#African Theatre

[deadassdiaspore]

Yoruba Alarinjo Theatre

[afrotumble]

Glory Van Scott next to Elizabeth Catlett's sculpture, Glory.

[twixnmix]

Lena Horne and her father Teddy Horne backstage at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, 1944.

Photos by Charles Harris

[droughtofapathy]

2023-2024 Broadway Season Ranked

I saw every new show that opened on Broadway in the 2023-2024 season. Once more, perfectly normal and not at all cost-prohibitive. Compared to seasons' past, this one was plentiful in new musicals and utterly bereft of quality. Usually I have at least four shows that rewire my entire circuitry, but not this time.

Do you have strong opinions on any of these new shows? Are you filled with unstoppable rage at this list? Do you agree wholeheartedly? Discuss.

[garadinervi]

[To Aid / Southern States Sit in Movement / Martin Luther King Defense] [An Evening of / Music and Drama / for Freedom Now / Starring in person / Harry Belafonte / Mahalia Jackson / Sidney Poitier / Shelley Winters / (1960 Academy Award Winner) / Diahann Carroll / Production Supervised by / Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee / Freedom Drama written by / Lorraine Hansbury (author of ‘Raisin In The Sun’) – John Killens – George Tabori], New York, NY, 1960 [Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.]

[sleepynegress]

Love this interview... I have been semi-checking in on Zawe's journey since before certain stans were feeling some kinda way about her recent familial additions. I do for certain Black actors/creators especially, who seem to be moving in interesting ways in entertainment/film media...

-A remnant from a period when I used to go to screenings and blog about films (and was published a few times in a major national newspaper)... So, I knew of Zawe through the grapevine of her mentorship, i.e. she is the reason why Rege Jean Page of Bridgerton fame got to work in U.S. markets, as she sponsored him. And she is known, as one of those "good eggs" who will be accessible and help/advise especially young actors of color. ...But, I have some other stuff to say. This isn't about proving that she's an amazing human being. It's about a certain brand of misogynoir that some of these people far beneath her in self-knowledge, self-love, and just plain grown-ass-woman-personhood...keep letting fly in what they *think* are compliments, but actually are just trite microaggressions. Saying things like "as long she makes [T-blank H-blank] happy then she's alright" as if he's the centered human and her attachment renders her worthy somehow. Babies, as long as SHE'S happy. Yall. He's marrying up.

WAY UP and the fact that he knows this? Actually elevates him. She's been there.

She tells a story in the above interview that reminds me of Uzo Aduba's anecdote about her name , - of an incident when she was called to an early job (at 6!) and someone there said she wasn't pretty because of her gap and her Ugandan mother took her on past this person and into the room, ANYWAY.

... She learned a specific self-knowledge and self-love, that is necessary in very white western spaces that constantly pressures a narrow sense of worthiness and beauty, especially from Black women, something a lot of these small-minded stans don't even have a notion of seeing beyond. Zawe is biracial, and her features, aside from her skin tone are very African. So while she benefits from colorism, featurism is something I've seen those bigoted stans, pick on as well. She knows those features are what makes her beautiful and knew that, w/o and before her partner saw that too. And people who aren't blind narrow-minded ignoramuses can *also* see that. This is why I assert the fact of featurism needing to be in the conversation of light/dark privilege conversations. Lips, nose, gap, and even the set of her eyes are ethnic beauty markers within quite a few spaces in the Black African diaspora... My mom was an absolute stunner because of her gap.

Even the old school white model Lauren Hutton got there because of her gap. Uzo Aduba, who I have already mentioned has a deeper skintone and has similarly large round striking eyes, gap, and a non-pinched-nose *rightly* played Glinda in NBC's production of The Wiz a few years back, with Dorothy saying she's so beautiful *because* of those features, not despite them as a very narrow white-washed gaze would wrongly assert.

And while we're here that includes sizes and shapes too. I'm saying your boy is enjoying all that plush. A lot of yall need to read or reread Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman, for comprehension.

Anyway... All this to say I know Zawe is and will be fine regardless.

P.S. Maya Angelou *also* had height, and gap and was very much known for her beauty/magnetism as a woman when she was alive. :

[jack-kellys]

i also have to request tuts mush and jack being best friends (/nf)

i just love them sm 😭😭😭

curly haired duo!

[tomorrowusa]

The Donald "Dozy Donny" Trump trial has been pushing other items out of the news. But it is not the only news story making history in New York.

Zeita Merchant just became the first woman of color to reach the rank of admiral in the US Coast Guard.

Her promotion ceremony took place at the NYC theater which hosts the play Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton happens to be the father of the Coast Guard.

Adm. Merchant decided to join the Coast Guard at the last minute. It turned out to be a good choice and she became a career officer, rising through the ranks to admiral.

By coincidence, I visited Alexander Hamilton after the solar eclipse earlier this month. He probably would have been pleased by this connection to him in the 21st century.

[theonlyadawong]

Jaja's African Hair Braiding

Written by Jocelyn Bioh

Dir. Whitney White

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 2023

This dazzling world premiere welcomes you into Jaja’s bustling hair braiding shop in Harlem where every day, a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home.

(Photos by Matthew Murphy)

[broadwaydivastournament]

BROADWAY DIVAS SUPERLATIVES: And the Tony Goes to...

The play's the thing, and all of the nominees this year are superb. But one stands above them all.

Video Clips Beneath the Cut: More Polls

[do-you-know-this-play]

[kemetic-dreams]

Marian Anderson (1897-1993)

Though she’s considered one of the greatest contralto singers in the world, Anderson was often denied the opportunity to show off her unique vocal range because of her race. However, in 1955, she became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, and in 1957, she went on a 12-nation tour sponsored by the Department of State and the American National Theatre and Academy. She documented the experience in her autobiography, My Lord What a Morning. In 1963, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her last major accomplishment before her death was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 1991.

[nimoy]

i stopped going so hard for orville peck for many reasons as much as i still love the music and the theatrics but never in a million years will you catch me running in the same circles as hardcore trixie mattel fans like i just cant do it like that is a deal breaker for me.

[personal-blog243]

The Book of Mormon musical:

. Portrays black people as stupid, uneducated, dirty, unhygienic, violent, baby-raping, primitive, savages, who thing raping babies is a magical cure for AIDS and have maggots in their scrotums and have never heard of Disney or texting even though white western missionaries visit their town EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. YEAR.

. Makes fun of African accents.

. Portrays white supremacist colonialists and imperialists as harmless, innocent, charming, lovable, naïve, well-meaning, nice, goofballs, with individuality and complex personalities and character arcs. (And significantly more lines and stage time).

. Is directed and produced by an almost entirely white crew who did not hire a single African consultant.

. Doesn’t properly subvert the white savior narrative and instead just plays the traditional trope vaguely “ironically”

. Only includes cis-het, abled, white men in all advertisements so you don’t know it’s about Africans until you’ve already bought your ticket. Instead the ads just have a picture of a random doorknob???

Eclipsed: play by Danai Gurira

. Is a powerful play about the Liberian civil war told from the perspective of Liberian women (writtten by Danai Gurira of The Walking Dead and Black Panther). Starring Lupita Nyong’o from Black Panther, The Woman King, 12 years ago slave, and US; it’s historically and culturally accurate and has a message about the ethics of different strategies of activism.

[mariocki]

Edward Woodward guest stars as Jack Liskard, Prime Minister of an unspecified African country and the target of multiple assassination attempts, in The Saint: The Persistent Patriots (5.15, ITC, 1967)

[garadinervi]

a RAISIN in the SUN, «Playbill», April 2014 [Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.]