypsyinhiseoul.‘ Johnnwisapproaohingnanhoedend
hasjustfsllenialovewithagirlnanedSelenaghedreeeaofgeing
intothelavyandeeeing ferboff places. Johan wants to be awriter.
Itishispoetry-writingmhisdreu-mJJBgenddreu-yjob
in the garnet district that causes his conflict with Sen. While
Whesentacestlyshipentofdressestothewrongstore.
In the nidst of this mic at Silver fashions Sen confronts his
boss,Abelartin,todnandaloagovu~duepronotieaandraise,isa
desperateattqttohoephishousefrontheloonsherk. Becuseof
the trouble caused by Jom, Abe ignores Sea. the scene in which
SenreproachosJohnnwaadblneshinforcostinghin'hisshort'isone

 

nfialker, personal interview.

59
of the lost effective in last of Jordan. San and Johnny trade verbal
punchesvithoachetharraachingdcepermddoeper,laaingbereaach
other's innards:
an:
Boyyou cost-e w drean.
JOE!!!

(quietly)
Abewesnevergoingtonakeyouacutter.

SA!
Ihatynnsqi
m

I said Abe had no intention of giving you the cutter's
Job.

SAN
net's a bare-faced lie.
m
Mlenghatyou. Abensusingyou.
‘ BAX
he laughs at no!
my
All the me on the Job.
nay meflglnyw when you'd get the score.
SA!
You lie, you bastard.

will!
neylmghatyou, oldnan:

faith. Iouwenttohearsonetruth? Yourdaddy. . . .12

Ben is outreged and tells the story of Johnny's birth. Johnny
is forced to change abruptlyfrubeyto nan. Shortly after, Johny
hos another vicious session with his author, in which he repays Gussie
ferthe spiritualabuseshehasheapedonhinforeighteenyears.

file-immersinlestofehrduwiththeezceptinof
Abe hrtin and Ir. Jones, are representatives of the 'streets.‘ these
whores, pings, hustlers, miter runners and spiritualists are the
people Gussie wants to escape in Yonkers. here characters supply
lastofJordaawithsoneliveJyandvitalnonents, andthrenghth-
Walkerqloysnanyvisualel-sntsofthehlachlife-stylemdsug-
gests nany cultural references. may no skillfully drawn and chal-
lenge the actor's creativity to find the exact stride, mth, gesture
and styletoproaecttheir inages. mesa characters givetheplq
considerable richness of flavor. .

'l'he Candy Stick lid, for eque, projects an i-adiate visual
inage with his overly expensive clethes, dianond rings, bankroll and
Stacy Adana shoes. rxcept for the clothes, Candy's style (”may”)
is essentiallythe sanetoday, as itwas twentyyears ago. While

 

Eisner, East of Jordm.

61

CandyendSlicharetechnicauyantagonists intheplay, theyare
distinct non sbe Isrtin in that they represent forces operating out-

sidethesainstreuofthelnaricenSociety,metheCosalostra.
beyhowthe'soore'andoperateaccerddngly. Sanhasalweysro-
Jectedthuandtheirneansofsurvival,butwhenhe,too,realises
“legitinteeoceastotheeomuicsystelisdeniadhin,heis
forcedtoretumhuetotheveryforceshehasrejectedandthey
destroyhin.
Ivanwmerutlnsastwowhitechu'aotersinlastofhrdm
wherepresentthewhiteliberalbufferbetweenhlachsandthereelity
ofraciss. WalkerdescribesIr.JenesoftheI-oencupnyas,'that
kindefcat,lihelornanhiler,whesqs,1'llhelpyou...the
oldhberallornnhiler....3uthesaysenddoesalJ.thewrong
thingsinhis eagernesstohelp.” Abelartin, Sas's uployerhas
usedapatmnisingandfriendlynennertowu'dSaneJltheyeai-she
hasbeonnisusingmdenpleitinghin. nascenesbetweenSanaadAbe
hrtinaresnnfullydrmandaccurate.
WhilethelanguageinlestotJordsnistheatrical,itis
reminisce” of the real idion. Ir. ialker has indicated intonations
anddroppedwoudenddngstoindicatethesoftflowingspeechand
Southernbackgronndofthechu‘acters. AscriticClaytmlflayseys,
”Oneoftheewentsthatstrikesneisthesconebethuanddbe
Iertin,whenSuwantstobeaCutterandAbewm'tgivehistheJob.
Itisveryecmuicaflywritten,veryspareintheuseofthelanguage,

 

J3Wall.ker, personal interview.

62

but a trenendously accurate recreation of the sound of the human

voice. People talk about an ear for dialogue, but it's such aura
I;

rarethanpeoplethink. Ivanhlker sa-stohave that gift."1

nireugheuttheMthelanguagesetsthetoneoftheevants.
hairenicqualitiesanddeubleneeningsinthespeechesoftheroet-
wurherandoracle, Shango,sreparticu1arlyinteresting. Me
accepts therespmsibilityfornovingtheeventsthattakeplacebe-
teenJulyendSept‘er,19h9audsetstheatnosphereinwhichthe
plqunfolds. Itisthrooghhinthatweleernofthepast,preaent
andfuture. hanediunandnarratorShangoestablishesthepoint
ofviewfr.whiohteunderstandtheevests,andheeffectively
dascribesthenatureoflnericansociatyandthepredioenentofhlachs
ina'landwithoutseasens':

sumo

....Ihisisalandwithoutseasons. Andtheyere
hereinthepurgatoryofalltheirdm.
(Stepsfa'ward)
Becausenothingchangesinalandwithoutseasons.
Sounds,snells. Illusions. Nothing. loteventhe
silence when they cease todrean--and that is a
religionuphere,dreaning,butsecretlynmeyisaod.
AndI,ShangohavelaoheddaeplyintotheJungleef
theirsouls
(Pointshisnishstickattheskyandsuddenly
itisn andthelorthstarshines
brightly
fhelorthStar
(ofthestiek)
Andit nakesneprivytotheir desires, hopes, hates
andloves...whichisanosteurprisinguotionto
findinsuchwmderousdeaolation.
(ofthefrosenPeople)
rheyfled,escapad,followedthelorth3tar. Andeaoh

 

“Clayton Riley, personal interview.

63

F

hisownwaywanted in on thebiggest hustle of all.
blindly followed the lady up there. that blink-
lady who winked false praises of hope, happiness
Yankee gold. However, most soon realized their
singular fate; the lady is a slut and not to be trusted.
Butthere is always inenanwhois blindadbyherseduc-
tive and fnicy ways. 5

fig

heecononicthene,stressedby8hangoiscarriedthroughont
theplq,netonlyintheaction,butintheinagesofthehustlers,
nunberruaners,aswell. ItisalsopresentintheiaageryefSilver
rashions,doldenloan¢eupany,lnckyhollsr3arand¢rill,etc.
Shango catinues to describe how the stifling econonic and
social environment affects the lives ofBlacks, and asks the viewer
tofellowhinbackintinetoseethesituationofonenan,Sanlnight.
InapointeddescriptionhegivesusthekeytothecharaoterofSan
InightandthebasicthaeoflastofJordan:
....Butthisoaenaninparticuln,-Irenefiar.
Ies,itwasshortly after thelastwaruthelastgood
war,theonetheteMedwithabangandnadehinend
reason obsolete. This nan,SanInightwashis uses,
diduothearthenews. Hestillclungprecariouslyto
such passwords into oblivion as faith, love, loyalty,
anbition and power of positive work, not knowing these
absurd notionswere awsyfortheduration. Sanlnight
was an anachronian, anan who loved baseball but never
wantedtoknowthesoore. Amoutofjointwiththe
tinesthetnevfiwere,holdingontodiseasedtrans-
plantedroots.
RootsingagtofJou-danhaveadeublenaaning. lotonlydo
theyrefertothepastandSoutherabackgreundofBlacks,butalsoto

the various plant roots and magical hoodoo petiais dispused by Shango.

 

15am, nest of Jordan.

159.21-

6.“

Andtheytieinwiththealternatives‘hlkerallowedSanhighhbut
herei'usad. AslvanWalkersaid:
RootshaveaspecialsignificanceforSan;thay
offerhinthewwout. One operative line is, 'don't
forgetyourroots, brether.’ Rootsaretodowhat's
natural to survive, andSan does unnatural things so
hedoesn't survive. Ihecat (Shsngo)wasgoingto
givehinthenusber,buthewasafoolandwouldn'tdo
it. Everybodyplaysthenmber, buthesaid no,he
didn't believe in nunbers. that's his alternative
right? He'sgottwoornsybe more. healternative
cueswhenCharlie saysIgotthenunberrighthere.
Igetthenuaberrighthere,andthenunbercaneout.
Eeweuldhevebeenhonefreeandneverhadtogotothe
Candy Stick kid, hadhe followed his roots. lowwe
knowwe wegettohustle,anddoeverythingwecautoaake
it. Butno,hedidn'tdoitandthat'shis)cuingoff
«shard-workingstnd. that's his reality.
becharacter,8hangeplsyadaninportantroleinthestrnc-
turaldevelopantoflastofJordan. llr.ialkerssys,"ltriedfirst
tonake it a one rouplnuone set, then I realized it wouldn‘t work
becansetoe-ichaotimwouldhavetobetoldandldidn'tfeellike
tellingit....ldecidedtoopenit@...thenallthacharaeters
bee-everycleertone. AndallofasuddenShangecanetene...
18
theforacuefronthenaterial.
hestructureoflastofJoi-dmisbethfixadandfluid,“
thus, suitedtodealingwithnawfacets oftheBlack life-style.
Whilethepluisrealisticinstyle,thefonatandthecharacterof
Shangodonotcoaflict,rathertheyaddtheatricalityanderpandits
conscious intent. me street scenes add cultural reference to the

playaudcoordinetewellwiththemsicoftheguitarandthesanophone.

 

1'Ilvan Walker, personal interview.

181nm.

L/_

65
fheyaddtotheinternalrlwthandhavethesanecontrastingeffect
astheuseofthenusic.

Ir.llalker's useofnusical thuesaddstethetexture. lo
hasusedboththeBluesandBeBep. Valkercallsfortheuseofthe
twelvestringguitu',becansethecountrypeopleofthe8outhused
thatinstrunantfortheirnlnes,butwhatheynovedlorthtothe
urbanenvirennnt"itwasthemsioof3assand3e3op--Be...bop.
AtthattineaostBlaokpeoplehadtonakeatransitienintheirnusic
aswellastheirlives. Innusicitwasthewholejassthing,butin
theSouthitwastheguitarmdBlues. Whenthetwoblendintheend,
thetransition isnademsically,andthat's it. Ihaplwisever
(literally) and figuratively with the characters in the ping. '19

Aside fr. the social end political considerations, last of
Misfullofculturalreferenoesthataddtoitscredibilityend
enrich its value as a theetrioal erperience for a Black audience.
Black viewers know the spirituals that influence its title and under-
standthemsical reference pointsanditsstreetscenes. boyhow
thetdnssie'srefusaltofirSuthefoodhewantsandneedsisa
seriousnatter,andhowfoolish8enisnottoplsythenuaber. Ieny
would recognise Capstone as Howard University.

