Texas Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin Presents YEAR OF THE TIGER
Year of the Tiger is a blend of fact and fiction that seeks to respond to some of the troubling and often unbelievable events of the past year.by BWW News Desk
Texas Theatre and Dance will present Year of the Tiger, a newly-developed work that explores our shared reality of the past year. On the eve of the anniversary of the COVID-19 global pandemic, a news anchor is preparing for a special transmission commemorating the year that has gone by when she is visited by a tiger who really wants her to get the story straight, no matter what the cost.
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The First Black Woman To Write a Broadway Play
“Her creative ability…will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn.”
Oh So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life now it’s money. I guess the world really do change… Mama in A Raisin in the Sun
As a special education English teacher in Baltimore City, I’ve taught more than ten books to my students. Some of the books did not make my students engaged, although I’ve credited that disinterest more to how I taught them. This time, in the time of a pandemic and virtual learning, it’s different. And I credit that to the play I’m teaching Lorraine Hansberry’s
Black History Month is here again - which means that it s time to rediscover some of our favorite works written by Black artists. If you re looking for something new to consume, consider this list of some of my personal favorites.
PLAYS
❖ Debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1959
❖ Hansberry became the first Black female writer to have a play produced on Broadway ❖ At the Tony Awards following the show s premiere, Hansberry s work garnered four awards
❖ Written in 1987 and received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
❖ Adapted for film in 1995 by Lloyd Richards
❖ Written in 1985 and part of Wilson s ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle
It is an indictment of our theater that a playwright who has inspired artists across generations is so little known to the average theatergoer. Sadly, Adrienne Kennedy, the 89-year-old African American dramatic poet, whose 1964 play “Funnyhouse of a Negro” is a touchstone of 20th century American drama, is more revered than she is produced.
Her name provokes rapturous tributes from other writers. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, one of the most talented dramatists to have emerged in the last 10 years, acknowledges the debt he and his contemporaries owe: “Every playwright writing today writes in Adrienne Kennedy’s shadow, full stop.” Years of teaching her plays has shown me how her work quickens the sensibilities of young artists.
For the first 50 minutes of “Gloria,” my stomach was in knots. Again.
I had already seen the play, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, at its Vineyard Theater premiere in 2015. Despite its amusing opening dialogue the sour-witty banter of editorial assistants at an upscale magazine I was convinced by subtle quirks in its tone and pacing that something bad was going to happen. When it did, at the end of Act I, the staging was so vicious and efficient, involving lights, sound, movement and all the powers of modern production, that I nearly blacked out.
Surely a second encounter with “Gloria” years later could not have the same effect on me, I thought, and yet there I was watching it the other night, my teeth gritted in dread. This, even though (a) I knew what was going to happen; (b) I was under a blanket at home; and (c) the production was remote, unstaged and devoid of special effects.