THE ONGOING STRUGGLE

THE ONGOING STURGGLE

The ongoing struggle is a term I have heard used in many contexts but tonight I read the bio of a writer who talks about the ongoing struggles of black female playwrights. Lynn Nottage (born 1964) said that black playwrights find themselves in a catch-22, where our stories are not familiar because they won’t be produced, and our stories won’t ever become familiar if we can’t be produced. It’s an ongoing struggle.

Isn’t that something that people generally identify with? I know that as a minority woman, it’s often confusing trying to navigate a field when there are no mentors or cheerleaders believing you can accomplish anything. I connected with that scenario as a young educated woman trying to find a career that would sustain me and my family financially. The vicious circle I always found myself in was no one wanted to give me an opportunity to have a career with competitive pay because I had no previous experience. I had no previous experience because no one wanted to give me a job. It took over 20 years and dogmatic determination before I could exhale on pay day.

So it is the same with minorities on stage and in film industries. African-American female playwrights like Ms. Nottage are neither few nor far in-between but no one is running to their door asking to produce their works. It is a sad commentary, that when black female writers are mentioned, most people think only of Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), or Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). Notable writers like Lynn Nottage, Alice Childress (1920-1994), and Adrienne Kennedy (1931) from the modern era, or early century writers Mary P. Burrill (1881-1946) and Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859-1930) works are invisible to massive audiences. What were these and other playwrights like them guilty of? Their works were seen on Broadway in scattered venues because the stories they wrote told of a people that the executives of theater declared no one was interested in hearing about.

Story telling has always been one of the richest aspects of the African-American life. Before we were allowed to read or write we preserved our lineage through the accounts that were handed down from generation to generation. Those stories allowed us to hold our heads high and be proud of whom we were when the world around us said blacks were not important. Family story time bridged the gap between nothingness and the courage to be proud and determined to reach our goals. Other groups wondered how we made it so well when all had been done to keep us from success, but little did they know that the power grew from our stories.

In this modern society the black narrative has been diluted because of the lack of black produced works. The absence of stories from black female writers has left a generation of people without a culture to value and identify with. Tales of mis-educated Negros, the black farmer’s struggle, ‘father has gone and mother ain’t there,’ etc have all been lost in the void.
Incubating, commissioning, producing, and supporting black female writers is the start to not only telling good stories, but the beginning to changing the direction of a disenfranchised people. If we can find the stories that once inspired a culture of urban people and give back a source of pride so badly needed, we may once again bridge the gap. Young men with their pants sagging, carrying oozes, and killing each other may see that they are rich in heritage, and have nothing to prove—all has already been proven. Little ladies will understand that with a pen she can say so much more and many will listen instead of finding approval in having a baby before she can take care of herself.

Will this article make a difference, no I don’t think so. However, it is through pure heart that this organization will try. If the executive producers of Broadway don’t see the value of black females and their stories then we must see the value ourselves. We must encourage each other to write, and solicit everyone we know to read works by black writers, especially females. We must demand to see those black works that have been published. Write to your local theatre group or Film Company and request they put up more African-American plays.

Pulse Art to Life is in the process of reading two original works out of New York by a black playwright. We hope to put at least one of the works up next year in our first season. Pulse is making a conscious effort to fill the gap until more people decide that they want to hear everyone’s stories: good, better and best.
-Louise