Survival Strategies in Recent Plays by African American Women Playwrights

Abstract

In the last two decades, the combination of different types of violent behavior, namely social, physical, verbal, racial, or sexual has given rise to a complex theatrical response against violence in society and onstage. In spite of the growing interest of contemporary black women playwrights in violence, there is little criticism discussing the issue in their plays, with the notable exception of essays on the reconstruction of Medea in The Red Letter Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks. This chapter explores the ways in which several women characters in recent plays by black women dramatists devise distinct survival strategies as a response to the structural violence that they suffer.