DOVE a?tayoyR|TA PRAISEFOR THEDARKERFACEOTTHE EARTH a celestial A majorAmericanplay.,.\{ith skill thatapproaches gift, Doveblendsform, subjectand conterrt. ---TlheMnilTrihtne [Dovds] first verrtureinto playwriting hasproducedanenormously powerful and beautifulwork. The themesale intricate,the rrain draractersfull-bodiedand the languagHtt the language-nothing shortof stunning. -lurtainUp PlaywrightDovemergesfolklore,voodooritual and biblical Theactionissuspenseanalorywithbitingsocialcommerrtary. ful, thedialoguepicturesque. -Variety achievement... oftheEarthmark aconsiderable TheDarlerFace Thispowerful explorationof sexualand racialtensionsis assembledin an imaginativerealm,with few technicalrequirements, -HaruardRniant Lwhly written, ingeniouslyplotte4 drenchedin antebellum Tlr DmkerFaceoftheEarffthaslots of soul' atrnosphere, -f hcGuardian(England) Blacktheatretakesa big stepforward. --The Stage Sophoclesand slavery come together with bitter poignancy.. By connecting the issue of slavery to one of the most funda_ mental Greek tragedieg TheDarkerFaceof theEarth draws its own inescapableconclusion about the impact of an immoral institution. -The BalitmoreSun A strong and ambitiouspieceof work... [Dove] does one of the hardestthings to do onstage,somethingmaybeorily a poet could-she createsin Augustus a living metaphor...[He] is not only Oedipus here, but Hamlet and Moses, and all the Greekheroesuniucky enoughto behalf-mortal and half-God... Throughout the play, the transferenceof the iegend from ancient Greeceto the antebellumSouthworks surprisingly well... [Dove's]scenesareshapedwith easeand grace;her dialogue, even when poetic, is expressive;and she has a vivid senseof character. --The WashingtonPost ...theplay's selectivityof incident,judicioussparseness, clean Iines, even dignified tone and simple staging keep it operating successfullyasa modemization of the classicGreek tragic mode. -The Women'sReaiaaof Books ...[this]play begsto be staged.Onecandreama little and wish that it could be produced in every city, every schooi in the country. -The Times(tentoru NT) [Rita Dove's] riveting and accomplishedplay...should have a permanent place in the repertoire of the American theater. -The Star-Ledger AN INTER\/IDV VITE RITA DOI/E C-onducted byRobet l4cDowe[ Rrblisherof StoryLinePress, April20oo Robert McDowel! What arethe differencesbetweenwritingpoetryand writing for the stage? Rita Dove: In an interestingway poetry anddramaarenot tbat far apart. They seemmuch closerto me than poetry and norels, for instancq or evenshort stories.It's becauseofall the things1ou cannot sayboth ia poetry and in drana - the fict dut 1ou knowlanguageis not enoug!,tbat itwill ner,.erbe enouglr-You go in there knowing thag you'rearmedwith language,andit's all1ou have.Sowhen I waswriting this play I alrnostnever felt that I vas in a st angecounrry where I didnt [now the landrnarLs.It wasnt quite a familiar landscape,but it wasnt really ftightening I could 6nd ny wa;r In poetql theret so muchyou cant saybecausepart ofthe task is to let the silence rcverberate,to let eachwordmeanerrrltliDg that it canme{L In dram4 you cant ktrowwlnds running aroundin someone's headunlessyouwrite a solilogryor anaside.Solanguagewise, the concemsandlimitationsareofunvefydm;lr Vhilewriting drarna,I learnedhow to write a monologue,how much of the pacingofrords andsilencecanbe conrrolledat the script level.ltrow m2ny stagedirections arc enoug! hcrwmuch of the time andpacingI canorchesfafe in a particular sceneon t53 the page, so thatwhen I leavethe playto a cast and director, it doesnt tum into somethiog totally different. The most challengingaspectof*.riting this drarna for me, oddly enough, was the soliloquy Poetry G a1labout interior thought; the theater tends to be about action. Andyet the most critical dramatic passagesare often those in*'hich one character shares her thoughts