ABSTRACT
Even a quick examination of twentieth-century history plays in the USA reveals that race and ethnicity are vitally important to such theatrical interpretations of history. One obvious function of the historical drama for these groups is corrective: the plays tell stories left out of popular, mainstream depictions of history, or tell known stories from a different viewpoint. Early in the century, African-American playwrights, includes May Miller, Willis Richardson and Randolph Edmonds, attempted to fill a perceived void in their history by creating dramas of heroes and revolutionaries, such as Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner. Parody of popular versions of US history has likewise been an enduring tactic, from Langston Hughes’ lampooning of white views of slavery in Little Eva to Luis Valdez’s self-critiquing melodrama of the fate of the Californios in Bandido! Slowly, the use of traditional models of historical drama has given way to more self-conscious works that draw attention to the very problems inherent in staging history, and no playwright exemplifies this trend like Suzan-Lori Parks.