BlackandiancescenappreciatetheroleofShangoasanedin-
rootnerkariubeththeirSouthernandlorthernerperience. Theyknow
thelegandsthetgoalangwithhisofferingsoffiithohntheCon-
quererrootsandnlacksnakeskins. Whilethesewthsvarysonewhat

 

19mm.

66

according th locale, the following story illustrates one of the folk
references last of Jordan utilises:

Black snskesareoften calledcoachwhips nidthey
nostly frequent the South. It is said they will

ganguponyouandchasepeople. lfyourunthrough

thetaJlgrsss,andtheycen'tseeyeu,theywill

stendupontheirteilhandwhistle. Ihentheytie
youtoatreeandbeatyoutilyou'redeadwiththeir

tails, whichareplaited like whips,andifyoupre-

tendyou'redead,theywillsticktheirtailsupyour

nose,soyoucan't breathe. Itissaid theywill

bring you good luck and love, or conversely willzaut

spellsonsoaeonewhoisfoelingwithyonrlove.

Shango, himelf,isrecognisableonseverallevels. lostcon-
nsnly, ofoourseastherootworker. ButtheAfrican reference of his
naneandcharacterisnotloatteBlackAnaricans,sincethetrans-
planted amp faith is practiced in the Caribbean, South Anerioa, in

theSenthandevenleonrkCity. IntheAfrioanpast,Shangois
representedbylightningandisaaaaorfigureiniestAfricantradi-
tiualreligion. Poreranple,anongthe!orubas,'8hangeisthe
personificationofthetragicherowhobringscal‘tyonhiaselfwhich
isterribleandoutofpreportimtothefault....Auditisthe
intensityoflifethatattractsnentoShango. ihantheyprqtohis
theyshreinhislifeforce,aadithelpsthutoachieveahigher
life."21

ThepresentationoflaatofJordanisneanttobeadialsgue
about Blaoksandbetweea Blacks. Walker's playwas criticised for

 

zolick term, persual interview, August 5, 1969. his tale
is fra the region near Iontguery, Alabana.

aJahheianahn, fl (low York: Grove Press, 1961), p. Mt.

6?
dealingwith'ageoldproblensoflcgrolife,"221nplyingthatthe
pm and the content are dated. rhe time «the play is 1919-1950,
whichwasaperiodwhannanyhlacksoldiers,returnedfrontheArned
Services with high hopes for a different life in Anerioa, mly to
findthingsunchanged. IetnunerousBlacks likeSaaInightfeltand
still feel that hard work will achieve success and a better life within
thepresentsystu. Thisphilosophy, whichwasalsoprullgatedby
W!.Weshingtm,canbaseeninl9721nthenui3erof31acksin_
leadershiproleswhosupportthephilosoplwofblackCapitelisner
limian policies of national govern-ant.

Walker'splqis relevantinthesense thathecriticises the
systen,ndalsoquestionscertainpopularhlacknsponsestoit.
Walkerraisesquestionsghedoesnotprovideeasyanswers,asindead
thereuenoeasyanswerstotbepradicuentofllacks. names“
thatinordertosurvivenlscks-lstbeflexible,whichlnightwasnot.
let, it is not eurneieht to hope that hitting the umberwill solve
nothing. Asthemmberraoket provides significant incue for organ-
isedcriaetoinveetinerteasiveherointraffic, prostitution, bars,
andthecontrolofnlackhsic,playingthenunbersasavehiclefor
Black liberation is regressive at best. Perhaps if Walker had for-
therdevelepedtheconceptofreturningtotheroots,otherviable
alternatives would be suggested.

Walker was also criticized because the conflict between and
nonghlacksintheplsywasstrongerthanthe conflict withwhites,

 

22a: Home, "Review: last of Jordan" in Black theatre (amt ,
April, 1970), p. 37.. .

68

where the actual cause was.23 However, Walker seems to be illustrat-

ing very real aspects of the ”master-slave psychosis and self-
hatred. "2“ One critic said, "Pilps don't have to be negative,“25
yet nest of then are , and Black predators in the Black coununity need
to be controlled and elininated as well as the while, for there is
little real difference .

In tens of self-knowledge, Walker deals with a very real and
prevalent problen through the character of Gussic. Since slavery
my Blacks have allowed their psyches to be unipulsted by foolish
class definitions, such as "house nigger," and "field nigger.“ In
last of Jordan, the terrible despair, and ugly results of lack or loss
of identity are illustrated. The most positive collective inges are
represented in the characters of Charlie and Ella Knight. Although
Charlie is still victiaised by self-limitations, Illa Knight is a
positive portrayal of a strong and graceful Black wonn.

Hr. Walker is a very skilled and perceptive playwright. He
is quietly producing a substantial body of work, defining aspects of
the Black experience. He has led difficulty getting his work pro-
duced, and is not in vogue as a Black playwright at the present tin.
But that does not detract fronthe factthatEvanWalker is one ofthe

very skilled Black playwrights working today.

 

23mm.
2m, p. “1-

25home, ”Review last of Jordan,” p. 37.

CHAPTER III

WHO'S GOT HIS OWN BY RONALD MILNER

 

Who's Got His Own was initially presented as a rehearsal reading

 

on OctOber 17, 1965 at the American Place Theater in New YOrk, directed

by Woodie King, Jr. The following season in the fall of 1966, it pre-
ndered at the American Place Theater under the direction of Lloyd Richards.
During 1967 Who's Got His Own was produced twice: as a touring show for
the new Ybrk State Council on the Arts, and its Harlem debut at the new
Lafayette theater, under the direction of Robert Macbeth.

Since 1967, Who's Got His Own has been produced in many of the
young Black theaters in.America, in the community and on college campuses.
In 1972 it was published in an anthology, edited by Woodie King and Ron
Milner.

The title Who's Got His Own was taken from a tune that Billie
Holliday wrote and sang in the fifties. This song has a deep personal
leaning for Ron.Milner, as it does for many Blacks, and while it does not
derive from.the play internally in the usual sense, it's mood and theme
are directly applicable.

The following words are those set to the tune of "God Bless the
Child" as written and sung‘by 'Ledy Day,‘ one of the greatest Blues and

Jazz interpreters:

69

70

GOD BLESS THE CHILD

Them that's got shall get Mama may have

Them that's not shall lose Papa may have

So the Bible says But God bless the child
And it still is news That's got his own

That's got his own.
tha may have

Papa may have Mama may have

But God bless the child Papa may have

That's got his own But God bless the child
That's got his own. That's got his own

That's get his own.
Yes the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade He Just don't worry
Empty pockets don't bout nothin'
Ever make the grade. 1
Cause he's got his own.
Mama may have
Papa may have
But God.bless the child
That's get his own
That's got his own.

Money, you got lots of friends

Crowding round the door

When you're gone

And spending ends

They don't come no more.

Rich relations give

Crusts of bread and such

Yen can help yourself

But don't take too much.

Who's Got His Own received its premiere production at an Off-
Broadway theater in an integrationist setting. The maJor new York
Drama Critics disliked this play so intensely in their reviews that it
brought many Black artists and writers to Milner's defense. These
artists publicly stated their feeling that white critics are unable to
understand.B1ack plays or that they enjoy as writer Clifford Mason

2
phrased it, "the killing of negro plays." "The white theater

 

LBillie Holiday Story (Decca DXB 161).

2Clifford Mason, "The Killing of Negro Plays," Weekly Voice
October 27, 1966, p. 2.

71

establishment roasted Who's Got His Own and did succeed in preventing
a move to a pemnent house (the usual procedure for the American
Place Theater)."3 It is the contention of Black critics that the
play "does attend skillfully the sociological causes of conflict with-
in the [Black] family. ""

Mr. Milner began his writing career as a novelist, but developed
an interest in theater through the encouragement of Woodie King, Jr.,
with whom he founded the Concept-East Theater in Detroit, Michigan,
one of the earliest of the new Black theaters. Who's Got His Own is
Ron Milner's first full-length play. It was carefully constructed over
a period of two years from an earlier one act play, entitled Life A ,
written in 1963.

The direction of Milner's work has made him a major voice in the
forum devoted to developing concepts of what Black theater is and will
become. In 1968 Milner expressed his perspectives as follows:

By a new Black theater I wself mean the ritualized
reflection and proJection of a unique and particular
conditioning of Black people, leasing time on this
planet controlled by white men; and having something
to do with breaking the 'leasing syndronfl A theater
surging from artists who realize that, for Black people
of this world, and specifically this country, every
quote 'universal' malady, dilemma, desire, wonder, is,
by the heat of the pressure of white racism, compounded
and enlarged, agitated and aggravated, accented and
distilled to mks the omni-suffusing, grinding sense

of being we once called the blues, but now we Just tem
Blackness. From this peculiar and particular extra-
dimension of being of experiences, of congitioning will
come the kind of theater I'm looking for.

 

3Mitchell, Black Drama, p. 22h.

hHarrison, Paul Carter, the Dram of Home (New York: Grove Press,
1972), p. 26.

5Ronn1d Milner, "Black Theater-Go Home" in Negro Digest, XVII,
No. 6 (April, 1968), 5.

 

72

In July of 1969 Mr. Milner enlarged and expanded his defini-
tion of Black theater:

Theater is like an essay or a poem that is personified.

It moves, it dances, it talks. You can see the message
and become personally identified with a thought that

walks, that drinks water, that sits down. You immediately
become involved in a way that you can't with cold paper.
Especially people that don't have a strong literary tradi-
tion. Ours is an oral tradition. When we came here, we
were miseducated, purposefully miseducated, and don't read
as a group. Theater talks in a way that nothing else does,
or even better than electronic things, than film or record-
ings. Because we see and immediately identify with that
person that moves, even if the words should go beyond your
head. . . . Theater gives you that whole human personalness
that no other art fomm gives. That makeséit something
that nothing else can be for Black people.

Expressing his goals for the Black Theater, Milner said:

I want to involve the community. I think the first theater
was in the dancing that came around the campfire. It was
in the center of the village. It was the first school,
the first religious and political training. All the myths
were handed down from that theater, and it was total theater.
What Brecht talks about, we started with: Total Theater.
You sing it, dance it, talk it and costume it; do it all

in one bag. . . . Spiritually too, and it's all one type of
entity. Now the West started splitting things down into
categories. They made the religious thing a bag for once
a week, and they put your mental thing on a shelf called
intelligentsia and only special people could get it, and

it would come down through television, and all you had to
deal with was the physical thing. Actually the mental,
physical and spiritual that's the Trinity, but they split
that . . . and tell you what you should think. .As for
spirituality, they don't really try to live by it, that's
for once a week, and it has nothing to do with their real
life. .As an artist you're not supposed to have anything
to do with believing in God. Then when you split a man
from himself, you can easily split him.from his brother.
.And this is what the Black theater is, I'm thinking of:

It can unify, to bring back a sense of wholeness to a
people, a person, a community--spiritual, mental, physical,
political and educational and entertainment. All these
would.be brought back together. It would come back to

the whole idea, with the part as a function. The theater
would also be a school. . . . The Black theater must become
a functional part of the community.7

 

6Milner, personal interview.
7Ibid.

