UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Queering Black Gay Historiography: Performance, (Mis) Identifications, and Possibilities Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7339p06j Author Fitzgerald, Thomas Howard Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Queering Black Gay Historiography: Performance, (Mis)Identifications, and Possibilities A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre/Performance Studies by Thomas Howard Fitzgerald 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Queering Black Gay Historiography: Performance, (Mis)Identifications, and Possibilities. by Thomas Howard Fitzgerald Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Sue Ellen Case, Chair This dissertation will examine black gay theatre/ performance in the United States from 1970 to 2010. My intent is to establish a genealogy of black gay performance by situating performance strategies of visibility employed by black gay men in the late 20th century utilizing various performance genres such as revue, theatrical biography, the “event” and history play. Specifically, I am interested that this writing act as a discursive in interrogating the historiography of the tactics of black gay visibility in contrast to and in concert with traditional heterosexual black masculinities where the overall effort was to distinguish a queer black aesthetic separate from the white gay project. My research is necessarily involved with both gay and black performances in this period, since a study of black gay performance practices cannot be pulled away from the black experience in America. Identity politics is the conduit to self- empowerment for black and gay liberation movements, for similar reasons. Accordingly, the project study will concentrate on three areas: (1) social trends and historiography, (2) select black gay performances in this period, and (3) theories of queer and racial identification. ii The dissertation of Thomas Howard Fitzgerald is approved. Shelley Salamensky Arthur Little Gary Gardner Sue Ellen Case, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iii I dedicate this dissertation to the memory of my lovely sister, Althea iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1-11 Chapter 1: Norman is That You?: A Black Gay Man in Exile……………………..12-62 Chapter 2: Postmodern African Homosexuals in Revue……………………………63-119 Chapter 3: Documenting Black Gay Folks in E Patrick Johnson’s Sweat Tea……..120-173 Chapter 4: bonded: Masculinities, Slave Narratives and the Melodrama of Performance…………………………..174-224 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I started the doctoral program in an unawareness of where it might lead me. Of course I knew of the prestige that accompanied a doctorate degree but as I understood more of what was expected of me, I saw that it wasn’t just the letters after one’s name that brought prestige but the work behind those letters. I can hardly say that the work was a labor of love all the time but I came to realize the significance of what was I was trying to complete. The idea of being an educator, of being a public servant and of being an asset to the professors who mentored me along the way took precedent in my striving to fulfill this awesome honor. It is to those role models, personal and professional, that I owe a great deal of gratitude and respect. My committee chair, Sue Ellen Case welcomed me into the doctoral program with a strict dense of direction and mentorship. I will be forever grateful to her for directing me toward a precise scholarship. Her seminar on “Identity and Identification” was my inspiration for this project. We spent hours in her office, sharing our love of theatre, discussing the complications of gendered and racialized performances. Amidst the many revelations (while she shared half of her lunch with me) was a relaxing sometimes humorous but always illuminating exchange of ideas. Her words helped to renew my flagging interest in the theatre conveying to me a new perspective on the theatre’s possibilities in its treatment of the marginalized. I owe the shape and theoretic stylings of this dissertation to her long time and esteemed experience. vi Many thanks of gratitude to my committee: Professor Shelley Salamenksy took me “home and away.” It was in her seminar where I discovered the intriguing mystery of historiography and the motivation to keep digging through archives for more questions and answers. I am beholden to Professor Arthur Little who steered me toward excellence in my writing eccentricities. He also provided me with many resources of the Afro-queer experience outside of the theatre. Professor Gary Gardner gave me encouragement and support and a warm smile. I acknowledge my breakfast club buddies, who provided spiritual sustenance, strength and hope. They inquired about my progress at every turn of the road and helped me to understand that they would be present for me no matter what the outcome. I must single out friends such as Kiké Adedeji, Saundra Mandel, Dana Simmons and Belinda Vidaurri who gave me encouragement and the ability to see the positive in the challenges. Finally, it is my family that I am forever indebted to for their unwavering support, generosity and encoragement. I could not have accomplished getting through the years of doctoral seminars and the dissertation writing had it not been for their palpable unconditional love and affection. It is to them that I owe my humanity. vii Thomas Fitzgerald Education California State University, Los Angeles Master of Arts in Theatre Arts, 2005 California State University, Los Angeles Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts, 1996 Awards/Distinctions: University Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles, 2010 Fred Thorp Fellowship, , Department of Theatre, Film and Television, University of California, Los Angeles 2010 Executive Board Award, Department of Theater, Film and Television, University of California, Los Angeles, 2009 Edward Cota Robles Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles, 2008 Courses Taught Introduction to Theatre (Theatre 10) Teaching Associate. Introductory undergrad course in Theatre practices, history and theory. Lectured on Suzan Lori Parks/ The America Play. Graded quizzes, mid-term and final exams and term papers. One quarter. (Spring 2013) University of California, Los Angeles Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies (Gender Studies M114) Teaching Associate. Led weekly discussion sections on LGBTQ history, gender, race and queer theory. Graded quizzes, and term papers. One quarter. (Fall 2012) University of California, Los Angeles Making Traditions, (Theatre 101 B) Teaching Associate: Lectured on Race and Reconstruction in Othello. Led weekly discussion sections, wrote quizzes based on assigned readings, graded quizzes, final papers and final presentations. Collaborated with the course professor on mid-term and final presentations themes. One quarter. (Winter 2011) University of California, Los Angeles Reconstructing the Theatrical Past (Theatre 101 A) Teaching Associate: Lectured on Classical Japanese Theatre. Same as above. One quarter. (Fall 2010) University of California, Los Angeles viii Deconstructing Theatre (Theatre 101 C) Teaching Assistant: Lectured on Porcelain and the Performativity of Masculinity. Same as above. One quarter (Spring 2010) University of California, Los Angeles Reconstructing the Theatrical Past (Theatre 101 B) Teaching Assistant: Lectured on The Ethnic Other in Shakespeare. Same as above. One quarter (Winter 2010) University of California, Los Angeles Making Traditions (Theatre 101 A) Teaching Assistant: Lectured on Blackface Minstrelsy: An American Theatre Convention. Same as above. One quarter (Fall 2009) University of California, Los Angeles Publications “Art and the Nation-State: Cải Lương and the Performance of Vietnamese Identity”: An Interview with Khai-Thu Nguyen, Extensions, On-line Theatre/Performance Studies Graduate Journal, UCLA Fall 2010 Editor, John Lion New Plays Anthology, published by California State University, Los Angeles, 2005 Presentation “Civil Sex: The Life of Modern Black Gay Activist Bayard Rustin.” ATHE 2012 “Minstrelysed Images in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog.” Comparative Literature Conference, sponsored by Loyola Marymount- Panel Topic, “Women Playwrights.” April 2006. Professional and Related Experience Dramaturg- The Cloud Gatherer, selected for the 2008 American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF Region VIII Festival 40) Dramaturg- Liberty Oregon (2004), The Cloud Gatherer (2006) and The Houseguest from Xinjiang (2007) at CSULA. ix INTRODUCTION A movement of modernity is underway surrounding identities and identifications of black and gay performance/performativity of masculinities. In reaction to an absentia from American culture, black and white, the black gay subject has reclaimed a vandalized ontology as free agents returning from an imposed (sometimes self-induced) exile. Particularly, black gay men have sought avenues of resistance to this “death by perception” through stage performance. To this effort, black gay theatre practitioners have found the creative means to affirm what Essex Hemphill, 1980s Afro-queer activist, would call “the ass splitting truth” to their respective constituencies altering the public discourse on black male gayness. Moreover,