Kathryn Ervin and Ethel Pitts Walker have compiled a delicately balanced and impeccably coherent anthology of some of the best scenes from the past sixty years of African American theatre. Each scene subtly articulates African American culture in a Western frame and explores universal themes embedded in unique characters, stories, languages, and time periods. Theatrically appropriate for secondary students, African American Scenebook also provides unique opportunities for classroom discussion about the difficult issues relating to race in America.
Introduction Cast requirements are in parentheses. vii Comedies *The Church Fight 3(6) Ruth Gaines-Shelton On Strivers Row 9(4) Abram Hill Simply Heavenly 13(4) Langston Hughes David Martin Purlie Victorious 17(8) Ossie Davis Dramas *For Unborn Children 25(4) Myrtle Smith Livingston *The Purple Flower 29(10) Marita Bonner A Medal for Willie 39(6) William Branch Take a Giant Step 45(6) Louis Peterson Strictly Matrimony 51(6) Errol Hill A Raisin in the Sun 57(6) Lorraine Hansberry The Amen Corner 63(6) James Baldwin Morning, Noon, and Night 69(6) Ted Shine The Tumult and the Shouting 75(6) Thomas D. Pawley III Whos Got His Own 81(8) Ron Milner Paper Dolls 89(6) Elaine Jackson Brown Silk and Magenta Sunsets 95(8) P. J. Gibson Histories Dont You Want to Be Free? From Slavery through the Blues to Now---and Then Some! With Singing, Music, and Dancing 103(6) Langston Hughes In Splendid Error 109(6) William Branch To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words adapted 115(4) Robert Nemiroff Roads of the Mountaintop: A Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 119(4) Ron Milner The Meeting 123 Jeff Stetson
Kathryn M. Ervin is an Artist Educator in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University, San Bernadino. A director and acting teacher, her special interest is in theatre for marginalized populations. She is a member and past president of the Black Theatre Network, a fellow of The California Arts Project and active in several national theatre organizations. EthelPitts Walker is Professor of Theatre Arts and teaches in the African American Studies Department at San Jose State University. She is a past president of the Black Theatre Network and the California Educational Theatre Association. Author of numerous articles, she is editor of New/Lost Plays by Ed Bullins and is working on a biography of Dr. Thomas D. Pawley, one of the deans of educational theatre.
