New Wave of African American Theater: Hip-hop Theater and the Urban Theater Circuit

This week we will discuss new developments in African American Theater. Recent debates in American Theatre Magazine (2004) about the state of Hip-hop Theater as part of what Paul Carter Harris calls the "African continuum" have sparked contorversy as many believe that Hip-hop cannot be limited to African American cultural production.
Likewise, Hip-hop Theater then has been defined by one if its pioneers, Danny Hoch as theater "by, about and for the Hip-hop generation" which borrows directly from W.E.B. Dubois'definition of Black Theater. In addition, building on earlier arguments by Alain Locke for black theater that addresses the "folk" tradition of everyday African American life, the Urban Theater Circut has been critiqued for presenting stories that often reify existing stereotypes of African Americans. .
In our discussions of Hip-hop Theater and the Urban Theater Circuit (formerly known as the Chitlin' Circuit),can peoplewho are not African American perform theater works inspired from African American life? Is Hip-hop Theater "black" theater even when other races and ethnicities perform its works? What are your thoughts?

Shange's For Colored Girls Wolfe's The Colored Musuem

Both Shange and Wolfe present issues that have shaped African American experiences in the United States such as slavery,racism, feminism,sexism,homosexuality, spousal abuse and quests for racial "authenticity." Both authors ask why and how African Americans and white mainstream theater audiences buy into various stereotypes of blackness as repesentative of the larger black American collective. Can you find current critiques of African American life presented in popular culture today?

Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro and Genet's The Blacks

Both Kennedy and Genet present complex ideas about racism, color politics and power in these works. How might these plays be reflective of personal and collective conflicts between blacks and whites throughout the African Diaspora? Do you find differences in the ways that blackness is represented by a white author (Genet) versus a black author(Kennedy) in presenting black experiences of racism? Where do the similarities lie in these plays if any....