Difference between Black Theatre and African American Theatre

Black Theatre

Black theatre is for black people, about black people, concerned with black concerns and black communities. African-American theatre is also about black people but not exclusively, for one of its concerns is building bridges to other communities, as Taylor points out. Parks, on the other hand, emphasizes the black experience in her article, describing its uniqueness, including a bit about Yo and Momma trapped atop their house which is literally underwater—a literal allusion to Hurricane Katrina and a figurative allusion to the indebtedness and upside-down mortgages that plague black people who are preyed upon by predatory lenders.

I agree with both authors. Park says “I am much more interested in the questions—and more questions—that these questions set off. What are these questions about?” when she talks about black theatre and acting black. Here whole article is a question about being black: it is humorous, complicated, alive, fresh, inviting, not afraid of being itself. There is an identity within it—even though nothing is clearly defined. The entire article is more like an example of black theatre than it is a definition. The fact is that black theatre cannot simply be defined in just a few words or more except for in a very academic way. For a genuine artist, however, it is better to show than to try to define.

Thus, the reason I agree with Parks is that she shows by example what black theatre means: she gives not so much a rudimentary definition but rather a taste of it in writing. Taylor gets a little more academic in his approach, however, and contrasts black theatre with African-American theatre to show how the two are different. Again, examples are given by way of contrast—this is not that and that is not this, for these reasons. Both show that black theatre is simply black people doing their thing without any regard for others make criticism about it. They are good being their own critics.