Milestones in Black American Theatre and Performance

Introduction: Milestones in Black
Monica White Ndounou
1. Brief Overview of Black American Theatre and Performance
Monica White Ndounou
2. Black Classical Performance in the 19th Century
Anita Gonzalez
3. Spectacles and Chlorines: Black Women on Stage
Karen Bowdre
4. Hidden Gems: A History of Black Designers in the American Theatre
Kathy Perkins
5. For 21st Century Students Resisting “Instafame”: Know Your Ancestors and Use Your Platforms
Eve Graves and Monica White Ndounou
6. Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance: Inspiring Dramas with Black Joy & Trauma in the 21st Century
Monica White Ndounou
7. Putting all the Black Back into The Wiz
Lundeana Thomas
8. Curated Community Conversation: Southern Black Theatre
Editors in conversation with Linda Parris Bailey, Shelton Land, Lawrence Blackwell
9. Curated Community Conversation: Changemakers in Black Theatre Education
Editors in conversation with Sandra Shannon, Lisa B. Thompson, Omiyemi Artisia Green et al
10. Curated Community Conversation: Black Arts and Black Theatre Training
Editors in conversation with Pearl Cleage, Michele Shay, Ruben Santiago Hudson et al
Epilogue: Reimagining Ourselves in the 21st Century and Beyond
Monica White Ndounou

Biography

Monica White Ndounou (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor at Dartmouth College, USA, and serves as Founder and Executive Director of The CRAFT Institute.
Eve Graves (Ph.D.) is a Professor and the Chairperson of Department of Theatre and Communication Studies at Clark Atlanta University, USA.

“Shaped from the same spirit and conceptual kiln that gave birth to Monica Ndounou’s establishment of Black Theatre Day in 2021, Milestones in Black Theatre and Performance continues the vital—yet  still underexplored—investigations of and within African American theater that have preceded this volume, offering readers (fellow artists, scholars, teachers, students, and theater aficionados), new knowledge and formative analysis to help forge a more robust understanding of Black theater, past and present, concisely highlighting revelatory truths while also demanding our attention to activate efforts for the continuing strength and survival of our artistic futures.
Through decisive and illuminating considerations of our theatrical past, Graves and Ndounou offer an accessible, yet richly informed entry into America’s Black theater history, daring to take on topics that not only offer under-examined historic insights, but also raise queries that promote engaging dialogue and advocacy for communal reckonings, revisions, and renewals.
Milestones does its deep thought-work not only through its elevated collection of concise, individual essays, but also by grounding Optimal Conceptual Theory through the inclusion of several ‘curated community conversations,’ thereby broadening its considerations by astutely activating the synergy and knowledge that is uniquely empowered by collective wisdom.
Unique to this volume is its insistence on foregrounding scholarly investigations within a Black cultural sphere. Among many examples: while acknowledging linearity and networks of influence, the happenings featured in Milestones are not wholly organized by a chronological framing; rather Milestones duly recognizes the cyclical dynamics and relationships that shape the experience of Black cultures and communities.”
Faedra Chatard Carpenter