CONCEPT FOR A PLAY

.,ri:::.:i!.: continuestobegivendistinguishedproductionsacrossthecountry.Thisphotoisfromthe2003 - - i erkeley Repertory Theatre, directed by Delroy Lindo, who played Herald Loomis in the

f irst Broadway pro-

. - = srows the characters dancing the Juba, which takes place at the end of Act 1 ' The actors are Barry Shebaka

- -::r, Don Guillory and Brent Jennings. ln 2009 the play was given a celebrated production at Lincoln Center

Chapter 3 . The PlaYwright's Vision

,::ended by Barack and Michelle obama, the President and First Lady of the united states

r :AL ANM CULTUMAL : ,-S OF THX PLAY - i rcmarkable play, which is both

, :t-11t and the drarnatization of a -. -. ,\ugrrst Wilson is resPonding

- ..-rural context-that is, the Per- - ,,. social, and artistic forces that -.'r:rte his particuiar perspective.

, -. '. c is shaped by the experiences - ' \nerican as well as through the

,:her artists. Fttr exarnple, Wilson

- ' the cxplosive 1960s, when black

cultural awareness led to a urajor reassessment of A.merican history and the relationship of black Americans to the society in whicil they lived' For

Wilson, ideas of "self'-detemrination, seli--respect,

ancl self-defense" becanle crucial to his outlook'5

During this time he also discovered the blues,

which provicled an oral and a tnusical rendering of the hisiory and texturc of black A'tnerican life' '{s we will disc.,ss shortly, Wilson's fascination with

lireat blues artists such as Bessie Srnith ied hirn

to the work of anodrer artist, this titne a painter,

Romare Bearden. Bearden had ftrund a $"ay to cre-

ate visual narratives out of the iife sr.rng about in the