Drama 365: African-American Women Playwrights
Professor Valerie Curtis-Newton
Spring 2011 This class exposed me to a wealth of new plays and playwrights as well as a new understanding of race and gender in America, and the role of art in talking about these issues. I enrolled in the class because it sounded interesting, not realizing that it would contribute toward a larger theme of oppression and race that ran through many classes I took and ended up contributing to my minor in African Studies. For my final paper, I chose to focus on one playwright, Anna Deavere Smith, and how her plays were influenced by the issues of the day as well as her own personal experience. I saw Smith perform once, and continue to be inspired and intrigued by her process and productions. The occasion of this paper provided an opportunity to delve more deeply into her work, and discover the commonalities between her plays in the 1990's and her more recent work. This comparison illuminated the changing issues and mentalities in the national conversation about race, privilege, and our common humanity. |
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