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Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black people to portray a caricature of a black person.
Thomas Dartmouth Rice was an American performer and playwright who performed in blackface and used African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time. He is considered the "father of American minstrelsy". His act drew on aspects of African American culture and popularized them with a national, and later international, audience.
The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around". It was originally a processional partner dance danced with comical formality, and may have developed as a subtle mockery of the mannered dances of white slaveholders.
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people wearing blackface make-up for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows caricatured black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, cowardly, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.
Alvin Ailey Jr. was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Master Juba was an African-American dancer active in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group. His real name was believed to be William Henry Lane, and he was also known as "Boz's Juba" following Dickens's graphic description of him in American Notes.
Shuffle Along is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. One of the most notable all-Black hit Broadway shows, it was a landmark in African-American musical theater, credited with inspiring the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.
Bryant's Minstrels was a blackface minstrel troupe that performed in the mid-19th century, primarily in New York City. The troupe was led by the O'Neill brothers from upstate New York, who took the stage name Bryant.
Mechanics' Hall was a meeting hall and theatre seating 2,500 people located at 472 Broadway in New York City, United States. It had a brown façade. Built by the Mechanics' Society for their monthly meetings in 1847, it was also used for banquets, luncheons, and speeches held by other groups.
James Roday Rodriguez is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for starring on the USA Network series Psych as hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic Shawn Spencer. He currently stars in A Million Little Things, which debuted in 2018.
Sheila Callaghan is a playwright and screenwriter who emerged from the RAT movement of the 1990s. She has been profiled by American Theater Magazine, "The Brooklyn Rail", Theatermania, and The Village Voice. Her work has been published in American Theatre magazine.
Robey Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based non-profit theatre company.
David Greenspan is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of six Obies, including an award in 2010 for Sustained Achievement.
Barney Fagan was an American performer, director, choreographer, and composer.
Aaron White is an American actor and director, his most notable work for The Dance: The History of American Minstrelsy, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Jason Christophe White. He is also an independent music producer, and the owner and founder of Slingshot Media.
The Dance: The History of American Minstrelsy is an American stage play written by Jason Christophe White and co-directed by Aaron White, which opened in 2005 in the KAOS Cinefreestyle Theatre in Los Angeles. The play follows two characters as they relay the history of American Minstrelsy, as both main characters perform in blackface.
Charles T. "Charlie" or "Charley" White (1821–1891), was an early blackface minstrel entertainer.
Sanding, also known as sand jigging or sand dancing, is a type of dance performed as a series of slides and shuffles on a sand-strewn floor. In some instances, the sand is spread across an entire stage. In other cases, it is kept in a box that the dancer stays in throughout the dance. Originally a soft-shoe technique, scratching in sand can also add a different texture to the percussion of tap. There is no one type of shoe used to sand dance; traditional tap shoes are used alongside soft shoes and leather boots, all creating a distinctive sound. Willie "The Lion" Smith said of sanding, "You could really hear and feel the rhythm when the dancers shuffled around in a nice pair of patent-leather shoes".
Dominique Morisseau is an American playwright and actress from Detroit, Michigan. She has authored over nine plays, three of which are part of a cycle titled The Detroit Project. She was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship for 2018.
References
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Must See: The (Minstrel) Dance Theatre - COLORLINES". Racewire.org. 2007-03-01. Archived from the original on 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ↑ "Review". Blackfemlens.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ↑ New York Cool. "New York City Theatre". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ↑ "A New Look at Minstrels". Broadwayworld.com. 2007-03-05. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ↑ Mcelroy, Steven (22 February 2007). "A Modern Minstrel Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ↑ "School of Visual and Performing Arts: The Dance: The History of American Minstrelsy". Chaffeyvpca.blogspot.com. 2008-09-05. Archived from the original on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ↑ "Inglewood's Director Aaron White One-Man Show: 'The Blood they Shed' - Los Angeles Sentinel". Los Angeles Sentinel. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2017.