Best Black Plays: The Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting

Chuck Smith

Northwestern University Press, Jul 27, 2007 - Drama - 226 pages

Within the relatively recent development of a tradition of African American playwriting, the Theodore Ward Prize has, over its twenty-year history, offered a rich reflection of the accomplishments of emerging and established black playwrights and their growing importance in shaping contemporary theater. This volume showcases three winners of the Theodore Ward Prize--plays that in their quality and subject matter aptly represent what is being written and produced by African American playwrights and theaters today.

Carefully selected by a director and educator who has been affiliated with the contest for eighteen of its twenty years, these three works have themes that range from the sordid shenanigans of a Depression-era "South Side Burial Society" (Leslie Lee's Sundown Names and Night-Gone Things) to a single mother's heartbreaking battle to save her children's souls (Mark Clayton Southers' Ma Noah) to a poignant and achingly funny reunion of three sisters after their parents' death (Kim Euell's The Diva Daughters DuPree). Their publication answers a growing demand for the work of African American playwrights even as it affords deep and varied insights into African American culture in our era.

Contents

• Sundown Names and NightGone Things Leslie Lee: 3
• Ma Noah Mark Clayton Southers: 79
• The Diva Daughters DuPress Kim Euell: 147
• Afterword Chuck Smith: 213
• Contest Guidelines: 217
• FirstPlace Winners of the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting: 221
• Scenes and Monologues: 223
• About the Playwrights: 225

About the author

Chuck Smith is a resident director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where his productions have included The Story, Proof, The Death of Bessie Smith, The Gift Horse, The Amen Corner, A Raisin in the Sun, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, A Christmas Carol, and The Meeting. Smith is also a faculty member in the Theater Department of Columbia College, Chicago. He is the editor of Seven Black Plays: The Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting (Northwestern, 2004).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Best Black Plays: The Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting
• Editor: Chuck Smith
• Contributors: Woodie King, Leslie Lee, Mark Clayton Southers, Kim Euell, Lisa Howe Ebright
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 2007
• ISBN: 0810123908, 9780810123908
• Length: 226 pages
• Subjects: Drama / Anthologies (multiple authors); Drama / General