Ishmael Reed: The PlaysThe award-winning plays of one of the most celebrated and innovative American writers of our time. Ishmael Reed’s career as one of our great playwrights has long been eclipsed by his other work. Here published for the first time, Reed’s plays follow the ancient tradition of using the theater as a forum in which the official versions of our history can be critiqued. Dealing with subjects that mainstream theatergoers might find disturbing—homelessness, the arbitrary entrapment of a black politician, the excesses of the radical feminist movement, the use of black conservatives to promote right-wing agendas, the exploitation of blacks and Africans as unsuspecting guinea pigs by the pharmaceutical industry, and the hypocrisy of the Christian church—Reed’s plays are a pungent antidote to the watered-down world of contemporary pop culture, where, Reed argues, minority voices remain as marginalized and stigmatized as they were a hundred years ago. |
Contents
9 | |
23 | |
savage wilds | 101 |
hubba city | 163 |
the preacher and the rapper | 225 |
the c above c above high c | 287 |
body parts | 337 |
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Common terms and phrases
ACT II SCENE African Americans ain't ANTHONY HALL armstrong ATTORNEY bebopper begins BLACK AGENT BLANCHE WALLMART BOBBIE RAT BUMP CHAIRPERSON crack Crackpot dressed drug Ed Bullins enters eva starr exits glare gloria going GREENBELT hands head hear HOOVER JACKSON JAKE JOCKO john friday JOHN MCKNUTLEY JUANITA kids KING RABBIT KOKO KROCK krud laugh look Louis Louis Armstrong MABEL mamie manicurist MARGO marse Martin mayor MICHAEL CHEN miguel Algarín MILDRED misogyny MOTHER HUBBARD never newscaster Nuyorican Poets Café Oakland OLYMPIA Pause play POPE President REVEREND RUDOLPH Santeria Savage Wilds SHEENA Simon Legree sits Sound Street talk tell There’s thing Tough Love Institute trying Uncle Sanford vanessa and sheena wadsworth walk Wamu Warhaus wears What’s WHITE AGENT wife wingate woman women Wyums Yeah YVONNE