Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2003 Dashiki Project Theatre: black identity and beyond Stanley R. Coleman Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Coleman, Stanley R., "Dashiki Project Theatre: black identity and beyond" (2003). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 922. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/922 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. DASHIKI PROJECT THEATRE: BLACK IDENTITY AND BEYOND A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Theatre by Stanley R. Coleman B.A. Dillard University, 1972 M.S. University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1979 August 2003 Acknowledgements No written document such as this happens without a number of people working together to make a vision into a reality. I acknowledge with thanks assistance from several libraries: Louisiana State University libraries; Ellender Memorial Library at Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana; the Western New Mexico University Miller Library, Silver City, New Mexico; and the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans. A number of friends and colleagues inspired my thinking as I wrote. In addition, they gave me encouragement and inspiration. To these people I extend my sincere appreciation: Olivia Pass, Huey Guagliardo, Anita Tully, Joye Gordon, and Lloyd Chaisson. I am also grateful for the encouragement of other university colleagues, personnel, and friends: Alice Pecoraro, Thomas Mortillaro, James Stewart, Gregory Torres, Carol Britt, Angela Hammerli, Al Davis, James Robinson, Allen Alexander, Barbara Deville, Anna Perez, Bertha Guzman, and members of the Mass Communication faculty and staff at Nicholls State University. My thanks to a number of Nicholls State University staff who assisted me in research and technical preparation of my document: Musette Harding, Karen Cheramie, Anna Duous, Dian Leger, Anke Tonn, and Marie Sheley. I acknowledge their generous assistance with gratitude. Special appreciation goes to former and current LSU faculty, who offered advice, support, valuable critiques and comments: Lesley Ferris, Les Wade, Bill Harbin, Jennifer Jones, Femi Euba, Ruth Bowman, and Jay Edwards. In addition, I thank my LSU theatre colleagues and close friends for their support and inspiration: Wendell Stone, Ava Turner, Hamilton Armstrong, Don Whitaker, Stephen Berwind, Mark Zelinsky, and Tony Medlin. Dr. Bill Harbin and Dr. Gresdna Doty encouraged me and gave me the opportunity to pursue the Ph.D. at LSU. They merit special thanks. ii A very special thanks to those who assisted directly in the research of this document through interviews, emails, notes, etc: David Cuthbert of the Times Picayune, for his assistance in helping me to locate resources and who did more than I can remember or adequately thank him for; Dashiki Project Theatre founders and members, Norbert Davidson, Carol Sutton, Patricia McGuire, Andrea Cazenave, Percy Ewell, and Adella Gautier. I give deepest admiration and respect to Ted Gilliam and members of Dashiki Project Theatre for nurturing my interest in theatre and for providing an exciting, challenging, and wonderful theatre experience. Their perseverance, talents, and unfailing commitment to an all- inclusive theatre are a continuing inspiration. Dr. Les Wade’s inspiration, kind encouragement, and helpful comments were instrumental in bringing this dissertation to fulfillment. I am deeply grateful for his patience and his remarkable wisdom. To God and my family (especially my sister Rosa), I offer my appreciation and my love for their inspiration, encouragement and support. Finally, I owe the deepest debt of gratitude to my partner, Bill Winkley, for his moral support and encouragement, for his ever-willing and available ear, and for his unswerving belief in me. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract............................................................................................................................................v Chapter One: Hypothesis, Methodology, and Resources ................................................................1 Chapter Two: Tensions in Defining Black Identity.......................................................................24 Chapter Three: The Genesis and Development of Dashiki Project Theatre..................................55 Chapter Four: A Global Perspective: Dashiki's Departure from the Black Arts Movement.........91 Chapter Five: Women at Dashiki Project Theatre .......................................................................120 Chapter Six: Summary and Recommendations for Further Study...............................................149 Works Cited .................................................................................................................................168 Appendix: Dashiki Project Theatre's Production Record ............................................................177 Vita...............................................................................................................................................180 iv Abstract At a cast party following a Dillard University theatre production in 1965, Guy West, a senior in theatre, stated that one of his dreams was to perform in his own theatre. These remarks by West proved to be the inspiration that began New Orleans’ Dashiki Project Theatre. Prior to 1965, Free Southern Theater was the only theatre of the black experience in New Orleans. Through Dashiki Project Theatre, the black community found another opportunity to relate to black experience through the medium of theatrical performance. In the mid-sixties Theodore Gilliam, a Dillard University professor, and his associates founded Dashiki Project Theatre in New Orleans. For more than twenty years Dashiki staged many plays, including new black plays as well as published traditional plays. This theatre proved to be the second most prolific black theatre in the South during the 1960s. Despite the important contributions of this theatre, only a minimum of scholarly research has examined its existence. This dissertation chronicles the history of Dashiki Project Theatre, examines how the theatre related to the Black Arts Movement of the sixties and seventies, and highlights how the theatre established a more inclusive black identity in its structure as well as in its productions. To accomplish these goals, this work examines evidence in the form of books, articles, theatre reviews, playbills, and research in the form of personal interviews with key figures and constituents associated with Dashiki. Thus, this study results in the first comprehensive documentation of Dashiki’s existence, the Black Arts Movement’s impact on it, and the establishing of a unique black identity. In focusing on the development and historical significance of Dashiki Project Theatre through the context of the Black Power and Black Arts Movements, this dissertation explains how Dashiki Project Theatre reflected the tastes, the guidance, and the vision of Ted Gilliam. It v also explains how Dashiki Project Theatre avoided political posturing while subtly making choices that would impact New Orleans society, choices that did not always align with the philosophies of the more militant movements of the 1960s. This study, the first to deal with the impact and significance of this vital theatre, recognizes and documents the contributions of a notable black theatre operation that scholarship has ignored. vi Chapter One Hypothesis, Methodology, and Resources From its initial conception as a performance ensemble to its maturation as a recognized, legitimate theatre company, Dashiki Project Theatre demonstrated a rare commitment to excellence and freedom in the arts of the South. Dashiki Project Theatre compellingly spoke to the needs of the black community, at a time when black identity was in crisis. Founded in New Orleans, a city of cultural fluidity, Dashiki Project Theatre proved an integral ingredient in the life blood that coursed through the artistic veins of New Orleans black culture, for this theatre nurtured music, dance, theatre, and poetry, and gave timely inspiration and purpose to the city’s black population. Moreover, with a new style of writing, acting, and staging, the Dashiki Project Theatre, in conjunction with other black theatres of the 1960s, provided a model for black American artists everywhere, encouraging them to gain their rightful place in American society. Theodore Gilliam and his artistic associates founded Dashiki Project Theatre in New Orleans in the mid-1960s. The theatre’s earliest participants had been affiliated with Dillard University, an historically black college. These founders advocated an artistic rather than a political mission, one more focused on aesthetics and performance. The germinal