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The Spectre on Stage
Theater, as a medium, has historically offered unique and groundbreaking ways to illuminate singular visions of and insights into Black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation.
On this episode of On the Yard, MarQuis Bullock, Head of Collections in MSRC’s Manuscripts Division, is joined by special guest Dominique Morriseau, award-winning playwright and author. Morriseau’s work includes the Tony Award-nominated play Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, Detroit 67, Confederates, Pipeline, Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, and Follow Me to Nellie’s. She's also the Tony Award-nominated book writer on the Broadway musical, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations.
Morriseau and Bullock explore the creative tensions Black playwrights and theater makers may be confronted with as they navigate the impact of historical precedent, what cultural expectations are imposed upon them and their work, how the ordinary rhythms of Black life intersect with the enduring weight of history, and how Black imagination and creativity within theater can accommodate, question, or even resist that entanglement.
Episode Guide:
00:00 Introduction
04:47 Literary Influences and Inspirations
07:01 The Influence of Poetry on Playwriting
08:30 Black Aesthetic and Language in Theater
10:58 Accountability to the Past in Black Theater
14:22 Challenges and Realities of Black Playwriting
23:09 The Politics and Ideology of Black Plays
31:56 The Unique Power of Theater
37:30 Balancing Past and Present in Black Life
42:58 Sources of Artistic Inspiration
On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM.
Episode Quotes:
The power of theater to reveal unseen realities
03:52: By interrogating the unique possibilities of theater as a medium, I'm hoping that today we can illuminate how black theater, black creativity, offers singular visions of and insights into black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation.
There is no path to black liberation without confronting black pain
28:42: There is no path to black liberation or black joy without confronting black pain. And telling black storytellers to skip the pain part is like telling your doctor to skip the journey of the medicine into the healing. That's crazy talk. We are not going to heal if we are not going to deal.
Art always rebuilds broken civilizations
33:16: Because theater, like it has always done, like art has always done in the past. This is why the past does matter because the past will teach you that art always rebuilds broken civilizations. It's always been the answer. And will again. And so theater is necessary to be a part of that movement of civilization mending and rebuilding.
Show Links:
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
View all episodes
By The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard UniversityTheater, as a medium, has historically offered unique and groundbreaking ways to illuminate singular visions of and insights into Black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation.
On this episode of On the Yard, MarQuis Bullock, Head of Collections in MSRC’s Manuscripts Division, is joined by special guest Dominique Morriseau, award-winning playwright and author. Morriseau’s work includes the Tony Award-nominated play Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, Detroit 67, Confederates, Pipeline, Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, and Follow Me to Nellie’s. She's also the Tony Award-nominated book writer on the Broadway musical, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations.
Morriseau and Bullock explore the creative tensions Black playwrights and theater makers may be confronted with as they navigate the impact of historical precedent, what cultural expectations are imposed upon them and their work, how the ordinary rhythms of Black life intersect with the enduring weight of history, and how Black imagination and creativity within theater can accommodate, question, or even resist that entanglement.
Episode Guide:
00:00 Introduction
04:47 Literary Influences and Inspirations
07:01 The Influence of Poetry on Playwriting
08:30 Black Aesthetic and Language in Theater
10:58 Accountability to the Past in Black Theater
14:22 Challenges and Realities of Black Playwriting
23:09 The Politics and Ideology of Black Plays
31:56 The Unique Power of Theater
37:30 Balancing Past and Present in Black Life
42:58 Sources of Artistic Inspiration
On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM.
Episode Quotes:
The power of theater to reveal unseen realities
03:52: By interrogating the unique possibilities of theater as a medium, I'm hoping that today we can illuminate how black theater, black creativity, offers singular visions of and insights into black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation.
There is no path to black liberation without confronting black pain
28:42: There is no path to black liberation or black joy without confronting black pain. And telling black storytellers to skip the pain part is like telling your doctor to skip the journey of the medicine into the healing. That's crazy talk. We are not going to heal if we are not going to deal.
Art always rebuilds broken civilizations
33:16: Because theater, like it has always done, like art has always done in the past. This is why the past does matter because the past will teach you that art always rebuilds broken civilizations. It's always been the answer. And will again. And so theater is necessary to be a part of that movement of civilization mending and rebuilding.
Show Links:
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.