Black Theatre

Black Nativity: Nows The Time

A picture OVERVIEW ON THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE
Aspects of the dramatic do arts can be found in cultures virtually the world. Globally speaking, the Statesn Theater is a relatively immature tradition. As field has evolved from the African roots of Greek disaster to Shakespearean epics, American stages have produced a wide chemical chain of plays, largely influenced by the diverse peoples inhabiting this nation. In its primaeval years, American Theater reflected the lives of its proponents, namely white, property-owning, Christian men. Ironically, even as America established itself as a sovereign nation, the drama of the mean solar day came largely from Europe, which boasted a unique canon of die hard. Still, as early as 1821 black American artists were creating, staging and performing for mix audiences, showcasing both existing and original work. One of the first subject companies to approach the dramatic performing arts from an African American perspective was The African Grove Theater in rising York City.



It was founded by William Henry Brown and James Hewlett, both who had travelled by ship throughout the Caribbean, where story-telling, performance, dance and music were inborn to the culture and survival of the slaves working on sugar jaw and tobacco plantations, salt flats and mines. The company performed tragedies and comedies from Shakespeare to American playwrights. Eventually, the need for work that came from within the African American experience proved itself. two years after it opened, the first play written and produced by an African American was presented at the African Grove in 1823. The play, The Drama of King Shotaway, by Brown, played to mixed (though predominately black) audiences that year. However, umteen whites were adamantly opposed to the existence of such a theater and frequent police raids, harassment and threats forced Brown and Hewlett to move the theater several times throughout the lower eastern side of Manhattan....If you want to get a full essay, regularise it on our website: Orderessay



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