DOUGLAS Q BARNETT   (1931 - )


Douglas Q Barnett
   Nationality:
USA
   Literary Agent: *:
n/a
   Email:
   Website:

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Plays by Douglas Q Barnett

DOUGLAS Q BARNETT
Da Minstrel Show
1st Produced:
Black Arts/West
1970
Company:
Black Arts/West
1st Published:
-
ISBN
-
To Buy This Play:
I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page
Genre:
-
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male
-
Female
-
Parts Other:
cast of 4
Notes:
-
Synopsis:
"a takeoff on the original Minstrel Show by R. G. Davis and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. They presented the show at the Universityof Washington. I was so enamoured with the show, I asked R. G. If I could travel with them as they presented the show on its Northwest loop of Wazzu, Reed College, Oregon, and OSU. I wrote "Da Minstrel Show" using the same format as the old time minstrel shows. Instead of the narrator, we had The Interlocutor. Instead of 4 no name actors, we had Rastus, Bojangles, Dewey Dewdrop, etc. And instead of current events, "Da Minstrel Show" was an attempts by the Interlocutor to show Black history according to the way he (a white man) saw it. So we used the same device of the scenes breaking down, and the players eventually taking over and depicting Black history in a realistic, positive manner." - playwright
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DOUGLAS Q BARNETT
Days of Thunder, Nights of Violence
1st Produced:
Black Arts/West
1969
Company:
Black Arts/West
1st Published:
-
ISBN
-
To Buy This Play:
I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page
Genre:
-
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male
-
Female
-
Parts Other:
cast of 6
Notes:
-
Synopsis:
When Patrick McDonald of the Seattle Post Intelligencer reviewed 'Days of Thunder, Nights of Violence' in February of 1970, he said, 'It is a loosely organized series of sketches that are designed to shock, sicken, frighten, belittle and tease the audience and I have never felt so intimidated, so touched- so completely involved in a theatre experience as last night - This isn't theatre of the absurd or theatre of involvement, it's psychodrama - Go with an open mind. And be prepared for a shattering experience
"And so it was. An attempt to capture the tenor of the times we lived in. Racial violence, sit-ins, demonstrations, the pill, free love, the rabid reign of Richard Nixon, Agnew's fall, a country in turmoil, all of that and more. We had a cast of 6 playing multiple roles except the Narrator. The Narrator orchestrated the play; scenes to be played etc, but always in a positive sense. The actors would start out with his rosy scenario, but then revert to the way it really was. There was always a breakdown in structure that the Narrator always tried to set straight. Gradually over the course of the play, the Narrator loses all control, his role is usurped, and the new Narrator takes over. The play was very effective because we not only spoke about national, but local issues as well. The audience was always very involved." - playwright
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