The Death of the Last Black Man

written by Suzan-Lori Parks

directed by Mike Traylor

Phoenix Center for the Arts - 1202 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ, United States

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Description

BlackPoet Ventures presents a special summer poeticduction for June/July 2014!
Note: This production has mature themes and may not be suitable for children

BlackPoet Ventures presents a special summer production of The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World by Suzan-Lori Parks, who became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 (Topdog/Underdog). The play will be June 27-29 and July 4-6 at Phoenix Center for the Arts Basement Theater, 1202 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix 85004.

The Death of the Last Black Man burst on the American stage during September 1990. Critics hailed the play as a work of “astounding power,” and as a “brilliant compression of Black rage and hope.” Parks, who studied under writer James Baldwin, was crowned “theatre’s vibrant new voice,” and “indigenous theatrical talent” and “the most promising playwright of the year." Named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” Parks received the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival for the Broadway production of Porgy And Bess.

Parks' other plays include: Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom; The America Play; Venus (about Saartjie Baartman); In The Blood; and F***ing A (the two latter being retellings of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter). She wrote one play each day for a whole year – 365 Days/365 Plays – and more than 600 theater groups across the United States staged the plays. Her first screenplay was for Spike Lee's 1996 film, Girl 6. She later worked in conjunction with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions on screenplays for Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005) and the 2007 film, The Great Debaters.

The Last Black Man, Parks' second play, brings to life a menagerie of stereotypes of African Americans. The “last man” of the title is named Black Man With Watermelon. He dies multiple deaths over the course of the show. Other characters include: Black Woman with Fried Drumstick; Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork; Queen Hatshepsut; Yes and Greens Black Eyed Peas Cornbread; Ham; Before Columbus; And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger; Prunes and Prisms; and Voice on Thuh Tee V. The figures represent comment on history and historians in fractured, repetitive and experimental language that evokes Jazz.

Directed by Mike Traylor (Black Theatre Troupe, iTheatre Collective)
Music By Jazz Henry
Featuring Roosevelt Watts; Mizz Mocha; Anita Belcher; Nicole Belit; Cristin Coleman; Robert FlipSide Daniels; King Savior; Lavelle Claiborne; Truth B Told; Leah Marche; and Kathleen Tate