Pittsburgh City Paper: The Pittsburgh Playhouse has an exciting and explorative season planned with six powerhouse performances by Black femme artists. “Shaping the Arts: Black Femme Artists and Creators” is the centerpiece of the Point Park University’s Playhouse Presents 2022-2023 season, described as “shining a light on Black femme artists and creators with performance, dance, and music.”
3 comments:
Not only will I hopefully go be able to see one of these productions, but I think that this is such an amazing opportunity to learn. When reading the article, at first, I thought it was just saying that productions were going to be by black femme artists. I didn’t realize that the productions themselves were also going to be about black culture. I think that this is interesting because the arts can be very one sided. Mostly white history or white made productions. This is obviously due to the fact that white people always dominated every field. Minorities weren’t always given an opportunity to tell their stories on the main stage because white people wouldn’t let them or didn’t care to see any of those productions because they thought they were superior. Lastly, the fact that one of the productions focuses specifically on black women’s hair is really interesting to me. This is something that someone who grew up in a predominantly white area like me, wouldn’t know was so important and had specific contributions to black culture.
This show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse seems like one that I would have liked to go and see. The way that they have created a performance through dance, movement and performance is inspiring and very exciting as it challenges the social norms of today’s society. I was intrigued by this article as they create a safe place to talk about and explore the beauty of African American culture, specifically the culture of African American females. I am excited to see what else the Pittsburgh Playhouse has to offer for their season, because this production alone has inspired me to check out what other types of productions they are putting on this season. The fact that we are in such a culturally-centralized city helps make exploring and seeing other types of theatre that push the envelope of the social norms exciting, because it is so accessible. I look forward to the new works of the Playhouse and am excited to see more theatre performances around Pittsburgh in the future.
I think that the theme of black femme artists throughout the season is a unique and frankly exciting idea from the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Based on the description of Urban Bush Women's performance, it seems like the season will be not just entertaining but educational for some who may not have heard of these stories. As for "Hair & Other Stories", this is a production I definitely would have loved to attend. I myself have never even known that the relationship between a black woman and her hair was complex and had such a history, for example the Tignon Law briefly mentioned in the article. The topic alone interests me, so I can only imagine what a dance and theatrical performance, focusing on hair and touching on topics such as race and identity, would be like. The routine seems almost abstract, given how unique it is, and if this performance is any indication of what else is to come this season, I'm excited to see the productions that may come.
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