Black Theatre: Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora
edited by Paul Carter Harrison, Gus Edwards, and Victor Leo Walker II
(Temple U Press, 2002, paperback, 434 pages)
This collection of essays includes selections by scholars (Paul K. Bryant-Jackson, William Cook, and Keith Walker), practitioners and playwrights (Ntozake Shange, Femi Euba, Wole Soyinka, Derek Wolcott, George C. Wolfe, and Gus Edwards). Carter Harrison’s introductory “Praise/Word,” sets out the volume’s theoretical underpinnings. Playwright and director George C. Wolfe’s contribute the essay “Performance Method,” in which he discusses his use of the minstrel show, carnival, mask, and the Japanese theater techniques found in bunraku.
