The Richard Wesley Play Anthology

THE RICHARD WESLEY PLAY ANTHOLOGY

This anthology of five full-length plays collectively outlines a cultural history of black America in the post-Civil Rights era from the late 20th century through the first decades of the 21st. ÊBlack TerrorÊ looks at the radical politics of the Black Power era; ÊThe SirensÊ the destabilization of black familial and social life in the early 1970s; ÊThe Mighty GentsÊ the destructiveness of black macho in the late 1970s; ÊThe Talented TenthÊ the midlife crisis and the end of idealism in the black middle class in the early 1980s; and ÊAutumnÊ the new generational paradigm in black urban politics in the early 21st century.ÞEach of the plays included in this anthology was born out of the idea of the public thinker and what Arthur Miller would refer to as the importance of an individual conscience ä as well as the belief that each generation must give back must inform and inspire the generation that follows. No people ä and certainly not the African Americans still striving and struggling in the 21st century ä can thrive if they fail to adhere to that simple idea.