with the audience. In my earliest versions of the play no one had any monologues. It seemedBnnatural to have a character simply talk to the audietrce. Even though poetry can be one long soliloqql the tone ofvoice is often a *'trisper, a voice overheard rather thall heard- That leap was a diE{icult one for me, rffhen vriting plays,you have to keep askirgyourse[ How do I get this into the most streanJined form without being histri onic? How do I pull the theatergoers into this world I am creating? A5 a poet, I tend to1l.?id understatement and subdety -When As apla).lrrtht, I must find other modes ofexpression. working on the play I found it Iiberating to use utterance and movemert in order to introduce subdery into the play There were things I could do dut would not work in a poem because it would seern too - I dont want to say bombastic - but flamboyant. Iike shouting. The play came out oflove ofthe theatdcal space,where some human beings are illuminated on the stage, and others are in darkness,watching. You lnve an interplay ofbreaths; you have tension between moving bodies and those stilled bodies attending I have alwaysfound rhe theater to be a magical space, and I have alwals longed to enter it in some wa)a ri4 i I In tie end I discoveredthat poetry and dramahavr more in common than Aristode, with his so-called"c.lassicdrarnatic unities,"mayhalc caredto admit.Alfred Hitchcock oncesaid that diaflawas "life with the dull bits cut ouq" andGvendotyn Brooksde5nespoetry as"lift distilled"- where'sthe big dif rxtter so that ference?For if a poet planesavayurmecessaqr ve can seecle?dy to the very core of the sotl, a plalwright commits the safiresacredenterpriseby tmidng her spodight on somesdect soulsandthen suornoningthe aodienceto listen, to bearwitnessin the darkRobert McDowel[ How did your musicaltrainirg influetrce)ou? Rita Dove: I grewup with all kindsofmusic - bluesandjazzaodpopular R & B. I havebeenactivelyinvoH in musicsincethe ageof teo, $'lren I begaoplayitrgthe cello. Playing cbarnbermusic tdght me the cadencesoffirgoasandthepower ofhannony I belieyenrypoetry reflectsaninteaserelationshipto the music ofthe s?okenword"Writing playsinvolvesnot only language - different characters' but the iaterpleyof\rariouslanguages varyingspeechpattemsandinfectiom, personalities- aswell asthe visible rhythms ofbodies relating to eachother.A do mestrcsceneir a play is like a string quartet Robert McDowell do you acknowledge2 Vhat literary and theatricalio-fluences r't Rita Dove: \XfhenI wasin gradeschoolI beganto imitate the satiriccomic strips I was readingin Mad l[agazine, which meant writing Iitde plap invohing my classmates and peming sardonic1)ricsto populartunes.During the sumrnervacations, my brother - who is two yearsolder *ran me- and I would enactradio playsrvhich we formd in the public library our father rigged up a micrcphoneto the stereol6tem, andwe tomented our parents with endlessmurder mysteries irvolving oriental temples(sowe couldbarg a Jidasagong)andwaterfalls(holdingthe microphonenext to the runnhg Aucet).And then there wasSbrkespeare.Shakespeare wasone of my earliestliterary idluences. I beganreadingthe tragedieswhen I $?s abolt elevenyears old. No one told me they \.r..ere difficult, so I stumbledthroughthem on my own, deliriouslyhappyto have fornd suchrich ianguage,suchmusicalutteftnces. I started with Macbethbecausemy motherwasah;ya1s quoting it while makingdinner: "Is this a daggerwhich I seebeforeme, / The handletowardmy hand?"From there I went on toJutius Cae' sar,Othello and FIamIet. High school browsingincludedTennessee Williams and Adrienne Kennedywho I thought was simply amazing.Col legeaddedEd Bulliru aadLeRoiJonesandDerek \Walcott,as well asElmer Rice! The AddingMachine,and all of lonesco. I had nearlymemodzedLonaine Hansberrls I Raisiain the Jar by that time, though I dont know exactlywhen I frst readit. Robert