Readying the Revolution: African American Theater and Performance from Post–World War II to the Black Arts Movement

Before the Black Arts Movement in the mid-1960s, African American playwrights and innovators created works that radicalized Black culture and political beliefs. Shandell (theater arts, Arcadia Univ.; The American Negro Theatre and the Long Civil Rights Era) highlights the productions and performances of major and lesser-known plays in this analytical yet concise book. Before becoming an Oscar-nominated movie actress, Beah Richards (then using her birth name, Beulah Richardson) staged plays about capitalist oppression and Black women’s empowerment. Lorraine Hansberry’s posthumously produced play Les Blancs was written in 1960 as a response to a condescending and stereotypical play written by a white French playwright about Black Americans. Post-WWII works from Alice Childress and William Branch spoke of liberation and armed resistance. Additional chapters about Jackie Robinson and Nina Simone demonstrate revolutionary Black expression pre–Black Arts Movement. Shandell uses scholarly articles and archived interviews to examine each piece. While his critical analysis of the plays strengthens his argument, the chapters on Robinson and Simone read more like opinion pieces. In these chapters, instead of letting their lives and works stand on their own, Shandell unnecessarily inputs his viewpoints.