73

Who's Got His Own was written four years before the ideology

 

expressed in these writings and interviews; nevertheless, it still re-
flects his concern for these ideas.

Because it has only three characters, Who's Got His Own appears
deceptively simple. Actually it is a very complex play dealing with
the prdblems of self-hate and alienation in a Black family. Perhaps
this surface simplicity is what cause Lofton Mitchell to say, "Without
impugning Mr. Milner's intelligence, it takes no genius to see that he
was saying nothing has changed in terms of the Black experience."8
Hewever, Mr. Mitchell's statement barely skims the surface of Milner's
intricate and hard-driving play that is aimed right at the heart of
Blackness.

Who's Got His Own is set in Detroit, Michigan, although it
could be any other urban environment. The time of the play is
described as the continuing past, during the fifties and sixties.

The language of the play would seem to indicate that it is set slightly

later in time than either East of Jordan or In the Wine Time.

 

The action of the play takes place in the Bronson home after
the funeral of Tim Bronson Sr. Mrs. Bronson and her daughter, Clara,
accompanied by her Baptist Preacher and two Deacons, return home from
the funeral and the burial to find that Tim.Bronson Jr. has sent all
the grieving friends home, and is restlessly waiting for his mother and
sister to arrive in order to begin his own services for his dead father.

Time Jr. has spent most of his life hating his father and so

he refuses to glorify or respect him in death. He believes that his

 

8Mitchell, Black Drama, p. 22%.

7n

father's brutality destroyed their family. And Tim Jr. is disgusted
with the hypocrisy of those people that knew Tim Sr. and now gloss over
his faults. So he embarrasses the Deacons into leaving by initiating
a family confrontation that he hopes will bury his father finally, with
truth, rather than prayers, and that will reclaim his living mother and
sister.

After accusing his mother of not knowing or understanding either
of her children, Time forces his sister Clara to shed her pretenses.

Tim knows that Clara has imprisoned herself at home for two years since
her involvement with a white boy that ended with a near-fatal abortion.
In a very emotional scene he forces Clara to tell her mother about her
affair that ended abruptly in ugliness. Tim.follows by describing the
essence of his hatred for his father, based on his discovery that while
his father was a tyrant at home, he was meek and subservient in the
white world.

Mrs. Bronson tells her son that he is not a man yet or he would
not try to destroy her and his sister. Tim.leaves the house and goes
to find his own white friend, Al de Leo, to tell him about his prdblems.
When.Al de Leo responds without concern, Tim.Jr. attacks him.and beats
him.until he is unconscious.

Believing he has killed de Leo, Tim returns home to straighten
out the upheaval he created, before making plans to escape. By the
time he arrives home, his mother and sister‘have accepted some of the
truth in what Tim.said earlier and they force him to admit his own brutal
assault on de Leo. Tim Jr. describes the emotions that drove him near

the point of murder; and his mother reveals that Tim.Sr. was not a 'Tom'

75

butwasvsry-Ichlikehisson. Mrs. Bronsontriestoexplainthe
achanism that turned Tim 8r.'s violence inward toward himself and his
family as a result of witnessing the violent nuder of his own father
bywhitss, whsnhswasachildintheSouth.

FinallyClara discovers thatAldeIeo is not dead, andllrs.
Bronson plans to visit him to ask him not to press charges apinst her
son. As the pdayends Tier. has not resolved his attackonAlsnd
seems to wish he had been successful in order to break the cycle.

Ron Milner portrays a Black family that has been destroyed by
racism, reprdless of the various types of hunn reactions they exhibit.
Although the father is dead and now a part of the past, his spirit en-
tirely pervades the atmosphere of the play. In fact, “Rarely has a
dead man spoken so eloquently of his life, or had its intricate desip
articulated for him within the context of a play. "9

Thsstrugglstosurviveandtheshillshlackpeoplensedto
live are primary concerns of Who's Got His Own. Milner usterfully
captures the essence of Black survival, particularly on the psychic
level. Instinctively and violently Tim Jr. tries to wrestle back con-
trolofhisownlifeandthatofhismotherandsisterwhoarenowina
state of limbo.

In Who's Got His Own the dra-tist does not enact the events
that have shaped the Bronson family, instead the characters tell their
stories. As Clayton Riley said, "Ron's plays are always filled with
exposition. Is gives large patches of dialogue to characters that tell

 

306 9Clayton an”, ”On Black Theater,” in the Black Aesthetic,
pa s

76

about something that happened soaewhere else, which is a dangerous device
touse. Inanyvismlnediuasuchastheaterthings shouldbe repre-
sented rather thn told. Most of Who's Got His Own is composed of an
explanation or a clarification of events that have taken place prior to
the play or somewhere else. Because Ron writes so well he can at away
with it, while a lot of playwrights can't."10

lilner is very deliberate in selecting this approach to his ute-
rial and as Clayton Riley suggests, because of his skill with langmge
and structure, he is successful in using it to achieve his ends. Of
this style, lilner said, ”I still want to do who's Got Bis Own without
actingthingsout. Becauseoneoftheideas isthatthepeoplearein
linbo. they cannot have a present because they don't understand the
pastandoannotmveintothefuture. Mcan'tdoanythingbutfigure
out where they are."u

auntie concerns are Inch nore significant in Milner's play than
any other aspect; for enaple, spectacle is not an iaportant consideration
at all. Character delineation is vital to the dra-tic nterial pre-
sented, but because of the psychological sociological nature of the play,
while llilner's three mm are finely and carefully developed,
they can easily be identified and abstracted.

'rhe fora and structure of who's Got His Own receives added sig-
nificance, because of the intensely high-pitched and colpressed emotions
unleashedintheplay. Thesearecontainedintherhythnsendteapo
which are inseparable fron the content. On my levels the structure of

 

lo(:layton Riley, personal interview.
nRon Iilner, personal interview.

77

who's Got [is Own is comparable to the lard-driving Jazz form, the urban
Black nusic of John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins.

Ir. Iilner's success in using the innovation of an internal and
external mic structure has considerable significance for the develop-
aent of Black Theater. Poet-Critic Larry leal says, ”It is here that
any discussion of the Black lsthetic met begin. Because Black msic
in all its fans, represents the highest artistic achieve-ents of the
race. It is the unoryofAfrica thatwehearinthe churningenergy.'12
While several young Black poets have been very effective building their
nterial from a maical basis (meet nah-en, rue-u Baraha, and the 01-151-
nal Last Poets have done exceptional work with this connection). Ron
Iilnerhasetructuredhis entireplayonthat source. lethinhsofhim-
self as a meioian, and is interested in creating the sen i-ediate con-
tact between actors and audiences tht exists between Black micians
and audiences.

the Jam13 ausician's impact sweeps the audience in a conpelling
exchange. the more soulful or beautiful, funhr or truthful his state-
aent, the more his audience responds following his rhyths and changes
by noving or shouting encouragennt. Jazz is an attitude, it is feel-
ing, and it is about truth and meaning. And the urban Black micians
rely to a great extent on the closeness of vocal reference that has al-
ways been characteristic of Black American ausic, as it is in traditional

African music (the talking druns). “Players like Ornette Coleman, John

 

12”“, Larry. ”Any ney low: Black Art and Liberation," 295:,
August, 1959: Po 55.

‘ 13w Black nusicians obJect to the use of the label '3aaz"--as
a European label and a lever to separate the various kinds of Black nusic
that actually come fron the sane source.

78

Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins literally screen and rant on initation of
the human voices, sounding Inny times like unfettered prinitive
shouters. '1‘.

he traditional African nusic fora of the call and response
which was used here in the work song later blended easily into Black
instrunental msic and now lends itself easily to Milner's writing style.
Ililner seens to have devised Who's Got His Own according to an ensenble
pattern, using solos and riffs, or repeated phrases, as important tech-
niques. Mr. lilner indicated that this fora cane from the nterial
naturally, and in the following selections free the play this approach is
very evident.

rm

. . . I waited for soaething--anything--to cone and fill
this--this--dead enpty shell, that used to be the hard

knot of u hate for hin. (solo break)
2'!) “A00.

What're you saying boy! ' (riff)
131' DRAG“

Lord. Jesus forgive hin.
m

(loaning) ri- Jr. -- ‘fin Jr. --
m

(with an nlaost vindictive resolution to say it)

I tried, name. I waited. I--but then I saw the (solo break)
truth: The truth, has. 'fhat for as long as I

can renenber, I'd felt only one thing when he was

gone, he was outta' this house--a sense of relief,

Inna: A sigh of re--

 

lhle Roi Jones, Blues Pegflg (lew fork: Hillier Nor-row, 1963),
Po 227-

79

CLARA

Who asked you how you feel}! -- (change)
18! D‘ACOI

lush, boy: (riff)
m

Where's your respect, boy:
2lD DIACOI
hspect the dead, boy:
noun

(lyes closed rockingtoandfro, shakinghead
pleintively.) Lord, touch his heart. ranch
his heart.

III
Did you really expect me to feel different because
he's gone for good now, than? Did you expect as (solo break)
to con: back here after four years, screaming and
crying for hia. Did you, Inn? Well, I'n cry-
ing, It... Crying. Because I can't find any
tears for a father I've cursed all u life:
mun

(Rocking, loaning) Put forgiveness in him, Lord: (riff)
Put forgiveness in hie:

CLARA
(Bitterly) Well why did you cone to the funeral,

then: thareyouherenow: Justgoonand15
leaveusalone. Gobackwhere youcanefron.

(solo) break)
Jean like most Black Anerican nusic has always been a con-inal
collective state-ant, but within this enseable there is roon for personal,

individual expression. he following examle froa Act II illustrates the

 

15none1d lilner, who'e Got his Own in Black Dre-e Anthol
edited by woodie ring, JrWflew' Work: a gust, ff 1). 96.

l \‘l h

80

ensemble technique and also Milner’s decision to integrate the church
and secular for-s. he use of the short repeated phrases is very effec-
tive.

mm

(Standing. A pitying tone.) Clara, you sound
like a co-on street hussy. Just a canon hussy.

CLARA
Hunh. lo. lo, hm, I wasn't cm at all.
I felt special, unique, inieitebre: Until--(8tares,
snirks)--until that night I opened w eyes in the
notel and saw his look--
fill
(To Mother) will you listen to her?! (Going a
step or two toward Clare) heifer: his is your
aother sitting here: what the hell're you trying":
Uhatta you think you're"?
CLARA
(staring at hie through his outburst, seeing her
eenory)-- And saw hia looking at unlike-dike I
was something he coughed up and spit out. (Pauees)
mm
(Taking an instinctive step toward her) whet baby»?
CLARA
Disgusted: I saw disgust lying there with no on that--
that notel bed and I felt low down then, m. I felt
co-on then. (Stops; stares)
an
(After a eonent) uni-huh. And I'll bet you Just
couldn't understand it at all, could you. Yeti--
(Turning away with an irritation that night be enpatw.)
mm

(Watching Clara carefully) Just be quiet, 21- Jr.
lush now.