McDowell: rWhat difficulties carr 'ou share with readers regarding your adaptation of a classic? RiteDove; Using the ancient Greek dramatic form, with its bfamously diffrcuk-to-hjndle nzster chorus, prol€d lessproblematic than I anticipated. I'd grown up in the black church, where caliand responsewas part of the ritual. The black community ex tends beyond imrnediate family and even the neighborhood; it's a conmrunity tiat holds itseJfresponsiblefor eachmembert actioff afld will feel free to voice its opinions - often loudly and with great sarcasnaSo the gpe of running commentary provided by tlre Greek Chorus sounds "down home" to me! Robert McDowell: Wlren did the inspirationfor TheDarhetFaceoftheEarth co.,r'e to you? Rita Dovc: My husbandand I spent five months inJerusalemin 1979.I had recendyfinished the manuscriptof my 6rst book of poe'J.Is,The llowHouseontbeConer,' hich contal.nedasection ofpoernsbasedon slavenarratives,and I supposetlat wason my mind one late afternoonthat summe! asI stood looking out overthe walledcity ofJerusalemwith its turrets and citadels.I hadjust rereadSophocles'OedipusRex;andperhapsit wasthe naturalamphitheaterofthe Kidron valle' whereKing David cried out at the lossofhis rebelliols sofiAbsalom,per hapsit was the slantedsunbeamsstriking tie pale stonesof the Old City like a spotlight dressedwith the palest ofpink gels- but I found mlseJfmusiagon kingsandall too human heartbreaks,lookingfor similaritiesbetweenthe classicalseme of destinyand our contemporaryattitudestowardhistory and its herces.What j5 it, I *ondered, that makesOedipusinter- estingasaherolvhenhis coursehasbeensetat birti? Why do we watch, entbnlled, ifwe alreadyknow his fate?I searched for a modernaralog4a set of circumstanceswhere the social structurewas asrigid and all powerirl asthe Greek universe, one against{fiich even the noblest of characterswould be powerless.And astle sunbeganto set behind the Mount of Olives,almmy Ctff songfloatedfrom my husbandt study: Ob dezoichedcany u cua1t, CaPtioiry requieof4 atong Hdu cdttzse tkg KkgAlpbal totlg In a $rangeLnd? The linesareadaptedftom Psalmr37 the cdesofthe Israelites in bondage- but surg, in ClifPsversion,by the slavesin the Arrd there I had my analogzRarelyhashistory seena sJstem which fosteredsucha senseof futility asslaveryFor the Africanstaken forcibly fiom theil homesand thet roots - language,fimily tribal memory sJsternaticallydecimated,the white porl€r structuremust haveseemedasall-encompassi.g asthe implacablewill ofZeus. In a flash,I had the basicconstructs: A cbild bom ofa white plantation mistressand her Afiican loveris soldoffbut returnstwentyyearslater,rnaware ofhis origins.The opensecretof miscegenationwould be the key that tuns the lock ofFatq atrdiflsteadofT:resius, a con jure woman would prophesythe curse.Pride and rebellious spirithavelitde chancein the s'stemicviolenceofsla.v.ery v*rich brutalizesboth slaveandmaster:In a different world, Amalia might havebeenawomanofindependentmeansandAr€ustus a poet; instead,both are doomedto be crushedwhen their rt8 emotionsfim cormterto the rulingstaos quo.The slaveskncrw this and function asa Greek choms,comrnentingand warning, all to no avail Robert McDowell: This wasirr 1979- but the playwouldnt seethe ligbt of day until 1994 What happened Rita Dove: I wrote the first draft oftlrc play ia lesstlnn a motrth, but it would take a dozenor so )'earsbefoE I arrived at a version that I felt wasreadyto be sho*n to the wodd- I dutifrlly sent a few copiesofthat first dlJt to New Yo* agents,knowing that itvas €verythingapla)'couldn'tbe to succe€din the com mercial theaterq'or'[d a historical drarn4 an adaptationof a Classicwith too marrynon-oainsrreamcharactec. When the copiescarneba& (someaccompaniedby encouragingbut nothanksnotes),I put them in a draweraadwent onwith my tife in poerry Every five yearsor so my husbandwould drag out the