Staging faith : religion and African American theater from the Harlem renaissance to World War II / Craig R. Prentiss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prentiss, Craig R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American theater--History--20th century.

African American theater.

American drama--African American authors--History and criticism.

American drama.

American drama--African American authors.

Theater--Religious aspects.

Theater.

Religion in literature.

History.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (234 pages) : illustrations, portraits

Place of Publication:

New York : NYU Press, [2014]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

In the years between the Harlem Renaissance and World War II, African American playwrights gave birth to a vital black theater movement in the U.S. It was a movement deeply concerned with the role of religion in black identity. In a time of profound social transformation fueled by a massive migration from the rural south to the urban industrial centers of the north, scripts penned by dozens of black playwrights reflected class-rooted cultural tensions, revealing competing conceptions of religion's role in the formation of racial identity. Black playwrights pointed in quite different ways toward approaches to church, scripture, belief, and ritual that they deemed beneficial to the advancement of the race. Their plays were important not only in mirroring theological reflection of the time, but also in helping to shape African American thought about religion in black communities. The religious themes of these plays were in effect arguments about the place of religion in African American lives. In Staging Faith, Craig R. Prentiss illuminates the creative strategies play wrights used to grapple with religion. With a lively and engaging style, the volume brings long-forgotten plays to life as it chronicles the cultural and religious fissures that marked early-twentieth-century African American society. Book jacket.

Contents:

Setting the stage

New territory

Lynching and the far away God

Caught within the shadow

Blackness in the image of God.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2013. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.

Other Format:

Print version: Prentiss, Craig R. Staging faith : religion and African American theater from the Harlem renaissance to World War II.

ISBN:

9780814708408

OCLC:

861536392

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.