1e

81

CLARA

Oh, I understood it i-ediately, and it's not what you--
at least I didn't think it had anything to do with--

with anything between us. But there it was looking at
as: disgust, disguig and hate (still incredulous, shocked)
Ies, hate: Etc:

Ron Hilner explained and clarified the fore of who's Got His Own
shown in the preceding selections:

Ihadawhole sense of style goingwhere itwaslihea

Jazz piece. I started the ensemble, then I opened it up
with a solo, then the ensenble again and back to a solo.

In nost of the third act that worked, but in the second

act it became one long, long, long solo and I never really
controlled it the way I wanted to. . . . You see each solo
is a different instrument. Like the solo in the first

act is basically I‘in Jr. and people brushing in on hie

fon the ensemble imposing upon hia. In the second act,
Clara gives her violins or whatever it is: the whole crappy,
pop nursic she tries to reach; Inn's got this whole church,
Baptist Spiritual sense. In the third act I have a solo,
bythe sax, IinJr. assoonasthatclearsthenlbaacomes
in with the spiritiurl thing and there are two solos in the17
third act. That doesn't really happen at any other tine.

Ir. Milner's conception of each ne‘er of the Bronson family
representing a kind of nusic, a type of Black experience, further de-
lineates and enriches Who's Got Bis Own. As in Jazz these various
streams of feeling coabine together into Iilner's whole state-ant. On
one level this is indicatedbythe internal rhythmand cadences of
their respective styles of speech. For axe-ple, fin Jr.'s speech has
a quality of 'hipness' that cones froa his experiences outside of the
fa-ily in the streets; and it is his usage that indicates that Who's Got
[is On: is set later in tin than either East of Jordan or In the Wins

fine, as expressions like 'heifer,’ 'whitey,‘ 'groovy,’ and 'hip' were

 

15mm, who's Got Bis OwnJ pp. 119-120.
J"runner, personal interview.

82

popular in Black usage in the middle fifties. lather Bronson's speech
is very traditional and both her reference and her approach indicate her
ties with her religion, or as lilner called it, ”her Baptist Spiritual
thing." Clara Bronson's language is the least rich and probably the
least Black, and is consciously diluted to show her exposure to the white
world. (”that pop thing Clara tries to reach”)

Milner's use of the language within this franwork is very dynanic.
fhere is distinct artistry in the driving usage of Blues-oriented rhyth-
nic langmge to state couplex thoughts in a simple and direct Inner.
Bis i‘gery is strong and vivid and poetic. Bar is Milner's language
without ironic huaor: ”After all a feast celebrating the fact that you
ain't the one deed, is cool, no netter what the address, Right?“18 And
frequently it reflects the homespun wisdon col-Ion in Black American
speech habits: ”low you can't lay in ambush for yesterday; it ain't ever
comingdowuthis roadagain. It'sgone itswayandyoulnve togo
yours.”19

Ihe fluidity of Miller's languge asplifies the characters and
fully expresses the nuances of the situation, and lilner has brougrt a
great depth of understanding to his characterizations. Hrs. Bronson,
for exaqple, is a aatriarchal figure or what Hilner would call a "fenale
sustainer," and she is drawn with sensitivity. Iilner goes beneath her
caln, protective strength and pulls out the "terror that is beneath her
anguish, and forces understanding of why she would accept the brutality
of her husband, and what that recomition mist have done to her at

 

J’alllner, Who's Got His Own, p. 132.
191b1de, Pa lhhe

83

eighteen years of age: to be able to accept her role as the only leans
of saving fin 8r."20 Iaplicit in the character of Mother Bronson is

the role the Black Baptist Church has played in the survivalof Black

people.

Clara Bronson is also drawn with compassion. nilner has achieved
a brilliant analysis of a young wonn struggling with a paralyzing self-
hate, and a M desire to escape everything Black. He describes her
as having been sucked into the white world, leaving her fanily, her church,
her 'roots.' While Iilner describes these events, the characters and
situations are very real and vividly traced, so that the narrative por-
tions of the play do much to enhance the drantic value.

Clara' a relationship with the white youth, Wreyford Louis fildon
is, as Clayton Riley said, "handled very well, with no condemnation; and
not from the playwright's point of view,”21 but fron hie understanding of
Black people. Milner further indicates his perception by suggesting that
Clara was cared for by white lesbians after the failure of her affair.
Clara's character is drawn in a distinct arc, while Milner portrays her
progress further and further away fron herself, and her heritage, he
also allows Clara the position of achieving the nest growth within the
Ploy.

he catalyst for the action of the play is Tim Jr. Bis hatred
of his father has been consuning hin actively and consciously; he was
forced to confront it, while Clare ettenpted to escape, failed end re-
turned to her nother's solace. fin Jr. instinctively understands the

 

20ling, personal interview.
21Riley, persoml interview.

8h

state of linbo his fanily is in, and is deteIeined to bring their situa-
tion from under its wraps at whatever price.

fin Jr. exenplifies the Blackness of Who's Got His Own, ”Be is
youngbut veryold ininsightendthoughtandwayoftacklingproblen.
his whole very early break with his faaily and staying soaewhere else,
and going to school. But yet looking back at his family, trying to be
independent, but not being independent, knowing his white friend is not
his friend, but wishing he was. he's a whole series of coaplexities.
he knows his sister is not as true or holy as she appears, because no
Black person who really deals with the systen can be sheltered."22

As a result of fin's confrontation, Clara is forced to exanine
herself, and Mrs. Bronson is .de to see her fanily for the first tin.
fin, hisself, reacts inpulsively, as when he assaults de Leo. his
instinctive attack causes the aother to reveal important inforsation she
has withheld froa her children, concerning their father's past. At this
point llrs. Bronson acknowledges the failure of her nethod of acco-oda-
tion. She has preferred to pretend that their life situation was nor-
nl, because it was her neans of protecting her sanity and her family.
her final recognition admits that this approach failed to bring her
children up healthily (an approach cow-non to the Black niddle class).
lira. Bronson's attitudes are not revealed until she is shocked by Clara's
revelation.

fin Jr. does not have the capacity for perspective on his own

attitudes, because he does not have a fraae of reference for his father's

 

z"’zling, personal interview.

85

behavior. He overlooks the fact that his father never left the faaily,
which rahes his assume larger proportions. "his nan's humity is con-
tinually explored as a way of saying to Blacks, if you have a father,
grandfather, uncle, if he was anything lihe this, or if you thought ill
of him for any reason, here is a possible explanation. And I think
that takes Ron's work out of the reels of Just being a play or even a
sociological tract and into the area of being fantastically huran and
instructive."23 when he Jr. finally unearths the inforeetion he de-
sires, it causes hin to conclude at the end of the play that nothing he
clunged in terms of the conditions Blacks are forced to endure.

It is interesting that both the father and nother thought they
were preparing their children with sufficient skill to exist in an alien
clinte: the father by nking than strong and the nether by feigning
ignorance. leither nethod worked . . . the children rust find out for
the-selves and forge their own tools:

line may have

Papa say have

But God bless the child

that's got his ownah

That's got his own

“he nJor thene of who's Got His Own is that one sust understand
andexaninethepasttonoveintothepresentandfuture, andthis is
also its nessags to Black people. But there are any levels on which
the play can be understood and interpreted. As Mr. lilner suggested:
"One ofthelevelsoftheplayisthatthefatheristhedeadpastand

there are three reactions to it, one nationalistic, one escapist to the

 

23mm.

“Lure: no 7o.

86

right, and the nother who accepts. It has been suggested to ae that
these are three psychic reactions to the Black thing."25

It is evident that Mr. lilner presented meaningful and rele-
vant nterial for a serious self-analytical dialogue among Black
people, treating in the process the problems of Black fanily life,
relationships between Black sen and women, and the problems of Black
youth suffering identity crises, because they do not have the inges
they need to exist nor the intonation to gain perspective-

Finally, another interpretive layer is suggested by the follow-
1118 III”:

One of the most profound reactions I've had to who's Got

His Own cane froaanAfricanbrotherwhotoldae Iwas

dealing with sons of the ancestor concepts of African re-

ligion--where the father returns in the son, nother in

the daughter. One of the reasons why children get so

much respect (in Africa) is that they say the grandfather

has returned in the child . . . so you get your respect

because the grandfather's spirit is alive. And 'l'in Jr.

carrying the father's spirit and wanting to retaliate for

what the whites did to his father and grandfather is a

whole religious concept. He said I almost had it per-

fectly and I led never heard or read that. I had done

it alnost inpulsively, trying to get the sense of--you

willpaynowforwhtyouhavedonetolyfather, and

what you are now doing to 1:33.25

Hilner examines very difficult problens that are conon among
Black people, and he does this in a manner that is incisive and innova-
tive. Who's Got His Own is an important play, because of its in-depth
exploration of the psychic results of racisn. Milner has also opened
stylistic directions for other Black artists to explore and he is a very

sensitive writer at work expressing the Black experience in Aaerica.

 

251dlner, personal interview.

25mm.

MTV
nmwmrmsrmswuns

IltheWinefimprderadatthslowI-afayettsmmin
Barluenbecuber 17, I968. hispreductionopenedthesecmd
seasmandwasthefirstplqproducedinafullyequippedandbeau-
tiful theater at 137th Street and Seventh Avenue.

IntheWineIinewaspublishedlatein19691nananthology
entitledmorthenleeh neeeter, editedbyltr.Bullins.

BdBulJJnsbeganhiswritingeareerasanessayistmdnovel-V
ist. nisfactisakeytetheshapeofBullins'wor-k,becausehe
seeastohave naintainedhisnovelist's pointofview, whichgives his
work any narrative characteristics.

InthefinsflmisthsfirstdeaoyclethatBuJJJnsis
writing about Black life in Mica, "that starts in the lid-part of
thetwentiethcenturyandgoesforwardintineandbackintine. I
plantolnvetwentyplminthecycle. Itwilldealnostlywiththe
latter half with use things about the earlier period.“l

Inthieeontatwinerineuieteliretheriretchepterore
novelthatcontinuesinthesecend chapter, Goin' aBuffalo; third,
Inlevnngmdwinter; fourth, beluplex; fifth, rheCerner. Inl972

 

1rd Bullins, personal interview.

87

88

thesefirstfivehave allbeenproducedandintheaBuJJJns is trac-
ingafamilyunit, agroup, amitythroughits transitionsin
tine, andhe hasbeen very successful.
herearecertainearlykeystelr. Bullins' philosophywhich
appearedintheiest coastliterary Journal, Contact inl963:

Negroes have been burning for a new identity in let-
ters for years; perhaps unknowingly this desired inage
is a sore secular and universal identity. Negroes
nest of all, splinter in thinking of their national
worth, role and identity, but only the activity of a
passive minority are getting belated recognition by
theaassudia. . . . fherecanbenonewferneef
widely broadcast legro ideas in Anerica, until the
legro hisself realizes that he lust break out of the
Blackest ghetto of all, the stereotyped 'legro' aind.
neBlackwritersmstrealize this above allelse.
With such fragnented and isolated areas in the whole
of legritude , it is unfortunate that the Black writer
is not creatively weaving these shreds into a con-
prehensible cloak which can be worn or identified by
all Black people, instead of addresng the upty state-
nents of yesterday in loud and flashy outfits, manu-
factured in co-ercial, mass produced lots. And
finally. . .theseriouswritershouldfirstseek
honesty with hiaself, concerning his work, he rust
honestly consider what he wishes to lake of his writ-
ing--art er facile craftsnanship for agney, recognitim,

glaaeur, orproeelytising foracaase.
Vhiletheseststenentswerewrittenabouttenyearsago,“

Bulliaswasadmittedlyanangryyoungwriter,theyindieateania-

pertsutfacetefhiswork. Bullinsssyshewishesteenalttheworth
aadvalneefBlackpeepleandtheirlifestyle. Beweavesshredsef
neloryandenerienceintoanewentity. lr.Bullinssaysheaeant
Binefinetobeaspiritualexperience.8incetheus-bleofartists
atthelew Iafwette haveaunity, acollective spiritoftheir own,

 

23d Bullins, 'rhe Polished rroteet: Aesthetics and the Black
Anerican Writer," in Contact Engine, Iv, lo. 1 (July, 1963), 67.