manuscriptand as(, "what are you plarmingto do with thill Id trookat it, 1ry to take out a few duracters, ma)te shuffle them amund a bit, and put it awayagain-The next time I'd rcwrite it as prose,tlren put it back in the dmwer Finallyin 1989,I took along hardlook at the play said,"Wnat the hell;' andput it back into verse.Who caredifit nevergot published At leastwhen I was dead and gore, tlre version scholarswould find among my paperswould be the one I wantedthem to see. rt9 Story Line Presspublishedthat vemion of Tle Darler Faceof theEartb n eaiy $94.I still held no hopesfor a production, but I thought it would be nice for literature studies- and ma;6eit would evenget someexposurein stagedreadingslike the onethe Washingtor,D.C. directorJenniferNelson-who hadreadthe playinscript wasableto arrargeat the Ro:rad houseTheaterin SilverSprings,Mary'landshordy after publication. But asit turned out, a board member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festivalhad goaen a copy of the gallep in her handsand.ecorffnendedit to the Festivaldramaturg,and before I knew it, OSFofferedto workshopit with a frst produc tion option. They hired Jennifer NeJsonto direct the workshop,andso I spentthreeweeksin Ashland,Oregonthat summer*:rtching my scenescometo life - somemore,someless in a rchearsalroom, discussingrewriting, makingnotesfor possiblechangesto mull orer later At about that time the dramaturgofCrossroa&Theatrein New Brurswick, NewJerseycameacrossthe play in a booktore, and Crossroadsapproachedthe OregonShakespeare Festial to offer a pooling of resources.The play was fust produced in Oregon in the summerof 1996,directedby Crossroadsartistic director RicardoKharl By that time I had rewritten it, mosdyon the basisofmy experiencesduringthe OSFrorLshop but alsoin responseto severalstagedreadings- amongthem the wonderfirl one that DereL Walcott directedh November1995at the 92ndStreet"Y' in Ne\pYork Ciqgwhere Walcott andhis talentedcastbrought out the frrll potential of.l,l'lratI wastry ing to sayC.rossroads tl]er stagedTheDarkerFaceoftheEarth in the fill of 1997;they had submittedit to the Fund for N€w AmericanPlals at the KennedyCenterand beengrantedmajor finarcial support fiom the Fund,which in turn led to a month-long run in W'ashington,DC. right afier the New Brunsrvickshorvs. Robert McDowell: Pleasetell us more aboutthe productionsthe play hashad so far.Your favorite? Rita Dove: . The play hasseenfour professionalproductionsto date(asof springzooo), all at oajor not-for-pmfit theaters,and several collegeproductions,with at leasttwo more professionaland ma/re balfa dozencollegestagirgsundercontract.The world premiere,July to Ocober 1995at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival renrainsny hvorite. The 6oo-s€atAngus Bowmer Theaterin Ashlurd Oregonis a semi-thruststagebuilt so ingeniouslythat eve.yseataffods an rmobstructedview; asan audiencemefrber one feelsquite intimately involvedwith the action on stageeveawhile being treatedto a vision of a stage "sed'.And the s€tdesigrrby tuchard llay (whq incidentally is alsothe architectofthe BowmerTheater)w:assapendous.It wasthe production I fek kept the best balancewhen eploring dramatic"effects"while remainiogfaitiful to the spirit of the text and evefirhe integrity of the lines-The actorswere $pe$ly cas! the artistic staffdedicatedandfearless,the tech nical people topnotcb- Every performancewas met with a standi4goyatior, sometimesfoot stompingand cheers.Some peoplewereweepingso bard at the end *rat tiey actuallyhad to behelpedout oftheir seatsbytle ushers.Nothing canequal that e+erience! CrossroadsTheatreput up the next production ayearlater in their spacein New Brurswick, NewJeney againdirectedby RicardoKban- Crossroadshasa three-quartertbflst stagein avery snull space- apprcimately z6o seats- which made for very intrmate theater indeed. The play was very accessible in