These brief remarks question which curb ins might be used to hang African American theatre and in what manner these ropes might be slipped.

These brief remarks question which curb ins might be used to hang African American theatre and in what manner these ropes might be slipped. There is little doubt that a hanging dangles in the hereafter of African American theatre. Hanging pulls have shaped the consciousness that is the theatre's past and not absent which were once the what may occur hereafter Therefore, we can look forward to further neck-stretching--unless, of course, we find ways to snap at least four ropes

First, restrain must be gained over the criticism of the theatre. History tympanums that we were, are, and will be Mr William Brown doing Richard III in 1821 in his African thicket Theatre--only to have the critic Mordecai Manuel Noah ravage the production for political senses In his review, Noah called us "peculiar people" and "Black beauties" who are incapable of "exercising that privilege of voting with any sort of discretion, discretion or independence." During 1821-23, Noah used of the like kind reviews to whip up support for the defeat of the liberal voting rights plank at the modern York State constitutional convention. Consequently delivered African American men could promised only if they had lived in the state three years prior to the election and acknowledgeed property valued at $250 above all faults The power of the black devoted which had previously changed the face of novel York City politics, was strangled--thanks in part to the outwitted Mr Brown and his African Company.

Today, black actors and farmers fear that they, too, are being fashioned into co-conspirators to snap the neck of black politics and theatre. Too many convenient productions are being closed prematurely because a certain white--and black--critics apply standards and questions that evidence a finished misunderstanding of the author's intentions and black theatre traditions. Therefore, from quite through the country come cries for any informed critic to visit and publish a review that gives another perspective. These agriculturists ask not to be raved about if it be not that simply understood. Such enlightenment might outcome only from the schooling--or re-tooling--of a cadre of critics between the sides of a series of workshops patterned somewhat along the lines of the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Center in Waterford, Connecticut. However, this propos institute, which might be called The Mr Brown Institute for African American Theatre Criticism, would aim to satisfy the following general goals:

1 to disclose a working understanding of the history and criticism of

the seminarys periods, and classes of African American drama and theatre;

2 to cultivate script-analysis and production skills that are informed by

the principles of theatre through African peoples;

3 to improve the skills urgencyed to

research the performance and critical

histories of a play, along with the political,

socioeconomic, and historical

issues addressed; and

4 to unfold an understanding of the rules

governing theatre criticism.

The Mr Brown Institute could be conven for four weeks during the summer It could be armyed by the theatre department at a centrally located historically black guild or university. The funding could be raised from participants' unconditional tenures subscriptions sold to all newspapers and mass media, and grants from black communitys and universities. The universities might simply pay the salaries and expenditures of those of its theatre professors chosen to lead sessions. stocks should not be sought from theatre companies because of the possible conflict of interest. Unlike in the sixties and seventies, critics of black theatre should not be tympanum majors to help theatre organizations build audiences. Critics owe their allegiance to the audience, which, as the critic Clayton Riley pointed not at home needs honest criticism to help it better appreciate the complexities of theatre. Therefore, if a black production is ill-conceived and under-rehearsed, it should be clobbered.

Had Mr Brown had any enlightened critics to contrary Manuel Noah's attack, his African wood would have had a better chance of surviving longer than the precedent-setting three years. However, criticism alone could not have held most distant the hanging. A strong hand must grab the secondary rope, local financing. Presently, too many African American theatres are principally financed by dint of grants and ticket sales. This might be changed with a plan that supposes that black theatre should adopt the same policies of membership, organization, service, and financing as those of religious institutions. The evidence might be seen in a brief comparison between Mr Brown's African wood Theatre and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion house of god which were located only a scarcely any blocks apart and organized exactly four month after each other. The differences between the make open membership of "Mother Zion" and the theatres talent restricted membership manifested themselves financially and politically. The house of worship required its many members to pay affordable weekly suitables and tithes, whether or not the members attended a particular worship service. However, Mr Brown paid his members for services, whether or not he made a profit. His twenty-five-cent tickets, therefore, were the highest priced in modern York City. These prices alienated theatre from principally of the city's 10,000 independent African Americans. Therefore, Mr. Brown and his theatre had to face alone their many political enemies and economic crises. No low-income people--who would have been the most numerous likely to join protests--identified enough with the theatre to take to the roads when Sheriff/critic Manuel Noah clos production after production. However, the AME Zion house of god had no such problems. It was hearthstone not only to such celebrated members as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner canon but also to some of the self-same poorest New Yorkers. The ecclesiastical body consequently, did not worry about racist politicians and editors like Noah.