Blueprints for a Black Federal Theatre [Hardcover]

This book focuses on debates of various groups of black and white critics, audiences, and artists over African American theatre in the 1930s.The Work Progress Administration funded the Federal Theater Project to sustain unemployed theatrical workers in major urban centers. Some of the most memorable works were produced by the so-called Negro Units, whose story is narrated in this book.The Work Progress Administration funded the Federal Theater Project to sustain unemployed theatrical workers in major urban centers. Some of the most memorable works were produced by the so-called Negro Units, whose story is narrated in this book.During the 1930s the Work Progress Administration funded the Federal Theater Project to sustain unemployed theatrical workers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major urban centers, employing over 12,000 people and presenting countless productions. Some of the most popular and memorable of these works, such as the voodoo Macbeth and the swing Mikado, were produced in the so-called Negro Units, whose story is narrated in this book. Particular focus is given to problems of representation in a community and in an era trying to define what was African American, what was Negro, what was American, what was peculiar, and what was universal in the arts.List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. A new deal (or not) for culture; 2. Critical directions: toward a national negro theatre; 3. Producing new dramas: the politics of choice; 4. The unpredictable audience; 5. Acting properly; Afterword; Notes; Index. Fraden's active yet balanced voice makes the work approachable for the casual reader yet her meticulous exploration of cultural and political frictions inside and beyond the project represents a significant contribution to the study of Negro FT making it required reading for any serious scholar of not only the Federal Theatre Project but of the American theatre scene of the 1930's. Theatre Studies, Vol. 41 ThlÃ&