Strategies
The development of a classroom wall annotated timeline will help us keep track of the dual histories of African American actors and American history. We will see side by side the often mind-bending contrast between soaring dramatic performance and abject human degradation. Attention to the variety of performances in live theater, film and television will round out this inquiry. Students will use primary and secondary sources and be encouraged to make personal contact via telephone or email with research entities like the Schomburg Library in Harlem. We will look at the interaction of personal story, political context and theatrical tradition in the biographies of these men and women. We will consider solo performances, all-black casts, and the issue of black directors — something debated in the context of plays by August Wilson among others.
Students will research societal attitudes in the United States, theater history, and the myriad ways in which obstacles were both placed and overcome. Seemingly inevitably, Othello, the Moor, has traditionally been the role first won by black actors. We will investigate the nature of the story, the history of its staging, the evolution from white to black actors and back again. We will evaluate what elements of the story relate to African American history, or as Marjorie Garber suggests, to any situation in society where "difference" in the context of society is significant in the lives of its members.
On a philosophical level, looking at a range of Shakespeare plays reveals themes that apply to any and all cultures: power acquisition, jealousy, sibling rivalry, revenge, and distrust. As far back as the 1820's black actors embraced roles in Shakespeare plays other than Othello: Richard III, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, King Lear and Hamlet. In the ensuing years, popular vehicles among African American Shakespeareans included The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Once students perceive the powerful lessons in the plays, they have the foundation for preparing their own scenes to perform as well as to write modernized versions following Hollywood efforts like the movie "O." With this grounding and with funding from the school district, classes can journey to live performances of Shakespeare plays with a keener understanding. Ultimately we will extend our study to other writers, carrying forward the analytical skills utilized in looking at Shakespeare's mastery of creating living, breathing, believable human beings out of nothing more than "mere" words.
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