Synopses & Reviews
This volume represents the first major bibliography on Black theatre and performance in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Canada. Unlike previous bibliographies on the topic, this work gives equal weight to Africa and the African Diaspora, and to biographical/critical material and play texts themselves. John Gray has collected more than 4,000 entries from a broad range of media, books, dissertations and theses, unpublished papers, periodical and newspaper articles, films, and videotapes. More than 650 playwrights and theatre groups from 45 countries are featured, as are performance genres that range from masquerades and carnival celebrations to the most recent works of noted playwrights such as Wole Soyinka and Derek Walcott.
The work is organized into two categories: studies of specific geographic areas and countries, and materials on individual playwrights. Within these categories, works cited are further divided according to the type of material, such as book, journal, or dissertation. Also included are a listing of major bibliographies on African-American theatre, and two appendices that cite reference works and provide a regional listing of African and African Diaspora playwrights and theatre companies. A set of four indexes, covering artists, play titles, subjects, and authors of cited works, conclude the book and provide easy access to its comprehensive listings. This unique work will be an important resource for courses in African studies, theatre arts, and minority and ethnic studies. It will also be a useful addition to the reference collections of college, university, and public libraries.
Synopsis
"This important work contains just short of 4,000 citations to monographs, chapters in monographs, journal articles, dissertations, audio tapes, video tapes, and reviews. Drawn American and Western European as well as African imprints. The main body of the work is divided into three sections: `Cultural History and the Arts,' `African Theatre,' and `Black Theatre and Performance in the Diaspora.' . . . Because of its arrangement, it is an easy bibliography to browse. Four separate indexes (artist, title, subject, and author) simplify its use even further. No other bibliographic compilation in African and black theater is as recent or as comprehensive." Choice
Description
Includes bibliographic references (p. [309]-323) and index.
About the Author
JOHN GRAY is a cultural historian specializing in Black culture. He is currently Director of the Black Arts Research Center, an archival resource center dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of the African cultural legacy.