drat space, and the audience was so activ+ engaged tllat somepeople acoallyblurted out ad\riceto characters on stagel That sane production - set, cast and all - was tien transferred in lessthan tfuee dals to the Kennedy Cente! where it played for a month on the huge proscenirm stage of the r2oo seat Ejsenhower Theater. Thlk about rapid adiustment! And needlessto say this trarsfer to a vasdy different spacecaused some problems ofits own. I was less than pleasedwith the production at the Royal Na donal Theatre in London, Englaod in the summer of 1999. It was staged"in the round," with the audience looking do walon the set from all four sides,*rhich not only obscured sight lines for huge chunks of the ar-rdiencebut actually worked against the narrative thrust. The director disregarded my input while I rlas present duri.g the last three weeks ofrehearsals; he even tried to mrnipulate my text! By opening nigbt wewerc no longer on speakingterms, and the actors were pnmed to stage a little insurection of their o*L The most receflt production (in Merch 2ooo) occurred at the Guthrie Theatre h Mirmeapolis. It offered a good cast and a talented director, but it could have been stronger had the Guduie allotted more rehearsaltime -it had ody four weeks instead of the six to eight at the other professional produc tions. The short rehea$al period made it hard for the director to adjust problems ofblocking, timing, etc. in such a complex drama- Also, in myview the set design was unfom.rrate, with the most intimate scenes- in the bedroorn and the parlor situated the ftFthest away from the audrence . . . and that in a rjoo seathouse!Overbearirg choreography contributed to the alienation and slowed the action instead ofacceleratirg it. A pleasantsurprjse$?sa collegeproducrion in Oberlin, Ohio in the spring of 1999.CarolineJacksonSmith, a professorof theaterthere,provedto be acongenialdirector,utilizing awell thowht-out setdesignto direct apoveful interpretationthat, castwith professionalactors,I believecouldhavedoneBroadwayproud. Robet McDo*,elt Are you *nrLing on anotherplay? Rita Dove: Right now I m workilg on severalthings- poems,a memob a novel 11€ startedtwo theaterprojects:one is a fu111ength play the other anercningofoae-actswith interrelatedcharacters,Irds wait and see. T H R E E D ] F F E R E N T A P P R O A C H E ST O TEACHING AND STUDYING RITA DOVE'S THL DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH I. LiteraryAralysis, Englishzzo Tirught by Ann M. Fox, Assislanr Professor of English at DavidsonCollegein Davidson,No.th Carolina. One rvay to read Rita Dore's TheDarker Fau oftbe Eartb is as an adaptationof Sophocles'OedipuRex.In at essay compar€the two, discussing how andwhy Dovemakesthis interte]ftuallink. Explore what you thinL the one or two major themesofDove's play are,arrd why/how she mal<es use of Sophocles'play to conveythese.Is it effectivel Important? In addition, explore the major waysin rvhich Dove's play differs from the Greek original, and why those differencesmatterin light of the literaryendsyou'veattributedto Dove. Find specificexamplesthat supportyour conclusions. The aboveexamessaymight be a good startingpoint for classes that hare dready read OedipurRe, Howeve! it is important to talk abourorheri.sue.thal branchoft from rhatcompari:on: CANON]CITY ![hy do you thinl Dove modelsher play-a play by arl AfricanAmerican woman, one spealing very specifically to the slaveexpedencein this country----on a canodcalwork ofGreeh theaterT What is the significanceofplacing her play in dialoguewith othersthat havelong beenconsidered"timeless"l Does shechallengecanodcalstandardsof draJna? Revisethem? Reinforcethcm? To what extent carrthis play still be seenas an outgro*.th ofan African-American tmdition of theatre in stagirg and/or theme? \6t CANONICITY (Continue4 . You rnight also compareher useofpoetic diction to the innovative