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Black Playwrights and Heightened Text: When Shakespeare Ain't Enuf breaks down the misconception that heightened text sits only within a white tradition and brings the work of Black playwrights from across history to the forefront by highlighting the use of heightened dramatic text in their work.
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Defining and Re-defining Heightened Text
Chapter 2. Rhythm and Blues: Scansion and the Nuances of African American Vernacular English
Chapter 3. On Coming from Africa to America: From Phillis Wheatley to the African Grove Theatre
Chapter 4. The Harlem Renaissance: The New Negro Era
Chapter 5. The Legacy of Lorraine Hansberry's
A Raisin in the SunChapter 6. Writing a Revolution: Theatre of the Black Arts Movement and the Creation of the Black Aesthetic
Chapter 7. August Wilson: The Century Cycle and Wilson's Effect on the Post-Black Arts Movement
Chapter 8. Take a Giant Step: Heightened Text at the Turn of the Century and Beyond
Interviews: In Their Own Words
Interviewees' biographies
Define the term "heightened text"
Discussing rhythm, meter and the intentionality of how language is used in playwriting
On favorite Black playwrights and the legacy they leave
How can we expand, re-define, and/or de-colonize the classical canon?
About the author
Jacqueline Springfield is an actor, director and educator. She currently serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University, USA. She is a certified Associate Instructor of Fitzmaurice Voicework and an Associate Editor of the International Dialects of English Archive.
Summary
Black Playwrights and Heightened Text: When Shakespeare Ain’t Enuf breaks down the misconception that heightened text sits only within a white tradition and brings the work of Black playwrights from across history to the forefront by highlighting the use of heightened dramatic text in their work.
