Detrou-botti Playwright: One of America'
By CAROLYN WARFIELD
Att. Co,,..,,onwnt
Long before Pearl Cleage
took up her mantle of cultural
activism, familial condition­
ing taught her pr nce of
mind, faith in human perse­
verance and passion.
Bearing a self-definition of
Black feminist artist, Cleage
postulates the same attitude
of sisterhood that African
women brought with them to
the United States in the 18th
and early 19th centuries.
Though modified by slavery,
Emancipation led Blac
women to develop specific
perspectives on the relation­
ship between multiple types
of oppression.
Cleage,
ackn ()It' I edg es
that Black
audiences are
open to a l .. ide
runge o]
work if it is
presented ill a
comprehensive
cultural COil text.
Sharing the universal ex­
perience of being an African­
American woman in a society
that denigrates women,
Cleage writes "to expose and
explore the point where ra­
cism and sexism meet. 'We're
all in terrible shape because
of the presence of racism and
sexism in our lives,", she as­
serts.
The founding editor of
CATALYST Magazine, and a
regular columi ist in the At­
lanta Tribune, Cleage writes
to "uplift and educate" Afri­
can-Americans on the critical
issues effecting racial con­
sciousness and racial solidar­
ity.
"SELF-CONSCIOUS
struggle em powers men and
women to realize a more hu­
manistic view of community
that encourages each individ­
ual to develop his or her own
absolute potential," she says.
"As we define ourselves
more clearly, we are able to
identify each other more eas­
ily." Cleage augments her ca­
reer as a poet and
performance artist in Atlanta
where she is playwright in
residence at the Spelman
College Theater and Drama
Departmen t. As artistic di­
rector of Just Us Theater, she'
and Zaron Burnett, Jr. col­
laborate in their continuing
series "Live at Club Zebra."
Abhorrence at the epi-
hotte t writer.
demic violence against
women in American society
provoked Cleage to speak out
vehemently in astonishn.g
and unsparing dieclosures in
Mad at Miles: A Black
Woman's Guide to Truth
(1990) and Deals With the
Devil and Other Reasons to
Riot (1993).
'Both boOkS have garnered
national attention and draw
clear disti nctions among the
heroes, sheroes and villains
based on behavioral tenden­
cies.
, SHECO TEND THAT
"it is impossible to live in
America and not be tainted
by sexism either as a, victim
or as a perpetrator.
The facts indicate that we
are under siege, incredibly
vulnerable and too busy de-
nying the truth to collectively
figure out what to do about,
it." Plausible approaches to
awareness and self-protec­
tion are offered in the essays
"Other Facts of Life" and "Ba­
sic Training."
Cleage's most recent play
"Flyin West" is currently a
nominee for the Susan Smith
Blackburn International
Award for best play written
in English by a woman.
A seasoned writer, her
play "Hospice" won five
AUDELCO awards in New
York after opening in Atlanta
in 1983. "Late Bus to Mecca"
and" hain," two one-act dra­
mas wer co-produced off­
Broadway at the Judith
Anderson Theatre by th
Women's Project and Produc­
tion'S, and the w Federal
Th ater durin the 1992-93
theatre eon.
C acknowledges
that Black udienc s are
open to a wid range of work
if it is pr nted in compr
hensive cultural con xt.
h remarks: "Bas on
my b lief hat we re 11
joined by common human­
ity, as woman playwright I
am engaged in the proc of
placing our dreams on the
stage so that we can see them,
share them, learn and move
on to the ul timate goal of be- '
coming free women.
I think that if I can articu­
late that reality as specifi­
cally as possible, within it, I
will findp aces where my ex­
perience touches other people
and ripples out toward our
communal dreams and col­
lective realities."
Moved by the spirit of ex­
ample from the inspiration of
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), a
journalist, reformer and lif�
long devotee of justice,
Cleage was encouraged to
show that African-American
women have always been im­
portant participants in
American history with an un­
broken legacy of struggle
against racism and sexism.
":vI T' was com-
missioned by the Al lianc
Theatre in Atlanta's Woo­
druff Arts Center, and i the
direct result of Kenny Leon's
tenure ther as the first Afri­
can-American artistic direc­
tor. Leon directed the play's
world premiere during the
com.pany's 1992-93 season to
rave reviews and su quent
bookings.
He is guest artistic director
for two consecutive runs at
the Indiana Repertory Thea­
tre (IRr) in Indianapolis and
a joint-production with the
IRT Apri119-24 at the Brook­
lyn Academy of Music (BAM),
one of America's mo t pres­
tigious performing arts ven­
u .
Cleage's historical drama
of courage and sisterhood on
'.
women who arrived with the
or igi n al Exoduster Move­
ment: a western migration 'of
African-Americans following
th Civil War.
Cleagesays "although they
were self-reliant and deter­
mined to develop the land to
make a life for themselves 88
free women, they still had to
onfront the problems of male
violence toward women just
as women do 'in modern
Cleage writes to " uplift
and educate" African
Americans on critical
issues effecting racial
consciousness and racial
solidarity .
the American frontier is a
true chronicle of pion rs in
n all-Black township in i­
rodomus, K!1 during its
p ak in th late 1 00 . It re­
volve around the 1860
Homestead Act and cell Li '.�
r 1 tionshi ps of free slave
im . Their solution to the
problem poses an action plan
f r urvival," Cleage posits
"and domonstr tes the com­
plexiti of fr om, expands
th definitions of family and
prov the necessity of love
and imagination."
