Theatre Development Fund – TDF: It's ironic that Broadbend, Arkansas -- the new two-person musical about an African-American father and daughter grappling with the personal impact of racial oppression in the '60s and '80s -- started off as a monologue about an elderly Southern white woman living in a nursing home during the pre-civil rights era.
1 comment:
This article outlines the interesting parts of how certain plays or musicals come to be. It's interesting how these two monologues, written by two different people, were brought together to create a story that brings issues regarding race out of the dark and into the light of the stage. Many times before, I have read about the collaboration that needs to take place in order to put a production on the stage. Collaboration between directors, designers, technicians, and actors is a vital aspect in producing a worth-while production. I actually rarely read or hear about the collaboration that takes place in the first step of putting on a musical - writing it. It's interesting to read about a monologue, that was meant simply to be a monologue, go down a long path of twists, turns, and changes in direction. The monologue written by Ellen Fitzhugh was passed around until it got to Harrison Rivers who then turned it into much more. I would be very interested to see all of the finished work on stage.
Post a Comment