languageusedby play*'rights like Ntozake Shange,for example. DOVE S RXVISION . What does it meatr that our "Oedipus" figure is carried off in triumph in the end? . Does this play still end tragically?How? . While there are certainly ma;ry slavenarratives yet to be told, this is not the 6rst rpork ofliterature to depict the slaveexperi_ ence. Why doesDor.e historicize het work in this way? ANA]-OGIES TO CONTEMPORARY LIFE ' Are there analogiesto be drav,rnbetweenthe play to corrtemporary African American life? . What about African-Anerican culture-its traditions, its history its ritua.ls-is Dove trying to rcpresent? SOCIAL STRUCTURX . In vrhat s?ys does the destructive power of pdvilege become er,posedin the play? . Is Amalia a victim or an oppressor?How is she both? . Are there connections to be drawn between her fate and her son's? . To what extent are the economicsof slaveholdinyas well asthe economicsofmarriage---operant asinsidious "fates" in the plal . InwhatvraF is the world of tle plantationamicrocosm for the well as our owtr world, today? world beyond its gates----as r56 POTTER REWRSAIJ . -What are we to make ofthe power reversalsin the pla11e.g.,of the fact that our father figures Qlector and Louis) are both ineffectual, if not mad? . Why does Dove invert race and gender power relationslups in the $rorld oftlfs play? . Is it any lessinsidious when Arnalia claims Augustus'body sexu ally than when male slaveowne$would rape thek female slaves? DESIGNING THE PLAY . How would you designa production of tlis Play? . Could it be cast cross-racitly? FURTHER TOPICS for discussionand e4lotatron . . . . . . . . . . . . Sexrsfi-/racism Use of offst€e cbaracte.s Significanceof the pla/s flnal scene/finalimage Experimentatiotr (either in form or theme) Parentsand children The use ofsongs 'curse' Fate/ the Sexuality Coming ofage Revolutiol Interracialrelationships Religion 167 II. English zo: Exposition and Argument Tirught by Marjorie Rubright, GraduateTeachingAssistant at the University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, Mis souri. ResearchAssignrnent:Dove'splay treats asthemes a wealth of histoiical topics that students eajoy exploring. This assignmentbe_ gins with a closereading ofthe play and then requires s$nificant researchinto some aspect of America's history with slavery The paper asks the students to retnrn to the play and to bring their researchto bear on their own careirl analysisof one of the themes in TheDarherFaceoftbeEattb. A. CHOOSING ATOPIC SampleTopics . ' . . . . slavesongs important rites and rituals ofslaves educationofslaves sexualrelations between slavesand masters interracial children born into slavery underground railroad By no meansis this list exhaustive.Your reading should engender further topics. 'Write a one paragraphresponseto the following questioas: . \rhat theme in the play haveyou chosenasyour topic? . Is your topic primarily connectedto one characterin the play?If so,who is that characterandhow is he/sheconnectedor involved with that topic/theme? . If not, who are the charactersand how are they connected to or involved with the topic/therne? r68 Block quote a short passagefrom the play in which your topic ap pearsarrdanswerthe following question: . Vhat histodcal information would you lke to have in otder to more firl1yunderstandthe rnoment you cite? How might having more historical information shedlight on your interprctation(s) of this pasage? List tbree questionsahatyou haveabout your topic asit appearsitr the passageyou cite. B. ANNOTATED B]BLIOGRAPI{Y AND RXSEARCH LOG For this part of the assignmentyou will be condocting historical researchon your topic. I{and in an Annotated Bibliography of at least three sourceswhich na)r include: . An artide of7 or more pages . One chapter ofa book 'While the use of encyclopedia entdes, brief magazine articles, intemet resoorcesand referencebooks