89

this sense of cannity in the coapany effectively coincides with the
iapulseodeBullins'wed-k.
Intheiinefinecapturessueoftheessenceofco-unity
life in aBlackurban ghetto, specifically South l'hiladelphia, in the
early fifties. It begins with an interesting and well-written prose
preleguethatestablishesthenoodandcircuestancesoftheplay. It
proJectsanincideatiathegrowthofayoungboy,Bey,intonanhood
andswggeststhatwhatisabouttounfoldisnothersequenceinan
uneMingseriesof'winetines.' neprologuehasaveryslowdrift-
ing bittersweet quality thet explores Bay's feelings and establishes
hinasthecentralcharacter.
Itisdifficulttodiscussiinefiaeinterasefplot. Ir.
Bullinshassaid, "Iaanotaplotperson. Idm'tcareaboutplot.
IfIcan,Iliketorevealthings~throughcheracter,butIden'tthink
about it. IJustu'iteanditflowsandIaccept thet."3 rhie
stat-eat provides insightintolr. BulJJns'appreaehtohis werk, but
thekeytehiscmstructionwassaggestedbyioodiennng. "ld's
gotthttdescriptivethingoftinsandplace. Like situatial,ldtold
nonu,asvesthroughtiaeudplaoe,andyoufellewyourthread,aad
you'vegottohave theater. Iou can't niss. . . ."k
fhesituatieniniliaefinetakesplaoeonasultryeveningin
lateAugustinasnallstreetinSouthPhiladelphia. Cliffnswson,
hiswifeIouandhernephewRay,wholiveswiththem,aresittingon

 

3Bullins, personal interview.
l'Iing, personal interview.

9O

thestooptryingtoescapetheheatenddrinkingwine. lsy'sgirl
friemd, Bunny Gillette goes up on the "Avenue” and neets another
fellow. fine passes and Bay continues drinking. Bunny returns and
tellsBeythatsheisnolonger his girl, but Red's. Beyhits Bunny;
ledattacksneyandpullsaknifealhin. Intheemsuingstruggle
led iskilled by Ray, but Cliff Dawson steps in and takes the blue
inerderteprotectixyandinsurehisfuture.

mus,‘thesituationwhenstrippedofitsluersappearsvery
siaple. “If you'vegottwopeoplewhedislikeeachother, Justaoving
throughtlleandplacesusthingisboundtohtppen. LikeRedand
Bu,soaethinghadtohappenbecausethegirlwastoostrongaforce
inlay'slife. Itwasiapessibleforhintohavenotletanything
W35

Ontopofthis skeletal fraaework, Bullins has sketchedin
theenvironnent. fheplqtakesplacearoundl950andtheteneand
style are reainiscent of that period when mum and Blues were very
popular. Bulldnshasfocusedonasaallmityoftheera,“
has constructed characters and a situation that are recooiizable.

Bullinsdefineshislsdorcharactersoerefullyandhehasthe
gift of selecting what seen to be insignificant details of the Black
life-style andmaking themaeaningful. AsBullins said of his own
work, 'Iaaasreofa'shewer.’ AndIdon'tknowifyoucansunup

.6

everything that is shown by senething that is said. herefore,

 

5mi-

5snnine, pereonel interview.

91

mchoftherenlityofIntheWine‘rine-zsttekephceinthesoulof
thesudience. .

Bullins is especielly concerned with the relstieeship between
cliffsndlmnmenendley. Bsy,ofcourse, isnotthebmon's
childbutthesenoflm’sdeedsister. Thisiseotsnuncuen
occurrence seen; Blsck tenilies where circa-stances often prevent con-
sistent (any life end children ere sent te live with reletiwes.
Superficielly, Mwsmuhesnoutsiderinthisreletionship,
butIanendClifftrytotreethlikeem,sndtheydolovehil,
elthoughtheyergueoverhi-sndwithhin. InesenseI-onendClitt
hettleforcentreloverlsy,eechtryingtobethestrengerinflnence.

lullins' writing frequently deels with felines, es the besis
«society. Asheupressed it, ”the cycledeslswithenufierof
fenilies thet ere interrelsted. It's the tsbric otthst society end
hewthepeopledisperseendhowthwymgle. Mtrecingthe
wastelanlnewlcoeldencqessslotefterritoryf.’

niece-mitylntheWine'rinehessgreetinortsncein‘esteb-
lishingthelood,noressndstlosphere. magnum-north.
differentfereesendstreteeperstingintheneighberhood. Andhe
muomomnwm.

mwmmummmttmmm
livedennerbystreeteslengessmeoftheirotherneighbors. And
thst their presence is net epprecistedbylliss linnie Gerrison, who
livesnutdoorhhe murmur]. Kiss linnie is elweys

 

True.

92

neddling and. selda seen. She is represented as s cross voice who
sl—sdeorssndbangswindowsinanefforttokeeporder. While
limie isestecktype, thechsracterishendleddraleticellyandis
entertaining. ”What Id known very well--e stock cheracter, if she's
talking, doesnothsvetohe seen, seyoecenputherhehindsscreen
deer or upstairs. Instinctively, Id knows theelmr.“8 liss linnie
ssnctinenionslyhoksdonenthebewsenssslowlifeandrepresents
theinternalelessomflictinthehlnckco-unity.

antheothersideefthenmons livethelrolps, epoerwhite
f-ily. In the lev hfuette production they were off-stage voices.
heyareleedandlr. Irmceeeshaedrunkeverynight, withlay's
help. he traps ere generally eccepted ad ignored, end slweys
eddressedeslr. andlrs.

rheBlaek residents-oftheberbyStreetaresu'esclosely
knitgreup. lveryenehewseverymeelse'shusinessandsllnove
freely around one mother's hues. A‘fevorite pestile mg the
residents, a... with drinking wine, is 'signifying,"e(elso celled
'sounding' er 'am') which is the "Africsn inherited an of being
able to get into the ..m of have heme," (verhel 'me-lplllen-
my)?

Although the pm is mew, lost of the alphesis is placed
on Cliff newsen. While Cliff does not wee-k, he sttends school on the
6.1. Bill end is not setisfied with his present life style. He spent

 

5mg, personal interview.

9!. Oweno, "tht wes your sleve nane?” in Village Voice,
August 17, 19,2, p. 2“.

93

nanyyearsinthelsvyleedingwhstherecallsassnexciting,raantic
anddangerouslife. nus, settling intotheDerby Street routine,
wherenothingse-stochsnge,isverystiflingforhin. Hemdlou
ereebeuttohd‘etheirfirstchildendheispleeeed,elthonghhe
weedershowheisgoingtosuppertanetherlife.

Cliffisestrengnan. Heisvery'worldly'andelsohes
.plantyof'nothenit.’ neisfondofkwandlikestopracticehis
fether-role‘oyinstructing lay. ledoesn't likeI-euandliss Itinnie
tetelllayehettedo. ,cliffseutotreethouroughly,hntst
thesuetineheisgentleendloving. the-creeliffdrinks,the
nerehesweersandthenoresarcesticheheceees,whiehisssourceof
irritstientoI-ou.

lutCliffhsssninitielewaranessofthecontutoflifeon
Derbydtreetthettheothersdonothsve. Iehasenonologueinwhich
hescornstheseBlnckswhohelieveinswhiteGod. Itissverycut-
ting speech thet mum» Lou's beliefs:

licenightwehsvin' outhereonourwen-scruhbed
steps...withellGod'swhitestarsshinin'ahove
your Blech hoods. Ain't thet right, Lord? Iouold
stwster. You pour white best on these niggers, these
DerbyStreetDonkeys,inthedqtileandroastandfry
thenwhiletheyshovelshitnexttonuthin'sndstean
thenstnightlihebighlecklebsters...hshs...
thexrulpssrelittleredlohstersofyourn...“
theyJustdrinkandscrewinthederhandlistante
Jive talk an' Jive lusic an' Jive holy Iusic. . .hut
theystinhevetofeceyeuinthenornin'. net's
right, fsce you,youJive ess sucker! Iheydon't
hnewtheyein't got to feceyourjive,hotb1nzin' face
...sinpleniggere...buttheydo'cmsetheyhe-
lieveinywousndyourlies. amid donkeys: they
enJygottoloohwGodinthefsceonceandforget
you,youjivetinesucher...(reesnberinganold
ache)hs...hs...she's31sehssnightsndss

91+

ascoolandslickesekingsnake. . . . Ies, Lord,
yes, Lord, yes, Lord, Yes Lord, yes, Iord.1° ’

OneofCliff's desiresisforiaytogointo thelevy'to seehow
realnenlive.’ fiebecuesfuriouswhenlwtellshinheislay's
sto-nncleendcannotsignthepwsforkeytoantertheservicest
sixteen. fieslapslau;011ffknewslayhastoescspeberhy8treet
inerdertosurvive.

OLD?

Demit: Demit: Iden'tcerewhethisdeedlother

wants. Whethehellcareswhetthedeedwent! It's

whetkeywants thet counts. He's got to get ontof

here. . .don'tyoukq? Off'sDerbyStreetandeway
froeheresohecangrowuptobehisomnan.

LOU
Like you?
our
lo, notlikene . . . nottieddowntoshelf-grown,
scared childish bitch!
1.00
You don't hsve to he.
CLIP!

Butlloveyou.n

WhenCliffslaps her, I-ouaoeuses Cliffofnotwanting their
hahy,andCliffedIitsthethedidn'twantchildrenuntilhecou1d
effordthen. Besqsthstheisgoisgtonightschool,sohecengo
intebnsinessandearnedeceetliving. Berefusestowerkins

 

10mnmm,Iethewner1se1nnve nannies
53—155!” .

(Indianqolis: nabs-Wm.
11mm, pp. 135-136. '

95

leundryforsdolhrenhour. Cliffvowstoshipoutagsinandlet
Loundthebebygoenrelief,heforehewinsubnittoneo-slsvery.
ClifflikeSanKnightinIastofJ’ea-danwantshisshareoftheworld:

I'ngoingtogetneepartofthstworldandstare

yourGodintheeyeandscreuwhy. Iannote

beest...uanineltebeusedfortheplowsof

themld. DutifIanone,thenI'llectlikeone.

