Abstract
This essay is a personal account of the formation of Theatre of Black Women (TBW) by Bernardine Evaristo, one of its founding members. It looks at the genesis of her interest in theatre as a teenager attending youth theatre; the experience of devising an early play about black women at drama school with five women, two of whom went on to become co-founders of TBW, Patricia St. Hilaire and Paulette Randall; the plays of TBW and the wider black arts community to which the company belonged; the ending of the company, reflections on its existence; and finally comments on where we are today.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Abram, Nicola L. 2018. Black British Women’s Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Choong, Da, et al., eds. 1987. Black Women Talk Poetry. London: Black Womantalk Press.
Grewal, Shabnam, et al., eds. 1988. Charting the Journey: Writings by Black and Third World Women. London: Sheba Feminist Publishers.
Shange, Ntozake. 1975. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. New York: Scribner.
Tate, Claudia. 1984. Black Women Writers at Work. New York: Continuum.
More information on the unpublished plays mentioned can be found at http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk, which aims to document the first professional production of every play by black British, African and Caribbean writers in the UK.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Evaristo, B. (2019). Theatre of Black Women: A Personal Account. In: Sewell, J., Smout, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23828-5_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23828-5_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-23827-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-23828-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)