Blueprints for a Black Federal Theatre

Blueprints for a Black Federal Theatre
ISBN-10
052156560X
ISBN-13
9780521565608
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
286
Language
English
Published
1996-06-28
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Author
Rena Fraden

Description

In the 1930s, the Work Progress Administration funded a massive Federal Theatre Project in America's major urban centres, presenting hundreds of productions, some of the most popular and memorable of which were produced in the highly controversial and avant garde 'Negro Units'. This experiment in government-supported culture brought to the forefront one of the central problems in American democratic culture - the representation of racial difference. Those in the profession quickly discovered inescapable ideological responsibilities attending any sort of show, whether apparently entertaining or political in nature. Exploring the liberal idealism of the thirties and the critical debates in black journals over the role of an African American theatre, Fraden also looks at the obstacles facing black playwrights, audiences, and actors in a changing milieu.

Similar books