ABSTRACT
Playwrights want to express themselves. This is perhaps obvious, but they often find it imperative to build new forms. They want to tell their stories from their unique moment in time, and they want to find new ways to do it. Often the best way to expand an art form is to examine its artistic roots. This chapter will share tools and exercises that have emerged from underappreciated 19th-century Black theatre that can be used to build expansive new work.
