theowlanswers

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Some of my sources

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yDGDr_xSnP-R0udfP1HWKuqXm8ct7aQpXZEhWr_mN0I/edit?usp=sharing

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Here is a playbill from the premiere of The Owl Answers in 1965.

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Very First The Owl Answers production

The Owl Answers first premiered in 1965 at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut, directed by Michael Kahn. It was performed along with AM by Otis Bigelow, in a similar manner to the more recent 2016 production being put on with The Dutchman.

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The Owl Answers

The Owl Answers premiered in 1965 and is one of Adrienne Kennedy’s most fascinating plays. It follows She who is Clara Passmore through a dream like sequence on a set that is a subway car that is also the Tower of London also a Harlem hotel room and St. Peters. This one-act has underlying themes of her mixed race identity and love. The cast of characters has a vast range from Clara and her mother and father to Shakespeare, Anne Boleyn and Chaucer, most actors taking on multiple characters. 

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The beautiful Adrienne Kennedy herself. (Picture Credit: Susan Worsham for The New Yorker)

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The Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts movement was a movement that was started by Amiri Baraka, who’s play The Dutchman, was performed alongside Kennedy’s The Owl Answers, in 2016 at the Penumbra Theater. This movement took place in the 1960s and 1970s and it’s main goal was putting African-American work and artists into the mainstream. It was made up of art by black artists, centering black voices and intended to be consumed by people of color! In 1965, Baraka went on to found the Black Arts Repertory Theatre located in Harlem,  NY. This was not only a theatre, but a school for black artists to create and learn!

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Here is a link to a digital scrapbook on Adrienne Kennedy my friends Hanna and Coco made that was part of the inspiration for my project!

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Here is a document where I explain my visions with my costumes!

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Image from Ghana, 1960. The initial page Kennedy began writing The Owl Answers on. It started as a short story then grew into something more. 

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Racial. Hatred now. today I feel more than ever RACIAL HATRED AND its marks its wounds I can't see them and it is very disturbing

Adrienne Kennedy

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The reviews are in!

The combination piece of The Dutchman and The Owl Answers got outstanding reviews for it’s amazing creative combination of two separate pieces from the Black Arts Movement. 

Broadway World Minneapolis writes: “Penumbra Theatre does such great work that often transcends theater. This pairing of two plays that make up a whole story are no exception. Penumbra is one of the jewels of the Twin Cities theater scene, and if you've never been to their warm and welcoming St. Paul theater space, make this your introduction”

Minnesota Theater Love says She who is Clara actress, “Austene Van gives a mesmerizing, faultless performance”

Overall, it is safe to say Penumbra’s combination of the two pieces and The Owl Answers as it’s own separate play in combination with their amazing director, designers and actors pleased and inspired audiences. 

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Adrienne Kennedy Theatre Festival!

Because Kennedy’s work is so influential and inspirational, the McCarter Theatre Center of Princeton, New Jersey and the Round House Theatre of Bethesda, MD worked together to host an entire virtual theatre festival amplifying and celebrating Kennedy’s amazing work! This festival lasted from October of 2020 to April of 2021. This festival not only premiered her plays but held rich discussions and talkbacks. Although the festival is technically over, there is a YouTube playlist with their panel discussions you can access here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYgJpPYrc3eRZ7Y5POQHrOPFOryZW9whp! 

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Adrienne Kennedy

Adrienne Kennedy is an extremely impressive artist and experimental writer. Kennedy, born in 1931, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Her creativity was heavily based off of books and plays, as she often read in her free time growing up. She is currently 90 years old and has been writing since the 1960s. Despite starting writing 61 years ago, nothing has slowed her down yet. She is a three-time Obie Award winner and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in the year 2018. Her pieces are rich in experimentalism, characters, and they defy traditional Western norms. Although she tends to stray away from referring to her works as “plays” her short scenes are often put on in theatrical settings, thus the inspiration for this project! Just this year it was announced that Kennedy’s piece Ohio State Murders, is going to Broadway! Kennedy played an important role in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960′s and 1970′s. Although Kennedy prefers to keep herself outside of groups that box her into categories such as being a “feminist” “Black Playwright” or even a “playwright” at all, she helped in the founding of the Women’s Theater Council. 

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Director Talvin Wilks

Talvin Wilks is not only a director but also a playwright and a dramaturg. He has written numerous works such as Tod, the Boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread of Heaven, and An American Triptych. In a similar realm to Adrienne Kennedy, Wilks does not necessarily think of his pieces as plays. His pieces are heavily movement based as Tod, the Boy, Tod has been described as “a dance piece with text” (The New York Times), as well as “a rap rock ritual dance theater piece” (Ibid). Adrienne Kennedy has a similar mindset, and states about her own work that “ I feel that God gave me a gift to create what I call “little scenes,” I really mean that, I’m not trying to denigrate them. I can create little scenes on paper. But I’ve always found getting involved in a production very difficult and often a tremendous let down.” It appears Wilks has a similar mindset, so he is seemingly a perfect person to have put on some of Adrienne’s work!

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What is black art today?

In 2016, the Penumbra theatre put on Kennedy’s The Owl Answers, alongside Amiri Baraka‘s The Dutchman. As the two one act plays are both set on the subway and have similar themes, the Penumbra theatre took the creative liberty of combining two pieces and performing them back to back. The shows lasted the entirety of March and a couple of performances were followed by a post show discussion where they discussed the question “What is black art today? Who is pioneering the field? How are they connected to community?” 

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costume design by Mathew LeFebvre, for Talvin Wilk’s production of The Owl Answers performed by the Penumbra Theater Company

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Penumbra Theatre

These designs were partially inspired by the gorgeous works of Mathew LeFevbre from the Penumbra Theatre production directed by Talvin Wilks! The Penumbra Theatre is a black theater located in Saint Paul, Minnesota started in 1976 by Lou Bellamy. Their mission is to put on thought provoking pieces that are highlighted through an African American lens. Their main goals are:

“To increase public awareness of the significant contributions of African Americans in creating a diversified American theatrical tradition. To encourage and facilitate a culturally diverse and all-inclusive America by using theatre to teach, criticize, comment and model. To use theatre to create an American mythology that includes African Americans and other peoples of color in every thread of the fabric of our society. To continue to maintain and stabilize a black performing arts community.”

Check them out here!: https://penumbratheatre.org