African Americans in Theater and Popular Culture after 1945
An Adventures in Ideas EXPRESS seminar offered in collaboration with the PlayMakers Repertory Company production of Trouble in Mind
January 31, 2015
We are pleased to continue our partnership with PlayMakers Repertory Company as they produce the play by Alice Childress, Trouble in Mind (first performed in 1955). Three speakers will discuss the historical and biographical context of this provocative work, which explores the obstacles that African American playwrights and actors faced as they sought to break down racial barriers and stereotypes in post-1945 American theatrical culture. Historian William Sturkey will discuss both the discriminations and opportunities that shaped the experiences of black writers in this era, and drama expert Gregory Kable will describe Trouble’s early connections with the innovative off-Broadway theater experiments of the 1950s. His colleague Kathy Perkins, who knew Alice Childress and edited a volume of her plays, will draw on interviews and personal conversations to discuss the significance of this work in the playwright’s life and career. Immediately after this seminar, participants will be able to attend the PlayMakers’ matinee performance of the play.
Topics & Speakers
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Black Public Life in the 1950s
William Sturkey, Post-Doctoral Fellow in History
Making Space for New Theater: Trouble in Mind and the Emergence of Off-Broadway
Gregory Kable, Senior Lecturer in Dramatic Art
The Pains that Push my Pen: The Life and Works of Alice Childress
Kathy Perkins, Professor of Dramatic Art
Time & Cost
9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, January 31, 2015. The tuition is $75. Graduate students can attend for $15. Undergraduate students can attend for FREE! No discounts apply to this special event. A limited number of discounted tickets are available for the matinee performance at 2:00 p.m on January 31; the optional play ticket is $29.00. Pre-registration is required.
If you are an undergraduate student and would like to attend this program for free, please email human@unc.edu with the subject “Trouble in Mind” and include: your full name and your class year.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.