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Written by the emerging stars of American theatre such as Eisa Davis and Marcus Gardley, the plays explore themes as varied as family and individuality, alienation and gentrification, and reconciliation and belonging.  They demonstrate a wide-range of formal and structural innovations for the American theatre, and reflect the important ways in which contemporary playwrights are expanding the American dramatic canon with new and diverse means of representation.   Edited by two leading US scholars in black drama, Harry J. Elam Jr (Stanford) and Douglas A. Jones Jr (Princeton), this cutting edge anthology gathers together some of the most exciting new American plays, selected by a rigorous academic backbone and explored in depth by supporting critical material.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49526996828433,"sku":"GOR005451139","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50272858308881,"sku":"CIN1408173824G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53393191993617,"sku":"CIN1408173824VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408173824.jpg?v=1750922519"},{"product_id":"taking-it-to-the-streets-book-harry-justin-elam-9780472087686","title":"Taking It to the Streets","description":"The performances of Luis Valdez's El Teatro Campesino, the farmworkers' theater, and Amiri Baraka's (LeRoi Jones's) Black Revolutionary Theater (BRT) during the 1960s and 1970s, offer preeminent examples of social protest theater during a momentous and tumultuous historical juncture. The performances of these groups linked the political, the cultural, and the spiritual, while agitating against the dominant power structure and for the transformation of social and theatrical practices in the U.S. Founded during the Delano Grape Pickers' Strike and Black Power rebellions of the mid-1960s, both El Teatro and the BRT professed cultural pride and group unity as critical corollaries to self-determination and revolutionary social action. Taking It to the Streets compares the performance methodologies, theories, and practices of the two groups, highlighting their cross-cultural commonalties, and providing insights into the complex genre of social protest performance and its interchange with its audience. It examines the ways in which ritual can be seen to operate within the productions of El Teatro and the BRT, uniting audience and performers in subversive, celebratory protest by transforming spectators into active participants within the theater walls --and into revolutionary activists outside. During this critical historical period, these performances not only encouraged community empowerment, but they inculcated a spirit of collective faith and revolutionary optimism. Elam's critical reexamination and recontextualization of the ideologies and practices of El Teatro and the BRT aid in our understanding of contemporary manipulations of identity politics, as well as current strategies for racial representation and cultural resistance. \"A major contribution to our understanding of how social protest came to be so strong and how Black and Chicano theatre contributed to the synergy of those times.\" --Janelle Reinelt, University of California, Davis Harry J. Elam, Jr., is Associate Professor of Drama and Director of the Committee on Black Performing Arts, Stanford University.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49804636553489,"sku":"CIN0472087681G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0472087681.jpg?v=1751358166"},{"product_id":"fire-this-time-book-harry-j-elam-jr-9781559362054","title":"The Fire This Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis major new anthology collects new work by important artists which explore the context of African-American drama in 21st century America. The plays included are: \u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn examination of a homeless black women and her children based on \u003ci\u003eThe Scarlet Letter\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eCivil Sex by Brian Freeman\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA look at the intersections of civil rights on the life of activist Bayard Rustin.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Dark Kalamazoo by Oni Faidi Lampley\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA tale of isolation and rediscovery as a young black co-ed comes of age during a journey to Africa.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eJitney by August Wilson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lives of Jitney cab drivers at a 1977 Pittsburgh cab station.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eInsurrection: Holding History by Robert O'Hara\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lives of a young gay college student and his 189-year-old great-great-grandfather are transported back to the time of the Nat Turner slave rebellion.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eCrumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn interracial romance threatens to divide a black family set during the Harlem Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Preface to the Alien Garden by Robert Alexander\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA study of the gangsta life style in present day Kansas City.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Rhyme Deferred by Kamilah Forbes and Hop Hop Theatre Junction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn Afro-centric update of the Cain and Abel story.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eSlanguage by Stephen Sapp and Universes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRhyme, roots, rhythm and storytelling to a hip hop beat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHarry Elam, Jr.\u003c\/b\u003e is the Director of Graduate Studies for Drama at Stanford University. He has directed numerous plays, including works of August Wilson, who is the subject of his forthcoming book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Alexander\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eI Ain't Yo' Uncle, Servant of the People\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Orbit of Billy Mars\u003c\/i\u003e. Mr. Alexander is currently in residence at D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49996535988497,"sku":"CIN1559362057G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50956781388049,"sku":"CIN1559362057VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51037406888209,"sku":"NIN9781559362054","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52606659199249,"sku":"CIN1559362057A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1559362057.jpg?v=1750798865"},{"product_id":"african-american-performance-and-theater-history-book-harry-j-elam-9780195127256","title":"African American Performance and Theater History","description":"African-American Performance and Theater History is an anthology of critical writings that explores the intersections of race, theatre, and performance in America. 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The only one-volume collection of its kind, this volume is likely to become the central reference for those studying black theatre.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346158293265,"sku":"CIN0195127250G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51847011926289,"sku":"CIN0195127250A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52335517630737,"sku":"NLS9780195127256","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195127250.jpg?v=1751037611"},{"product_id":"taking-it-to-the-streets-book-harry-justin-elam-9780472107933","title":"Taking It to the Streets","description":"The performances of Luis Valdez's El Teatro Campesino, the farmworkers' theater, and Amiri Baraka's (LeRoi Jones's) Black Revolutionary Theater (BRT) during the 1960s and 1970s, offer preeminent examples of social protest theater during a momentous and tumultuous historical juncture. The performances of these groups linked the political, the cultural, and the spiritual, while agitating against the dominant power structure and for the transformation of social and theatrical practices in the U.S. Founded during the Delano Grape Pickers' Strike and Black Power rebellions of the mid-1960s, both El Teatro and the BRT professed cultural pride and group unity as critical corollaries to self-determination and revolutionary social action. Taking It to the Streets compares the performance methodologies, theories, and practices of the two groups, highlighting their cross-cultural commonalties, and providing insights into the complex genre of social protest performance and its interchange with its audience. It examines the ways in which ritual can be seen to operate within the productions of El Teatro and the BRT, uniting audience and performers in subversive, celebratory protest by transforming spectators into active participants within the theater walls --and into revolutionary activists outside. During this critical historical period, these performances not only encouraged community empowerment, but they inculcated a spirit of collective faith and revolutionary optimism. Elam's critical reexamination and recontextualization of the ideologies and practices of El Teatro and the BRT aid in our understanding of contemporary manipulations of identity politics, as well as current strategies for racial representation and cultural resistance. \"A major contribution to our understanding of how social protest came to be so strong and how Black and Chicano theatre contributed to the synergy of those times.\" --Janelle Reinelt, University of California, Davis Harry J. 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