The Playwrights Database
DOUGLAS Q BARNETT
(1931 - )Nationality: USA
email: n/a Website: Click here
Literary Agent: n/a
Douglas Q. Barnett, aPDOW, actor/Producer/Director/Orchestrator/Writer, aka-deux ex machinA.
Mr. Barnett's involvement in the American Theatre began in 1961 and continues today. He was the Founding Director of the nationally acclaimed Theatre Black Arts/West in 1969.a highlight of his career was serving as Company Manager for the National Tour of the Tony award winning play the River Niger for the Negro ensemble company in 1973/74. Mr. Barnett has also worked for the Seattle Arts Commission and GeVa Theatre in Rochester, New York.
During a long career he has acted in over thirty productions with five different companies including Black Arts/West, aCT, the ensemble Theatre, and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. He has produced over forty productions including Dream on Monkey Mountain and Viet Rock. Directing credits include Big Time Buck White and ebony Wood. He has written two plays and arranged, edited, and directed two productions of African American poetry.
additionally, he has authored articles for the Seattle Times, the Seattle P I, Negro Digest, Black World, and Historylink.org. He is currently working with Professor anthony Hill in writing a Dictionary of Black Theatre. His other interests include the dance, jazz, African American art and poetry, and women; one of the great wonders of this world.
308-14th ave east/203, Seattle, Wa/98112-5151, (206) 325-6778
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.AbeBooks.co.uk AbeBooks.com Stageplays.com amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
below is a list of Douglas Q Barnett's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Da Minstrel Show Days Of Thunder, Nights Of ViolenceDa Minstrel Show
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
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Black Arts/West
1970
Organisations:
Black Arts/West
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: cast of 4
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDays Of Thunder, Nights Of Violence
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
"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
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Black Arts/West
1969
Organisations:
Black Arts/West
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: cast of 6
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page