Black Acting Methods Critical Approaches

Black Acting Methods Critical approaches Edited by Sharrell D. Luckett with Tia M. Shaffer First published 2017 ISBN 13: 978-1-138-90763-8 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-138-90762-1 (pbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-315-69498-6 (ebk) Chapter 7 Remembering, rewriting, and re-imagining Afrocentric approaches to directing new work for the theatre Clinnesha D. Sibley CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Offering 7 Remembering, rewriting, and re- imagining Afrocentric approaches to directing new work for the theatre Clinnesha D. Sibley On new work and artistic leadership In the theatre profession, it is the artistic director’s responsibility to serve as a visionary. The director’s role is to implement the vision and to shape the aes- thetics of the play. An artistic director who aims to produce at least one world premiere play per season once shared with me that, in order to produce a new play, he must (a) really care about the play and (b) highly respect the playwright. The notion of caring about the play and respecting the playwright is vital for companies who seek to engage in diversity initiatives while creating new work. In line with our conversation about Black acting methods, it is detrimental to the play process if the artistic director does not care as much about stories that aim to uplift and attract Black communities, or if the artistic director’s idea of diversity means artists and audiences of color have to assimilate. Hence, the purpose of this essay is to offer constructive steps towards re- imagining theatre by way of new play development that relies on the traditions and histories of African Americans. The strategies outlined in this essay can help a theatre director become attuned to the artistic energies of Afrocentric artists. When discussing community cohesion, Professor Ted Cantle views it as a trust factor: Indeed, from the outset, community cohesion attempted to develop a positive vision for diverse societies, in which people from all backgrounds would feel that they belonged and were valued, enjoyed similar life opportunities and interacted with people from different backgrounds to break down myths and stereotypes and to build trust.1 Theatre that is racially inclusive can certainly aid in breaking down stereotypes. However, it is not enough to place an African American in a play that was written with all White people in mind and expect to accomplish trust- building. Cultural diversity is not fully accomplished when people of color are used to sell messages about what it means to be American. While interculturalism is noteworthy, it is not enough to bring a person of color 124 C.D. Sibley into a story so that the character has to navigate or negotiate his or her place in a White world.2 While there is Black presence, Whiteness is still being staged. As audience members, we should seek personal empowerment in the theatre by holding artistic directors accountable to their mission statements. Real diversity involves people of color and Whites interacting without resistance, and without attempting to make sense of their respective worlds without regard to others’ perspectives. The theatre can be productive in showing how one culture influences another if audiences demand that leaders not only be bold and empathetic, but also racially conscious. An artistic director/leader must not be a person who only makes executive decisions. Such a leader should also be a spiritual guide, affirming a people, not denying them. I will never forget having a new play of mine developed by a theatre company when the artistic director fired one of the actors because she was not as “skilled” as the others in the ensemble. I was stunned by the decision and, for the first time, felt disoriented concerning theatre—an art form in which the human spirit is truly of the essence. While natural talent is good and convenient, I argue that mere talent cannot be the sole factor in determining an actor’s worth. Rather, worth should be measured by the performer’s overall contribution to the experience. Every artist of color comes to the table with different backgrounds, experiences, training, and resources. Therefore, it is important to find an artistic director who can connect with the spirit of each unique and com- plicated individual involved and serve in a capacity where sound executive decisions are being made about the piece. He or she should have a willing- ness to affirm and nurture all involved, while considering how the experience will touch, transform, heal, and awaken. With this model of transformative leadership, the goal of the production is not always to yield high- quality productions. Instead, the director aims for a rites of passage in which our souls and minds are on the same wavelength. Remembering: Afrocentric cognition The play director may feel strongly about helping the playwright to arrive at a strong final draft of the play. Understand, however, this is not the ultimate reason you (the director) are being brought into an Afrocentric circle. When you are called upon to direct theatre of the African diaspora, you either get “it” or you understand that knowledge is power and, therefore, have poten- tial to get “it.” The “it” I am referring to is the art and science of being Black. As someone responsible for the birth of this new work, you, the director, are also responsible for the transference of cultural values, traditions, codes, and memories of Black people onto the stage. Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, founder of the National Black Theatre in Harlem, was a pioneer in that she believed actors were not actors, but liberators. As Remembering, rewriting, and re-imagining 125 the director of an Afrocentric piece, referring to performers as liberators is certainly appropriate. A liberator’s memory and what he or she is able to bring on stage is interrelated and is often what makes the process of acting and “becoming” such an exhilarating experience. For centuries, actors have utilized memory to recall certain emotions associated with a specific human behavior to achieve verisimilitude. When dealing with memory in Afrocen- tric theatre, it is first and foremost about liberation—helping the Black performer become free from systematic processes to concentrate on Blackness and the collective identity. Brooke Kiener recalls the convening of fifty students and community members in a black box theatre in the winter of 2004 at Whitworth Univer- sity Theatre for a Social Justice Institute. They were invited to speak about instances of socioeconomic discrimination they had witnessed or experienced, and she recalls the following: I was impressed right away by the level of engagement in the group; it seemed obvious that people needed to tell these stories, to hear and be heard. But as the night went on, I also became peripherally aware of a widening gap. As the community members became more activated, empowered by the act of speaking their truth, a resistance started to surface among some of the students who, as you might expect, tended to come from more privileged backgrounds.3 Kiener reminds us of the vulnerabilities associated with memory and shared experiences. The swapping of experiences when developing a new play is a surefire way to get people to open up about their beliefs and practices while engaged in memory. The challenge occurs when there is resistance or dis- missiveness during the swapping of experiences due to lack of knowledge. I am reminded of a quote by Henry Louis Gates, “Blacks—in particular, black men—swap their experiences of police encounters like war stories, and there are few who don’t have more than one story to tell.” If such a topic comes up in a new play development circle in which there are White males involved, there may be some resistance because White males are not typically held in suspicion. Because resistance threatens our progress as Black artists, Kiener challenges us to contemplate our roles as theatre collaborators. Through collaboration, our goal is to center the perspectives of the Afrocen- tric/Black contributors, and to stifle resistance by evoking awareness and sensitivity. If there is a lack of knowledge and awareness, a director must be able to redirect the resistance and lay a framework in which culture is the context and the paradigm that holds Afrocentric “ideals, beliefs, stories, texts, myths and narratives in place.”4 Resistance can also surface when vernacular challenges Eurocentrism. I remember being the only Black writer encircled around a table in a graduate playwriting class trying to explain why the phrase “making groceries” made 126 C.D. Sibley sense. “You don’t ‘make groceries,’ ” my White male mentor said. “You go shopping for groceries.” Because the characters in my plays are directly inspired by my kinfolks and my life in the South, it is very appropriate that lines like “making groceries” are spoken by my characters. To me, these sayings are not only authentic, but eloquent—borrowed from the voices of my ancestors; yet, according to the majority, if “making groceries” were a goal my female character needed to accomplish before eleven o’clock in the morning (the hour that her favorite daytime soap, The Young and the Restless, came on), then my character was considered to be using the English language improperly. However, according to “White normative structure,”5 “I need to go get groceries” is the proper line of dialogue. Now, let me add that the phrase “making groceries” has been spoken by every member of my family and probably every female grocery shopper in southwest Mississippi. I have tender memories of going to the Sunflower store in the town of McComb to help my grandmother “make groceries.” My husband, who frequented the White- owned Vaccarella market with his grandmother in the same town, remembers pushing a buggy filled with enough food to last an entire month, to a register where his grandmother had a tab.

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