Black Theatre: Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora

Abstract

Praise/Word Paul Carter Harrison Part I: African Roots Introduction Victor Leo Walker II 1. Roots in African Drama and Theatre J. C. de Graft 2. The African Heritage of African American Art and Performance Babatunde Lawal 3. Agones: The Constitution of a Practice Tejumola Olaniyan 4. What the Twilight Says: An Overture Derek Walcott 5. Caribbean Narrative: Carnival Characters In Life and in the Mind Gus Edwards 6. Rebaptizing the World in Our Own Terms: Black Theatre and Live Arts in Britain Michael McMillan and SuAndi Part II: Mythology And Metaphysics Introduction Victor Leo Walker II 7. The Fourth Stage: Through the Mysteries of Ogun to the Origin of Yoruba Tragedy Wole Soyinka 8. The Candomble and Eshu-Eleggua in Brazilian and Cuban Yoruba-Based Ritual Marta Moreno Vega 9. Legba and the Politics of Metaphysics: The Trickster in Black Drama Femi Euba 10. Art for Life's Sake: Rituals and Rights of Self and Other in the Theatre of Aime Cesaire Keith L. Walker 11. Sycorax Mythology May Joseph 12. Conjuring as Radical Re/Membering in the Works of Shay Youngblood Joni L. Jones 13. Archetype and Masking in LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka's Dutchman Victor Leo Walker II Part III: Dramaturgical Practice Introduction Paul Carter Harrison 14. The Dramaturg's Way: Meditations on the Cartographer at the Crossroads Deborah Wood Holton 15. Introduction to Moon Marked and Touched by Sun Sydne Mahone 16. Kennedy's Travelers in the American and African Continuum Paul K. Bryant-Jackson 17. Mojo and the Sayso: A Drama of Nommo That Asks, Is Your Mojo Working? Andrea J.Nouryeh 18. Ritual Poetics and Rites of Passage in Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf Jean Young Part IV: Performance Introduction Gus Edwards 19. Form and Transformation: Immanence of the Soul in the Performance Modes of Black Church and Black Music Paul Carter Harrison 20. The Sense of Self in Ritualizing New Performance Spaces for Survival Beverly J. Robinson 21. Barbara Ann Teer: From Holistic Training to Liberating Rituals Lundeana M. Thomas 22. Bopera Theory Amiri Baraka 23. From Hip-Hop to Hittite: Part X Keith Antar Mason 24. Members and Lames: Language in the Plays of August Wilson William W. Cook 25. Porque Tu No M'entrende? Whatcha Mean You Can't Understand Me? Ntozake Shange 26. Performance Method George C. Wolfe 27. Afterword: Testimony of a Witness Eleanor W. Traylor About the Contributors