20th century American Theatre: Cultural Independence

- Cultural renewal in the modern world, The Harlem Renaissance, Anti-Lynching drama (Angelina Weld Grimke)

Little Theatre Movement

* inspired by Europe’s Independent Theatre Movement (end of 19th century)
* 1910’s and 1920’s
* New and experimental American plays
* the goal was to provide an alternative to commercial theatre
* Many successful playwrights in the US had their start in the Little Theatre Movement and managed to have plays performed on Broadway

Commercial theatre

* Dominated by Broadway theatres and touring productions
* produced plays that were already successful to guarantee financial success
* Broadway theatres were (and still are) largest and most elegant in NYC
* touring productions staged previously successful shows with star actors

Provincetown Players

* Most prominent in the Little Theatre Movement
* Group of writers with no previous theatrical experience
* Formed in 1915
* Held their plays in group members’ homes
* Moved to NYC a year after forming and produced 2 Eugene O’Neill plays (thus launching his career)
* Established several other playwrights in American canon

The Harlem Renaissance (focused)

* The fall of Minstrel shows due to vaudeville (the most popular theatrical form in the 19th century)
* Black drama was not a popular form (did thrive alongside other black arts in Harlem)
* The Great Migration
* Housing tension (racist housing practices and policies in turn fostered strong black communities)
* Growth of African American urban culture
* Harlem -previously all-white neighbourhood, but by the 1920’s \~200,000 black Americans living there

Vaudeville

* several, normally unrelated acts grouped on one playbill
* Includes musicians, dancers, magicians, clowns, one-act plays or selected scenes from plays
* Often performed on Broadway, ==Black actors included==

The Great Migration

* 6 million Black Americans relocate from the South to the North, Midwest, and West
* 1916-1970
* Due to economic turmoil and racial inequality
* WW1 drove need for industrial workers, factories in the North payed 3x as much as Black Americans could get working their land in the South
* One reason why New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit have large Black populations

2 important developments in Black culture due to the Great Migration

* Rise in political activism
* Cultural revolution - Harlem Renaissance (originally called the New Negro Movement)

Harlem Renaissance (overview)

* Development of Harlem into the Black American culture capital
* 1910s to mid 1930s
* Golden age of African American culture
* Drama, literature, music, dance, and visual arts
* Explored subjects of Black life (in North and South US), racial identity, equality, etc.
* Development of jazz and the blues
* Writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes
* Historic Apollo Theatre - the soul of American culture
* First time Black Americans portrayed as complex individuals instead of stereotypes
* Actors such as Paul Robeson led this theatrical revolution

Anti-Lynching Drama

* Also referred to as lynching drama
* Spurred the movement towards serious drama for black artists
* Black Americans organized to persuade politicians to end this practice of racial terrorism
* Later began pushing for anti-lynching legislation
* Black women at the forefront in the movement and the writing of anti-lynching dramas
* Anti-lynching drama echoed goal of social change of William Wells Browns’ The Escape; or, A Leap For Freedom
* Playwrights of anti-lynching dramas refused to depict lynchings on stage (focused instead on the threat or previous occurrence of lynching, also focused on representing the black home)

History of lynching in the US

* widespread extrajudicial killings
* Began in the south prior to the Civil War
* Height between 1890’s and 1920’s, considered to have ended in 1950’s and 1960’s
* Primary victims were Black Americans
* Used as a tool to enforce white supremacy
* Victims were accused of a crime, but allegations could have pretexts - it’s believed that often victims either violated Jim Crow laws or were seeing economic success
* Did not only include hangings, but hangings sometimes photographed
* Lynching postcards distributed

Anti-lynching dramas on the stage

* depicted how lynchings affected Black families and communities and their ability to feel safe
* Few drama’s received full productions (mostly performed or read in homes and churches for black audiences - “embodied practice of Black belonging”
* One goal was to provide Black audiences with strategies for living with lynching
* Playwrights refused to depict lynchings on stage -- instead focused on the threat, or the previous occurrence of one

Angelina Weld Grimké (Rachel) and anti-lynching drama

* first anti-lynching dramatist
* Born to Sarah Grimke and Archibald Grimke (a vice president of the national association for the advancement of coloured people)
* Named after her abolitionist great-aunt
* Grew up middle class, mother was white, father was mixed
* Attended prestigious schools
* Worked as an English teacher in Washington D.C.
* Mostly wrote poems and short stories

Grimke and “Rachel”

* First serious drama written by a Black American and performed by Black actors to receive public performance
* Pioneered anti-lynching drama
* Demonstrates how anti-black racism affects the home
* Unlike other anti-lynching plays, Rachel was written for white/integrated audiences
* Received mixed reviews for this fact (some commended for integration of audiences, other criticized highlighting elements of European culture)

Nation Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP)

* Established after turn of 20th century, and soon created specials committee to push for anti-lynching legislation
* NAACP put out call for “race propaganda” in response to the firm Birth of a Nation -- Grimke submitted her play Rachel

Grimke response to critics

* Wrote the play to appeal to white women
* Felt like white women would be able to connect to the theme of motherhood
* Idealization of motherhood at the time, representing this in the play was intended to appeal to white women’s consciences