I'llbemeandturnthisfuchin'worldofdreensand

fancy tales intosjungleorsdesert. Andldcn't

givemchofehappyfuckwhich. There'seworldout

therewonen. Justbeyendthstlalppost....J

scross the "Avenue,"sndit'llbe ninesndlay's.
Cliff-sheslouscreaninangerandshetellshinshedoesn'twntley
tobelikehin.

Cliffishothbrotherlyandfstherlytowardney. Been-
courageslqtodrinksndpraises his capacity. lelikes to instrect
leyinweystohsndleweeen,andteeskehouth'syersenallife.
Cliffwcnslaynot'togetstuchononegirl'sltheughheupleins
thstheloveslou,henekeslqpr-isenettoreveeltheseconfidences
tohiseunt. Still-ostofCliff‘stineisspentencouraginglqto
leeveDerhthreetsnddiscovu-therestoftheworld.

fherehtionshiphetweenlayandCliffmfonsIntheflinei'ine.
Whentheplayoens,¢liffanemeseserly,hard-drinkingmwho
beetshiswife,hetgradnanyhedevelopsintosheroicfigureofcon-
sidereble strength. When Cliff sceepts the responsibility for Red's
deeth,itse-ssneturelestensienefhisdesirestoprotecthis
feeinandinsureRq'sfuture.

Iaqumis'inlovewithCIiff. ShewIntstohoMthe

 

12119141.

96

fani]ytogether,andshe'sbea.ringschild. misiswhstshedoes,
it doesn't say whet she's ebout. She hes m... and her world is
disintegreting. 8o. . . she's desperete, anxiety ridden. . . .
She'ssstrongIIu-an.”13
Cliff describes Ion as ewusn ofprinciple. Lou is the
dwghterofspreecherandholdstenaciouslytotheweyshewssbrought
up,andtothewwshewouldlikeherlifetobe. Shegoestoherdob
inthelumdryeverydnandstrugglestokeepherlifeonaneven
keel. Sheisover-protectiveofflayandtriestocontrolhil,ine
wayshecannotcmtrolCliff. lerinstinctsaretoholdherfuily
closetoher.
Conetantly,housrgneswithCliffabouthisdrinhingandswear-
ingandlechofelploylent. SheunderstandssoeethingsaboutCliff,
but wantshintobe different. Although shelovesCliff, she isalso
thinkingebeutthenndoflifeherchildwillheve,andsolmthrows
theinegeofherfetherstCliffssanexalple.
Inthefineflneisprieerilyconcmedwithmnecknan-
chim,1hwhoishalf-boy,hslf-nan. He isintheniddleofthere-
lstiushipbetweenhissnntandunclqthenoresofthestreetsndthe
ere. leisrmnticandinloveforthefirsttile,andetsixteen,
Bayelresdyhescensiderebleerperimce. Ruddnirescnffandwoum
liketeeeuletehinandjointhelsvy,buthealsowantstopleeselau.

He is different tree the other Derby Street boys-"younger and probebly

 

nannies, personal interview.
1"than.

97

nore sensitive, but he has strength and will vie for his girl with
Red. Whenleyischsllenged,hehasnochoice,buttoresnondin
scoordancewiththelewsof the 'street."‘
RayisinlovewithhunnyGillette, his pert-tile girl friend.
Sheissstrengenoughforceinnay'slifetomekehinfightforher
ageinstolderandnoreexperienced boys. Bunnyis hslf-girland
he]:-wuen:thegirlisdrewnto3ey,butthewuenseehsencitenent
uponthe”Avanue"withyoung-enmekedand8ane.
Marthe-inorehersetersthstpeepiethenerhysueetees-
nunityarenotnflJydruncharsoters. Likeliss-Minnie,thebusy-
body,theyarestereotypesandtendtobecliches. Redisvery
antagonistic towardlqand everyone else. He is aggressive and
representstiveofthestreetgangsofthetperiod. Vhihkedthinks
heisenan,heisi-sture. leconstmtlytornentsandehellenges
Ray,andeventunJJyRayrespondsandlediseccidentaJJ.ykilled.
,Bed'ssidenan,3.e,.ectsssefoil,mddoeeesheistold.
the fueles Bullins has drum, withthe exception of Lou, ere
elldistinct tnes, but without such depth. Bestrice is young,
shelteredandreligious. TinyposesesIm'sfriend,bntisreeuy
interestediICliff, andDorisisknife-wieldingandtendstobe crude.
the-est interestingninorcharecterissillywillycmk.
Olarhissreguedrunk,andhesverylittledialegue. Bishuner
potentisl is considereble, and it is unfortunste thet he is notnere
man-lord.
Thelanguageoflntheflinerieeisrichininageryand
rhythmical. ”People an how close the lsnguage is to the reel idiom

98

. . . but it's not. It could he. Anyway it's theetricsl lenguage.
It'sheightenedandldolittlethingsthethsvethelnnguageappeel
to the eers and the senses; it curries the idees she the notion.
IdkeClifflihestoplwwordganesendsoon, andIuseittomove
the pic unfl5

Bullins has e sensitive ear for dialogue, and it is close to
thereslu-got. Hesuggests speechpettems andrmthesandthe
lengusge style of the fifties, end frequently the cherscters slip into
e distorted dialect, which he suggests is a. fsvorite gene:

cm:
(rehe dielect)

Wshl, hen-nee chile. . . . IJusttotellyevhldst

yohusbend isoneobdcconnoisseursofdufleslw

hottentot s which'n yous is so wonderfully in-

vested wit'

Throughout Wine Tine Bullins hes ceptured the effectimete
pluthet isecherecteristicofnlaehlife. ihilethisisusueny
goed-netured, it is allost slam clever and perceptive but it sene-
tines strips bare the person it is directed to:

cm
Ray. . . .Iouhnewhouisslotnheyournother

used to be. Quiet, except thstyournotherusnnuy
memsmlrmmhmnmdmmw

deepedtight.
Bullinsinclndes"thedonens'espertoftheverbalguepleying_12_g
theUine Tine. Inthis instancellsyiscarryinghis drunken neighbor,

 

15Bullins, personal interview.
1W, In the Vine use, p. 122.
17n1de, re 1290

99

llr.Krunpintothehouse,esRedendBaneenterDcrby8treet:

m
hey...ney...1sth1s1upehsh1temender
yours?

' m
levh
am

late the're relsted. [s reference to Boy's nether]

m
(duckling)
Hey, man, cool it. I knowiq dm't play thet.
Do you Rey?
m

(111138 to support Ir. Ire-p)
lewh, hen, flesh.

am
See Ban, Rn don't pm the dozens. You better be
cereful.
3m
amt.18

Bullinsisnet¢1yconcernedwithlanguage,heiselsofully
ewereofcheraeterdifferancescansadbythepeziodoftine,sndhe
iscarefultocmnectthechareeterswiththeela-entssurromdingthen.
his concernnehestheupressiensndfornveryfluidandnetursland
the forceefevents logical. Iherehasbeenseeecriticisnofwhst
hssbeencelledthesenselessendunnecesserydeethsttheendofthe
pm. Ir. Bullins mtedonthis:

 

18mm, 1:. 113.

100

There is e theme of dcsth hovering in In work. It

is indicstive of e culturel thing. The American
culture is very entagonistic to Black people. to
get taken off. I grew up in end eround street gangs.
There were elweys cesualties. I've hsd friends who
died hecsuse they didn't receive proper .nedicel etten-
tion. . . . indIknewegirlwhodiedinsfire, e
vibrant heeltlw girl, becsuse the building she lived
in didn't heve s fire escepe. fliese things occurred

all through s: iire.19

There is e neturel thestrieelity In the Vine fine thet evolves
frm the life style end the fore thet Bullins hes developed. Much
of the plq's humor is visuel end aural: Miss Minnie banging windows,
drunken silly Willy Clark, Doris shouting for hot dogs. And Hut!-
and Blues is used throughout the plsy to set the tone and style of the
environ-out. One of the successful devices Bullins used frequently
was silultaneous sction on "the Avenue” and Derby Street; in the lew
Lafayette production this wes staged with e cetwelk.

Bullins shows facets of Bleck urban life in the esrly fif-
ties. fhere is no ce-ent en thet life style within the pin. Pos-
sibly, because the sppreech is nostalgic, the pleywright see-s to
leeve the people where they ere. While this nay reise questions,
there is no doubt thet the situetion In the Wine fine is very loving.

cae Blsck artist, writer end critic, sen Anderson, ves very
disturbed by the content of In the Wine fine. Ir. Anderson lives
intheHerlaecmnityandis theAfro-Anericenlditerofthele;
Africen nagasine. His review is included here in its entirety, be-
ceuse it raises sue inortent issues.

 

19Bullins , personal interview.

101

After seeing In the Wine fine et the new Lefeyette
i'heeter, one can ssh: is the play reelly necessary?
It etteelpts to reflect whet is heppcning with the «
gress roots brother end sister, telling it like it is
but not like it is end like it should be. ihet is
needed is our comnity is e Bleck theeter thet will
produce Bleck plays: plays thet creete positive i-ges
of brothers end sisters; Bleck people who ettenpt to
build fanilies end the-selves eround the weye and neens
of destroying the now Anerice and ell those who support
it; pleye thet give us new hebite, new ways of living;
plays thet nove brothers and sisters from spending
their lives drinking rotgut and rotnind wine to becoee
the werriors thet heve e revolutionsry teek st hand
end s new world to creete.

In the Vine fine is full of stereotypes. There

is the typicel sister in everybody's business; the

. typicel vino, typical eeuctified young sister, typicel
legro cop. But so whet, since the pley doesn't nove
free being e reflection of legroes doing their self-
defeeting thing. Id Bullins does not offer Bleck peo-
ple eny way out of the negstive environment he depicts.
One expected to see In the Vine file's sluggish beginning
resolved in e way thet did not resenble Eugene O'Neill's
plays. In the Wine file's style is the sees as an off-
breedway We» the decedence of the white
nen.

rer ere-pie, c112: Bewson, ex-eeilor/student tells
his nephewlay, thet tobe enenhemst go intothe
racist Anericen levy. Bay would be more of e nen re-
sisting the levy end fighting for Black people. Bay
finellywinds up killing ebrothcr. mudBullins put
in this senseless killing? Use it beceuse this is whet
really happens in the Black cc-uunityf Partielly. It
eppears, however, thet the pm wee slowing down, not
going anywhere--even though the dialogue was natural end
done entrenely well. i'hus, whet wee needed was sons
violent ection. And we got it.

Generellyepeakinglnthefline'rineisneteBlsck
pley. It is Iilitent legro enterteinnent for legroes
who feel lost end guilty about their niddle cless eco-
n-ic stetue and want to get down with the nitty gritty
folk. This m' be e psychological necessity for sole
Blechfolke, but it is not sufficient. Let us hope thet
Brother Bullins will get Re "reinbow sign" no nore
wine; the fire this tine.

