THTR-T 371 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Lorraine Hansberry, Bill Robinson, Langston Hughes
26 Jan 2017
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The history of african americans on the american stage. Keep in mind -- our beloved american musical would never have existed if minstrel. Shows had never existed, and therefore our musical has its roots in that horrible history. Don"t let the jazz hands and spectacular performance fool you. Lena horne in 1939 (1917-2010) -- had tons of problems with race in the theatre. Bill bojangles robinson (1928) -- taught shirley temple to dance. Book of genesis with an all-black cast, including black god. Polk county (c. 1944) not produced until 2001. A black man married to a white woman -> main combat. Lloyd richards, director, first black director who would then become a household name and direct many other productions. Full of problems obviously but the play pushes through all of them and takes the reins to dive through the issues. Young denzel washington was in the original cast. Ceremonies in dark old men (1969) lonne elder iii.
