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?
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African American Theater should only be performed by African Americans. Can other races showcase their vision or portrayal of what they see African American life as? Yeah, they can do that. But to be labeled as African American theatre should translate back to Dubois, by US, for US, near US and about US. Us means African Americans! Danny Hoch and other races who speak of African American experiences through theatre is their version of how they have came in contact with African Americans. Can African Americans perform white theatre? No! Because there is no such thing as white theatre. The dominant society's theatre is universal and is not placed in a category. When you place someone in a category it is, what it says it is. AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE! Hip-hop theatre can be displayed through many artists depictions of experiences in that culture. But one cannot speak of labeling everyone who is a hip-hop head an exhibitionist for the African American life. Speaking about African American life through the theater realm can be genuine and authentic from another race perspective. But will never be fully embraced by African Americans as a whole. African Americans want you to be black in order to know what it truly feels to experience their life in order to showcase it.
I think people who are not African American can in fact perform theatre works that are inspired by African American life as long as the performer is doing so in a way in which he is presenting an accurate, realistic, unprejudiced depiction of African American life. However, if the performer presents African American life in such a way where he has a clear intent to be demeaning, malicious, derogatory, and racist towards African Americans then I think it is wrong for people who are not African American to perform works inspired by African American life.
Furthermore, if the performer is like Hoch and has actually lived and experienced first-hand the depiction of African-American life he is performing it is alright to do so as well. Hoch is not just playing on the largely circulating stereotypes he has heard and believes about African American life, but he is rather re-presenting the different characters in the world and environment he grew up and lived in. In addition, I think to say that people who are not African American cannot perform works about African American life is the same as to say people who are African American cannot perform works inspired by white life or chinese life or hispanic life, and this is not the case. Making such closed-minded statements limits us as artists and individuals in the roles we choose to take on and more importantly the roles that are deemed acceptable for us to play.
Hip-Hop theatre is still "black" theatre even when other races and ethnicities perform its works because the fact that it was written about and for and in relation to and as a depiction of African-American life as a genre that emerged from within the African American community is still there. White rappers like Eminem, Bubba Sparks, and Paul Wall perform hip-hop music and this doesn't take anything away from it being "black" music because the history behind it and the aim of it in the fact that it is music by for and about black people is still there.
Black theatre directly chronicles the lives and experiences of the black community as a whole. Hip Hop Theatre, the offspring of the larger stream of black theatre, is the revolutionized, new generation outlook for the black community. If another race performs black theatre, it is contingent upon their objectives. For example, when blacks do Shakespeare, and it’s not Othello, it’s a “black Shakespearean actor.” Black actors assume titles when performing theatre that never adapted titles for its white characters. Other ethnicities performing black theatre in the past have either tried too hard to be legitimate and respected, or have appeared comical by both blacks and other races respectively. This makes for the comedy of black theatre, and that’s what no contributor to black theatre intended on. Baldwin and Grimke and Wolfe all tapped into the personal experiences of the black race—thus, several that many other races can’t hear or read about and understand the message outside of “wow, that was powerful.” Blacks alone understand the complexity of blacks, just as any other race does its fellow individuals. While segregation is not what I’m calling for, tradition is. And to defy tradition, and be labeled as a “white woman performing Wolfe,” the actor can lose what the playwright is trying to convey to its audience. Hip-Hop Theatre is the outlet of the new generation during a segment in history where racism and sexism are written in the fine print significantly more than usual.
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