 

2°8anuel I. Anderson, "review of In the vine rise" in Bleck cui-
ww, I, no. 3 (January 27, 1969)',"18. . """""""""

102

Anderson's canents ere very exect end st leest pertielly
true, but they do not teke into consideretion thet the play's desig-
neted tine is the eerly fifties. Although, even st thet tine nest
Blocks were disillusioned with the Aned Services as e real solution
Anderseidhewrotethereviewinenger i-edietelyafter eeeingthe
production, and before he wee infer-ed thet Wine fine wee neant to
be seen with e sequel, entitled We Lighteous Boebers.21 Yet, in
spite of this Justifieeticn e pley not stend by itself es s eeparete
entity and on its own nerite. Its velidity should not depend on s
sequel or cycle.

fhoreareeeverelertraneouscherecterslntheiinefine,who
heve no significence in term of loving the ectien of the play forwerd.
While it is possible their presence night be expleined in e leter pro-
duction thet ergunent does little to enhence the significance of this
introductory piece.

Id Bullins is one of the nest prolific end also noet well-
known of thenewBleckplaywrights. His workhesbeenvery influ-
mtielandhis style is emletedbyenufierofotheryoungwriters,
in and outside of his writer's workshop. Bullins works in an ideal
situetion, es resident plqwright of en eutonoeoue well-funded theeter
inlewYorkCity. As eechhehee everydoeinantrele intheBlsck
theeter emity.

 

21th Boebers resenbles Cems' i'he Just Assessins.

CHAPTER V
001013810]

The prinry factor in the plays that are discussed here is
that they are consciously directed to Black audiences and therefore
have a Black point of View. This is significant because it indicates
that the authors are engaging in a fsniliel dialogue with other Blacks.
They, therefore, have a connitnsnt to deal with the truth end reality
of the Black experience in terns of the racial values of Blacks. i'his
represents a break with the earlier tradition of legro literature and
classifies these writers as part of the conunporary Black Art and
Literary nova-cut.

i'he priority of these writers: Walker, lilner and Bullins is
to clarify the world free the point of view of their people. no
accomplish this goal, they have delved deeply into their personal
psychic experience, pulling out nonents, realizations, and sensory
perceptions, and have woven these into comprehensible situations that
are instructive and neaningful to Black people.

In translating the Black experience to the stage, all three
playwrights have produced work that is sell-autobiographical in nature.
Their plays are elnoet exclusively drawn from their collective en-
vironnente and various personal experience. In last of Jordan the
background reference is that area of Georgia, where Ivan Walker was

103

“W,

104

born. Who's Got His Own occurs in Detroit, where Hilner was born
and raised, and the protagonist, rin, Jr. wrestles with problens
Iilner confronted. Bay, In the Wine rise, grows to senhood in South
Philadelphia, Id Bullins' button.

fheee writers are all young nen in their thirties. i'hus, it
isnotsurprisingthattheyhave chosenthefiftiesasthetineof
theirplays, asthatwasthetieewhenthesenenbegantonature. As
lilaersaid, "Ibstofusstartedtobecueawereatthattine . . . and
thenusic . . . andthings startedtoheppentoyou. Atthattineyou
started to say, 'BeyI love these people'."1 Iilnar is the youngest
of the three playwrights, and Who's Got His Own is set latest in tine;
Ivan Walker is the eldest, and last of Jordan is set in 199-1950,
the earliest point in tine. wiluer continued to seq that nest of the
Black writers of his generation are nostalgic about the period of the
fifties, leokingbaokat it, as atinwhentheylivednorefully.
menostalgicfeelingisevidentinallthreeplqs, leastsoin
Who's Got his Own, because it is so analytical; nostly In the Wine
_f_in_s_, because it is ruantic and part of a continuum; and partially
inlastofJod'deninthecharecterofJohnnyslateraldithengo.

fheplacingoftheplays inthe fifties givesthenakindof
historicalperspective. niesewritarswerethechildrenofiorld
War II, when the all-Black betalliens catributed in the patriotic
effertendreturnedhsaetethesaeeegregatedcenditionethat
existed before the war. this created an atnoephere of cynicisn and

 

l”miner, personal interview.

105

resistance in the calamities, which spurned these writers, and also
paved the m for the rebellion of the late fifties and sixties. All
three plays accuretely reflect the conditions that are respueible
for this rebellion, rather thu the rebellion itself.

The Black revolution is ethical, cultural and political. And
in these three plays, in particular, there is no naaor concentration
on the political aspects of Black liberation. loch of the writers,
however, has dealt with the political struggle in other works. here
are fewfull-Mhplsysefthenewllncktheatorthat onaninethe
problons of rovolutinlunost ce-only this particular subject is
treated in one act ferns. we exception, of course,is Richard
Wesley's Black terror.

Interesofideology, andthe contentoi’theseplays, the
pWshevelevedpastBeisinihtheSun, mderenotdeeling
with wish-fulfillment, but the hard facts of the Black experiesmm
Implicit in each of these three plus is the pW's understand-
ingthetBlnckpeopleneodanewapproachtotheironstonceinsnor-
ice.

Porexanple,3aetofJordenmaninesananwhoistryingto
achieve successinthesanefashionestheYoungerfanilyiniRaiein
IntheBrm:throughthriftandherdwerk. UnliketheYoungerswho
arelefthopingforenewdq, Sahightfulsandloeeehis life
through the process. Playwright Ivan Walker enphasises the reasons
for Knight's failure, and his inplicit state-ant to Black people is
thet since night's epproech was incorrect, a new direction is needed
for Blacks in horice.

106

Who'sGotnisOwndoals with the personalprobl-s ofafanily
that has been destroyed by racisn. It details their attempts to
plinth-solvabuktogetherafterthedestructionhastakenplace.
i'hohronsonf-ilqactivelysoarchesforanowmoffocusingthoir
lives,astheyhaveleu-nodfronthcirorporiencethattheoldap-
proacheswillnotallowthontoliveinthopresentorruturo.

In theflino line the social situation is understood, Ir.
Bullinsisninlycmcernedwithahlacklifestyle,thepersmelre-
lationshipsandthonaturalhuaandosires of thepoeplaheportrm.
lesaid,heasant1ntheiine!iletobeaspiritualexperienoe,nct
aaossa‘otoawhitomdience. But,InthoViaeriaotheonlysug-
gostodchangoisfornutojointholmandescapethonerbyStroot
smdrono by living a filler individual life. the collective exper-
ionceofilackshasshownthatthisisnotthesolutiu. mum
altornativosillustratodfrulnthovinoriaoweuldhavetooccur
throughroconitionintheresponseofthoaudioace. W9M
GotHisOIn‘showsafo-ilyattolptis‘towllthopiecesofthoir
livesbachtogothoraftoratloastonensnberhasrealisodthcdestruc-
tion causodbylivinginaracist society. Thus,thehronsonf-ily
isstrugglingtochangeduringthocourseofthopln,andthrough
their personal realisation the audience cues to grips with the idea
thatitisweryilportaattoho'whoyware.

Whiletheideologyoftheplwsthatereuploredhereissig-
nificantly different “Raisin inthe Sun, the style ofthose plays
isstill siailartohorraino Iansberry's. Sonoyoungfilachwriters
areuperi-oatinctofindthoatricalfonsuniquotohlackculture,

107

yet among the writers of crafted plays such as these discussed here
the nost co-son technique is still realisa/mturalism, perhaps because
this traditional form is very suitable to socio-political content.

Although these playwrights utilise traditional theeter forms,
they have each worked to nke the nterial reflect the Black experi-
ence and culture. walker and Bullins specifically include a number
of distinct cultural elements, and all three playwrights have been
cnative in the use of language. Hilner, however, scene to have
moved a step fm'ther by bending the structure of his play to incor-
porate the Afro-American musical tradition, in an attempt to capture
the i-odiato response that is soanchapartofhlachheritsge. All
three playwrights, of course, utilise various styles of Black mic
to make specific points, because Black American culture is very closely
tied with its mic.

In terms of secondary themes and subject, there are a great
many similarities in these three plays. They are all based on a
family unit and specific sets of relationships. be family is a
fitter of great concern to Black people in Anrica, because the family
structure was destroyed (by the middle passage and slavery) andhas
been oxtrenely difficult to maintain under American conditions. In
these plays the family units either were, or are destroyed.

Along with the concentration on the fasily, another distinct
operative in these plays is sudden and violent death, which is also
a harsh reality of Black life. (mun van Peebles used this 10... in
the title of his play, Ain't Bulge-ed to m. a latural Death). In
East of Jordan the family unity is first destroyed by the 'systea' and

108
secondJyhytheactuallurderofSellnight. IntheWine Iinethe
Dusonf-ilyistornaportbyanaccidentalgangkilling. mm.
dendeathoffilhrmsonSr. inWho'sGotmsOwnbringstolightthe
paralysis ofthefaaily, whicth indirectlybeencansodbythe
brutal and violent mrder of Bronsm's father: an act which essen-
tially destroyed three generatims.

In most societies, the non is the strength and provider of
the fuily. The very qualities that are met necessary for a nan to
achieve self-respect are the qualities considered most dangerous and
thereforetobe eliminatedintheBlachmsn. Scinthis sense, which
is closely tied with ability to function, the Black man carries a hor-
' rondous burden in America. Thus, all three of these plm concen-
tratemthestruggleofthellackmtolivewithrightfuldinity
in this society, and alphasise the struggle to raise health Black
hale children. Sunightdiodtosalvago adecenthueforhiswife
amdstep-su. Cliffhawenttoprimtoprotecthisfalilyand
insure an minded future for his foster son; rim Bronson, Sr. worked
adegradinsandaenial Job inanattolpttonintsinbothpsychicand
plwsical survival.

The role of Christianity is significant in all three plays,
andinoach instance, its value forBlacks is challenged, usuallyon
the basis of hypocrisy. In two instances, the wuson in. the plays are
daughters of preachers and this provides a source of conflict with
their husbands. Another vital issue that is treated in all three
plays is the enormous difficulty of maintaining a fire relationship
between Black son and woaen. his problen still reflects the shadows

109

of the dehumising, destructive aspects of slavery.

Each of these playwrights has nanaged to include aany rich
details of the Black life style. All three plvs indicate the vari-
ety of life styles in Black cossmnities, where all kinds of people
live together; for instance Lou Dawson and Miss Hinnie are neighbors,
as areSIickendGussie, endwhilethehrmson failyis inmorning,
there is a party going on upstairs. Walker aid Bullins both dealt
with this characteristic of Black neighborhoods, by staging aiml-
taneous actioninanatt-pttocepturesaeofthe activityandtenpo
of Black life. his technique was also used effectively in m
mudtoDie alaturalDeath, and in several other recent produc-
tions, and an be a developing style.

Ineachoftheseplaystheanthorshave clarifiedsnddis-
tillod many facets and levels of Black life, and these materials can
create meaningful experiences for their audiences. Ivan Walker,

Ron llilner and Ed Bullins are playwrights who can strongly influence
thepeopleforwhntheywriteandtherebyexertgreat force onthe
nature of the Black experience in America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Bsroka, Imam Amiri. "Esthetics, a Black Value System.” Black
Poets and Prophets. Edited by Woodie King and Earl Anthony,
New York: Mentor, 1972 .

Bond, Frederick. The Negro and Drama. College Park, Maryland:
McGrath, 19!:0.

Brssmer, William and Consolo, Dominick (eds.). Black Drama Antholgfl.
Columbus: Charles Merrill, 1970.

Brown, Sterling. Hem Poetry and Drama. New York: Atheneum, 1969.

