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Suzan-Lori Parks' plays are especially recognized for their reinterpretation of history, offering audiences political and social commentary relevant to contemporary society. In The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Parks challenges numerous racial stereotypes about Black people to tell her story. Characters like Black Man with Watermelon, Black Woman with Fried Drumstick, Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork, and Yes and Greens Black-Eyed Peas Cornbread contribute to a mythic narrative of epic proportions. Parks transforms Black vernacular English into a poetic form that honors the past while bringing history into the present.
Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (1975) is a collection of twenty poems celebrating Black women's resilience in overcoming pain and despair. Each performer recites her poem while using gestures and movements that reflect her emotions, with the rest of the ensemble standing silent and still. The group then responds with unified chants and movements, creating a call-and-response dynamic that fosters a strong bond among the women on stage, extending this energy to the audience as well.
Sam Shepard's play True West (1980) blends humor and sorrow to probe the concept of identity within a dysfunctional family, particularly in relation to the American frontier and the mythic freedom it symbolizes. Set outside Los Angeles, the play follows two brothers—Austin, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, and Lee, a burglar—as they house-sit for their mother while she vacations in Alaska. During their time together, they fight, drink heavily, and nearly ruin the house in their rivalry to get their screenplays produced. True West examines how a materialistic society promotes lawlessness and the yearning for freedom, even if that freedom remains elusive.
Adrienne Kennedy’s plays, with their surreal and absurd imagery and associations, exhibit a modernist sensibility and use avant-garde techniques to tackle issues of gender, race, and identity within contemporary African-American society. Kennedy's anti-realist approach to playwriting and stagecraft, evident in one-act plays like Funnyhouse of a Negro (1970) and The Owl Answers (1968), mixed genres and narrative techniques at a time when other playwrights were beginning to explore the dramatic possibilities of juxtaposed styles. Her characters so vividly reflected the institutionalized racism of the era that they seemed to internalize society’s values.
British playwright Caryl Churchill integrates text, dance, and music with historical themes to explore the erotic and political aspirations of her characters, predominantly women. These characters often find themselves thwarted by sociological forces that prevent them from fulfilling their deepest ambitions. Churchill, known for her humor that sometimes verges on the macabre, has experimented with a variety of genres and narrative styles to express her artistic vision.
In plays such as Top Girls (1982) and Cloud Nine (1983), Churchill prefers an episodic narrative approach rather than relying on complex plot structures to move the story forward. Consequently, the scenes are loosely interconnected, building upon each other to create a pattern that highlights the play’s progression rather than its climax.
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