Welcome to the Black Playwrights Play Reading Group

Image from American Theatre Magazine: https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/02/26/were-going-to-need-a-bigger-table/

Hello everyone.

My name is Tiffany Gilly and I am a fierce supporter and ally to Black lives and the Black Lives Matter movement. I am currently an acting student in the MFA program at Louisiana State University and this year I took a class with Dr. Femi Euba called "Drama of the African Diaspora" where we read a long list of plays by Black playwrights. I want to share those plays with everyone I know.

This is my attempt to make a difference in my art community to support the Black Lives Matter Movement. I have said it in the past and have heard it repeated often that many artists "don't know a lot of plays by Black playwrights." This may be for lack of any of us attempting to research beyond just a google search, it may be because of limited resources and education; a big problem is because most of what we read in theatre classes, acting classes, and other performance classes have been white-washed and are white-centric.

To equip myself, my colleagues and anyone who will listen, I'm starting a reading group where once a week, we will read a play by a Black playwright because Black voices are being silenced and need to be heard. Black playwrights have been writing for a long time and attention has been given to very few of them.

Have you heard of A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry or Fences by August Wilson? These are two very popular plays by Black playwrights. But why? Scholars write about these plays being easier to watch, more palatable for white people than other plays such as Dutchman by Leroi Jones (later Amiri Baraka) or Dream on Monkey Mountain by Derek Walcott. I want to dive into these thoughts and share research and resources with anyone who wants to participate. I want to grow and share in that growth.

So here's the plan:

• The reading group will begin in one week on Monday, June 8th at 7pm CST with a kickoff meeting via Zoom. Please email me if you want to be part of the group and I'll add you to an email list where I will send the Zoom link Monday morning.
• The Zoom meeting will be recorded and emailed out to the group after to review and for those who can't make it during a certain week. It will not be posted on Youtube.
• Once a week, we will read on our own time a play by a Black playwright.
• Come to each Monday meeting having read the play (with the exception of the first week) to discuss the play.
• Please don't download free versions of the play unless they are public domain. Support Black playwrights, pay for their art. Plays often cost less than $10.00. Borrow it from a friend or check it out from a library. I know we all have different financial situations, but I urge you to find ways to cut back somewhere else and invest in these playwrights. A few of the plays we are reading are very hard to find online. If you cannot find the play anywhere, email me and I will help you find it or send you a PDF if I have one and request that you donate to a BIPOC organization in lieu of a cost for that play.
• Avoid purchasing on Amazon.com if you can find the play somewhere else. Try any of these resources:

1. Powell's Books: https://www.powells.com/
2. Mahogany Books: https://www.mahoganybooks.com/
3. Semicolon Bookstore: http://www.semicolonchi.com/
4. Harriett's Bookshop: https://www.harriettsbookshop.com/
5. Dramatist Play Service: https://www.dramatists.com/
6. Samuel French: https://www.concordtheatricals.com/
7. Your local Library (especially in bigger cities, you can find really big play sections)
8. There are more resources out there. Do the work, don't just lazily give up and get it on Amazon if you can help it.

• Amplify Black voices. As a white woman, I do not want to spend most of the time talking in these zoom chats. I hope to hear from and make space for Black creatives that I know to share their thoughts more often than sharing mine. I expect the same from anyone who participates. I will be the facilitator, but that does not mean I need to be heard all the time.
• This is heavily focused on getting many non-people of color to, for lack of a better way of saying it, "catch the f**k up." I don't expect any actors of color to answer all our questions or be obligated to speak. The playwrights have already spoken by writing these plays. This group will be focused on catching up those of us non-POC who need to read material written by and for Black people as well as being a place where POC can be heard if they so desire.
• Share this with anyone who might be interested in reading with us.
• MODIFICATION: I have heard now from a few people who wish they could participate, but cannot afford the plays. I have decided to make an option for folks who wish to come to the Zoom discussions and listen to the discussion who cannot participate for any reason. If you cannot purchase or read the play, you are invited to listen to the discussions and learn.
• I will weekly post articles about the plays and offer a summary of each play weekly for those who cannot read them. This will of course involve spoilers, but I don't believe that's the point of this group, so lay your desire to not have the story spoiled aside in the name of learning.

Here are the first 12 weeks of plays. Order them online now.

• INTRO: Meet, lay down expectations, share plan of action
• WEEK 1: Dutchman and The Slave by Leroi Jones
• WEEK 2: Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson
• WEEK 3: Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy
• WEEK 4: Trouble In Mind by Alice Childress
• WEEK 5: Sweat by Lynn Nottage
• WEEK 6: The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks
• Week 7: Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau
• Week 8: A Tempest by Aimé Césaire
• Week 9: Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
• Week 10: Rachel by Angelina Emily Weld Grimke
• Week 11: A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
• Week 12: The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe
  (Youtube video available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra09yV_VaTk&t=2s)

These are just a start. I want to continue to choose plays by new playwrights each week. But let's do this one chunk at a time. Twelve weeks is a good start.

I don't know how many people will be interested or how successful this will be, but what matters to me is trying to use my resources to help the Black Lives Matter Movement as an actor. I hope it makes a positive impact in some people's lives and spreads awareness of Black Playwrights and their beautiful artistic endeavors in theatre.

See you next week!