Coyle, William and Dameser, Hervey (eds.). Six Early American Flag,
1128-1_8_20. Columbus: Charles Merrill, 1965.

Cruse, Harold. Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. New York:
William Morrow, 1968.

. Rebellion of Revolution. New York: William
Morrow, 1969.

Dent, Thomas, Schechner, Richard and Moses, Gilbert (eds.). The Free
Southern Theater by the Free Southern Theater. New York:
BObbB‘kmn, 1%9e

 

Du Dale, W. E. Burgkerdt. The Souls of Black Polk. Greenwich:

 

 

 

Fawcett, 1961.

Gayle, Addison, Jr. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City: Doubleday,
1972.

Harrison, Paul Carter. The Drama of Non-Io. New York: Grove Press,
1972.

Hatch, James V. Black Imejge collie American 8125:. A bibliography
of plays and musicals, 1770-1970. New York: DDS, 1970.

Huggins, Nathan I. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford Press, 1971.

Hughes, Iangston and Meltser, Milton. Black mac. Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1967.

110

1.1.1

Iseecs, Edith. The Negro in the American Theater. College Park,
Maryland: McGrath, 1968.

John, Jahnheinz. Muntu. New York: Grove Press, 1961.

Jochennan, Yosef ben. Black Man of the Nile. New York: Alkebulen
Books, 1970.

Johnson, James Weldon. Black Manhattan. New York: Atheneum, 1960.

Jones, Bessie and Hewes, Bess loner. Stgp It Down. New York:
Harper and Row, 1972.

Jones, Ieroi. Blues Pegple. New York: William Morrow, 1963.
. Home. New York: William Morrow, 1966.

, and Neal, Larry (eds.). Black Fire. New York: William
Morrow: 1968.

King, Woodie and Anthony, Earl (eds.). Black Poets and Prophets.
New York: Mentor, 1972.

Locke , Alain and Gregory, Montgomery (eds.). Plays of Nego Lif .
New York: Harper and Row, 1921.

Mitchell, Lofton. Black Drama. New York: Hawthorn, 1967.

Neal, Larry. Black Bougnloo. San Francisco: Journal of Black
Poetry Press, 1969.

 

Patterson, Lindsay (ed.). Antholgg of the American Nefo in the
Theatre. Association for the Study of Negro life and
History. Washington: Publishers Company, 1967.

 

Richardson, Willis. Plays and Pageants from the Life of the Negggo.
Washington: Associated Publishers, 1930.

Trovell, Margaret and Nevermenn, Hans (eds.). - African and Oceanic
it. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Washington, Booker '1'. ”Atlanta Exposition Address,” Black Protest.
Edited by Joanne Grant. Greenwich: Pewcett, 196$
Periodicals, Journals, and Newsjapers

Anderson, Sam E. "In the Wine Time." A review. Black Culture
Weekly, January 27, m9, p. 7.

Bailey, Peter. ”Is the Negro Ensemble Company Really Black Theater?"
Nam Digest, April, 1968, p. 1.6

112

. "Report on Black Theater." Nam Digest, April, 1969.
pp. 20'260

. “The Black Theater." Hbog, August, 1969, pp. 126-1310.

Bourne, x». "The Call Board." Review or In the Wine Time, by
Ed Bullins. Bay State Banner, December 19, 1568, p. 7.

. "The Call Board." Review of Who's Got His Own by Ron
Milner. Bay State Banner, larch 13, m, p. 7'.

Bullins, Ed. "A Son Come Home.” Nam Digest, April, 1968, pp. 5h-73.
. ”Black Theater Issue." The Drama Review, Sumner, 1968.

. "letter to the Editor." New York Times, March 26, 1962,
p. 23.

. ”The Polished Protest: Aesthetics and the Black American
Writer.” Contact, July, 1963, pp. 67—68.

Campbell, Dick. "Is there a Conspiracy Against Black Playwrights?”
Negg Digest, April, 1969, pp. 11-15.

Cassidy, Paul. ”Review of In the Wine Time." Daily World,
October 12, 1969, p. 8.

Crayton, Leroy. ”Review of In the Wine Time." Amsterdam New,
January 7, 1969, p. 12.

Dixon, Melvin. ‘ ”Black Theater: The Aesthetics." Ne Di st,
July, 1969, pp. Ill-M.

Dodson, Owen. "Playwrights in Dark Glasses." Neg-g Digst,
April: 1%8) PP0 30'36-

Evans, Donald. "Who's Got His Own at Cheyney.” Hem Digest,
April, 1 ’ pp. ' s

Puller, Hoyt. ”Black Theater in America." Negro Digest,
April, 1968, pp. 83-93.

Gayle, Addison. ”Cultural Nationalism: The Black Novel and the
City." uuntor, m, 1969, we 1..-].80

Gerald, Carolyn P. ”The Black Writer and His Role." Negrg Digest,
January, 1969, pp. 1:248.

Gussow, Mal. "TheBaadassss Success of Melvin Van Peebles." _l|e_1_r_
York Times basins, August 20, 1972, pp. 86-91.

Horne, Jan. "Review of fist of Jordan.” Black Theater Maxine,
April, 1970, p- 37-

113

Humphrey, Mattie. "Review of East of Jordan." Philadelphia
Independent, June 2, 1969, p. 8.

"In the Wine Time." A review. Nuhamad Speaks, February 28, 1969, p.33.

Kgositsile, Neorapatse. "The Impulse is Personal." Ne D st,
July, 1968, pp. hz-hh.

Lahr, John. "Black Theatre: The American Tragic Voice.” Evermn.
Amt) 1969: PP- 55'63°

.966”Review of Who's Got His Own." Manhettan East, October 20,
1 .

Lewis, Claude. ”The New Theatre: Players, Poets and People.”
Tuesday basins, hbruary, 1969, pp. 6-8.

Mason, Clifford. ”Killing Negro Plays.” A review of Who's Got
His Own. Weekly Voice, October 27, 1966.

Killer, Adam. "It's a Long We to St. Louis." The Drama Review,
smr’ 1%8, pp. Ina-'1 9.

Nilner, Ron. ”Black Theater, Go Home." Negg Diest, April, 1968,
pp. 5’10.

flunk, Erika. ”Up from Politics, an Interview with Ed Bullins.”
known“, April, 19,72, pp. 52-60.

Neal, Larry. ”Any Day Now: Black Art and Liberation." Ebony,
August, 1969, pp. Sit-62.

. "Conquest of the South." Review of The Free Southern
Theater by the Free Southern Theateg. Edited by Tom Dent,
Richard Schechner and on Moses. The Drama Review, (rim,
1970, pp. 169-171;.

. ”Into Nationalism, Out of Parochialism." Performance,
April, 1972, pp. 3240.

Owano, N. "What was Your Slave Name?" Review of Dust Tracks on a Road
by Zora Neale Hurston and The Cotillion by .105 UEver Emu.

 

Scott, Vernelle. "A Review of East of Jordan.” Gumbo, run, 1969,
Pp. 2'3.

Staples, Robert E. ”Black Ideology and the Search for Comunity."
Liberator, June, 1969, pp. 8-10.

Teer, Barbara Ann. ”The Great White Way is not our War-Not Yet."
k D1 .t’ April, 1%8, pp. 21-29.

llh

. ”To Black Artists, with Love." Negr_o Digest, April,
1969) PP: “’8'

Watts, Richard. "Sorrows of an Hmbittered Family.” Review of
Who's Got His Own by Ron Nilner. New York Post, October 13,

 

 

 

 

1966, p. 28.

Whitfield, Vantile. ”The Black Theater." 3395!, August, 1969,
pp. 126-13“.

"Who's Got His Own." A Review. New York Amsterdam News, March 8,
1969. p. 23.

X, Ibrvin. "An Interview with Ed Bullins." Negg Digest, April,
1969, pp: 9‘16-

, and Faruk. "Islam and Black Art: An Interview with leroi
Jones." Negg Diest, January, 1969, pp. 15-10: 67-70.

Plan

Bullins, Ed. In the Wine Time, in Five Pla by Ed Bullins.
Indianapolis: Bobbs-llerrill, l 9.

Nilner, Ron. Who's Got His On, in Black Drama Antholog, edited
by Woodie King and Ron lilner. New York: Signet, 1972.

Unpublished Material

Sorrells, Edgar H. "To be Known, A Discourse on My Role as a Black
Artist Today." M. A. Monograph in Art, Pennsylvania State
University, Graduate School, lurch, 1971.

Walker, Evan. ”Nest of Jordan} (Unpublished play, 1967)

Personal Interviews

Bass, George. Interviewed on August 12, 1972 at his home in
Providence, Rhode Island. Mr. Bass is a playwright and
Director of the Dance-Drama Theater at Brown University.

Bullins, Ed. Interviewed on July 17, 1969 at the office of Black
Theater hezine in New York, New York.

 

Hinton, James. Interviewed on July 15, 1972 at the office of Harlem
Audio-Visual, Inc. in New York, New York. Mr. Hinton was
an instructor at the Black Arts Repertory Theater and School
and is the Producer of a Black Film Company in Harlem.

King, Woodie. Interviewed on July 22, 1969 at Tambellini's Gate

115
Theater in New York, New York.
La Tour, Nick. Interviewed on August 5, 1969 at the Harlem School
of the Arts, in New York, New York. Mr. La Tour is a Blues
Singer from Montgomery, Alabama.

Nilner, Ron. Interviewed on July 16, 1969 at Tambellini's Gate
Theater in New York, New York.

Riley, Clayton. Interviewed on July 25, 1969 at his office in
New York, New York.

Walker, Evan. Interviewed on July 10, 1969 at his home in New York,
New York.
Records

The Billie Holiday Story (Decca D3161).

APPHDIX

APPEIDIX

At the inception of this research, Drum Department requirements
restricted this study to full-length plays and Aristotelian definitions
of drantic criticism. These restrictions not only eliminated signifi-
cant Black authors and plays from the study, but also added certain 'seem-
ingly' contradictory elements. later Department inquiries raised ques-
tions about the validity of using the "White Aesthetics” of this same pre-
set requirement--in a paper on Black dram.

It is a cos-on practice of European scholars to ignore the exist-
ence of thriving ancient cultures on the African continent and to dimin-
ish this very important influence on Greek culture, prior to and during
the "Golden Age” of Greece. Yet it is significant to note:

that Aristotle not only received his education, but
stole an entire library of works belonging to the

3mm mug Satan, when he entered Egypt with
Alexander t Eat , placing his name as the author
on most that he kept for his private collection . . .
others he sent to friends in Greece--of which they too
claimed authorship, and others he allowed to reamin in
the library of Alexandria, where he brought students
from Greece. He also lad others burned or otherwise
destroyad.1

Despite the irony of this rather revealing view of the 'father of
Dreamtic Criticism' as a plunderer of the riches of Africa, the choice of
the critical for-.t was not voluntary, and successfully changed the focus
of this thesis. Therefore, amny ideas tut ought to be aired here are
omitted, as this simply is not the correct forum.

 

J'Yosei‘ ben-Jochannan, Black tin of the Nilg, (New York: Alkebu-
Lan Books, 1970), p. 189-190.

116

WW 1 11111111111 1

 

31293 017 75