Julia Taylor's Influence On African American Theatre

It is human nature to tell stories and to appreciate and participate in theatre traditions in every society. Every culture expresses theatre and may have their own traditions that have helped pave the way for how they are today. The involvement of African-Americans has increased tremendously in theatre since the nineteenth century and continues to increase as time goes on. African-Americans have overcome many obstacles with getting their rights and the participation and involvement of Theatre was something also worth fighting for. American history has played an important role with the participation of African-Americans in theatre.

I really could not give a clear definition because I had not thought about it before. However, through the Black Arts Movement class I was able to understand some key concepts of what black artists of the 50's and 60's proclaimed that black art should be, including theatre. When outlining what black theatre is one might consider some guidelines. By examining the following, one may be able to get a clear view of what Black theatre is. Its purpose The Aesthetic The Style (structure) The Artistic Value of the work Whether there is an overflow of the ousia on stage Who is judging the show Whether it follows the black theatre principles set forth by W.E.B.

Based upon the readings of Larry Neal’s “The Black Arts Movement” and Peniel Joseph’s “Black Liberation Without Apology” they have helped the critical understanding of 1960s Black Arts Movement tremendously. In Larry Neal’s “The Black Arts Movement” he discusses key factors on how black artists contribute to African-American culture. Larry Neal also discusses how Black Power and Black Art relate to one another, which subsequently aids in developing the needs of Black America. Lastly, Larry Neal discusses the central characters in Black Art, and how those individuals changed the black theatre and the perceptions of African Americans. These three key ideas help develop a critical understanding of the Black Arts Movement by: understanding the

A great deal of the work created at this time was very opinionated and designed to empower and uplift African-Americans. The movement holds a tremendous effect and influence on writers that have come in the later part of the on-going insurgence. The themes, concepts, and social questions that the Black Arts Movement artists had influenced a new generation of writers who extended and related to the Black Aesthetic in more contemporary times. Conscientious novelists now write with the purpose to communicate the definition of blackness and the variety of the “Black Experience” correlating with writers of the movement. Natasha Tretheway‘s poem “Help 1968” is one that was subsequently influenced by the logic and perspectives of the movement.

According to Lecture Wilson proposed “the need for more African American Playwrights. Also, he provided roles specifically written for African American Actors and directors, ultimately his goal was to help establish a stronger community of African American audience. Through Fences he was able to show the daily life of a African American family and the struggles they had to go through. The struggles that they were faced with was pronimitley due to their race. According to Theater and Race,” The concept of race exceeds physical appearance.

Harlem soon became known as the “capital of black America” as the amount of blacks in this community was very substantial. Many of the inhabitants of this area were artists, entrepreneurs and black advocates with the urge to showcase their abilities and talents. The ... ... middle of paper ... ...t always work for her. These experiences inspired her to write her second novel Plum Bun which was about a woman trying to pass for white. In her poetry readers can tell how frustrated she was with the injustice that blacks received.

As a jumpstart to her career, Streep played a role in a play called, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton at the Phoenix Theatre which earned her first ever Tony Award and Drama Disk (“Zrimsek”). Already exposed to the public eye through her talent in plays, Streep landed a role in an early television series in 1977 called, The Deadliest Season and in 1978, she won an emmy for Holocaust after garnering attention from a previous role in a movie, titled Julia. After Julia, however, th... ... middle of paper ... ...on. Columbia Pictures, 2009. Film.

P. 20) the representations and performances by women radically changed in the musical from the 1950’s; from Anita in West Side Story to Adalaide in Guys and Dolls, Wolf demonstrates a centrality toward women in the form of ‘friends, girlfriends and wives as journalists, students and maids, and also as singers and dancers’ (Wolf. S. 2011. P. 4) The book then goes on to ask ‘How have Broadway musicals, typically considered too commercial and too mainstream, contributed to a feminist performance history?’ (Wolf. S. 2011. P. 4) ‘Changed for Good’ answers this question by exploring the difference in female characters, what the women who perform these characters actually do on the Broadway musical stage, how their musicals portray a women’s changing role in society since 1950, and how they break down the boundaries of the presentation of ‘the musical’ itself.

McDaniels was the first African-American to sing on the radio, first to receive an Oscar for best supporting actress in Gone with the Wind. She was also the first African-American to star in a sitcom in 1951 that featured an African-American actress in the title role (Pax 1). “McDaniels appeared in more than three hundred films during the twenties and thirties. Her career was built on the ‘Mammy’ image, a role she played with dignity” (Smith 7). She received much flack from the blacks because of the roles she played in film and on radio.

She had a highpoint in her career when she starred alongside Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried in Mean Girls. (Lindsay Lohan: Early fame) After Mean Girls her popula... ... middle of paper ... ... animated television show Wings and guest starred on Dora the Explorer. In September she reveled on Instagram that she is working on a new record and was signed again. In January 2014 it was announced that Duff will be heading back to television in a new sitcom Younger, co-starring Sutton Foster. (Hilary Duff To Star in Tv Land Pilot ‘Younger’) In conclusion, Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff both started being in the public’s eye at the same young age.