may serveasercellent starting points-your tbree amotated sourcesmust be ftom scholarly journals. ffyou have a question about a sourceconsult a reference librarian or )our professor. Bring your ResearchIog to class. C. PAPER TbeDarkerFaceoftle Earth is being producedin AtJantafor an audi encewell informed about the history of davery The themes that arise in Dove's play will not only be familiar to that audietrce,but the c.itic who will rcview the play on openir€ night is an expert on yorr topic. The director hopesfor a positive .eview but knows that ifan actor does not frrlly understandhis/her role lvithin the histori cal contexts that apply to that role, this critic will not offer favor The director has askedyou to give a talk to either: . One characterwho is most closely associatedrvith 1'our topic . The actors involved in one act of the play in rvhich your topic is a primaiy theme of that act The director has askedthat you aim not to .egurgitate facts from thc historybooks (becauseher actors carrread those books them selves).She does not rvant a "history rePort." She has hired you to explore why the historical information regarding your topic is importart to the actol's interpretation ofhis or herrole and how having the historical information affects the choices the actorwill make as he/sheplays the role. ASSIGNMENT NOTES The open endednessof the question is intentional. The question (pan C) engendersa variety of apProaches to the for the fina1essa1. paper Somestudcnts have written paPersin speechform, asifthey were going to deliver their paper to actors.Other students prefer a more traditional, thesis-drivenessayaPprcach. The range oftopics that this assiSnmentencouragesis part of the pleasure of teaching this tert and part of the students' pleasure rvheo they read one arother's paPe$. Malty students have $-ritten essayson ho*- slavesongsfunction as codeJanguageon the plantation. One student, forexample, exploredthemoment that Augustus rcmains in the housevith Amalia despite the slaves'increasedsinging as the moment of crisis in the play This student er'?lored the historyofhorvslave songswereusedascoded sPeech,allo*'ing communication between individuals on a plartation as well as cornmu nication betwcen plantations. This researchcane to bear on hel assertion that Augusrus'sdecisior to stay in the home when the slavescalied him back to the plantation is central to the drama of Augustus'sinre acial identity OTHERESSAYTOPICS The complicated relationship berweenHector and Amalia The snakecults in African religions The multiple biblical aswell asAfrican-basedreliglous connotations of Hector's seemingobsessionwith killing snakes The associationofvoodooism with Skt'lla How voodoo coexistswith the "master's"relision RECOMMTNDED SUPPIJMENIAI READING . TbeSlaoeCommunity:PlantationLife in theAntebellumSoutb.Jotur '\Z Blassingane , Aficant in America:America's fuarney tbrougb Slat'ery. Charles Patricia Smith & Johnson . Nanatipe of tbe L;fe of Frcderick Douglats.Aa American Slazte. Frederick Douglass . Incidenxin tbeLife of a Shoe Grl. Hartiet Jacobs . lVbite lYonen,Blatk Men:Illicit Sexin tbeNinetemtb-CatturySouth Martha Hodes . BlacASlaoeNanativer Johr Bayliss . Mistresses and Slaeet Phr?tation V'omefi;n Solttb Caroli a Madl \(/einer . "Vhm I CanReadm! Title Cleat":Liwaq, Slaoery,annRehgiotttft tbeAntebellxn Soattr-lanetDuitsman Cornelius III. Englishrz9:The EuropeanLiteraryTadition Taught by Diana R. Paulin, Assistant Professor of American Studiesard English at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Another approachto Rita Dove's play is to study it in the context of the European tradition and ask vrhy this play also works when placed in the US. antebellum context. Thint about the ways in which the play addressesboth "unive$al" questionsabout farnilial dynamics and taboos, as well as particular aspectsof US. history (suchas,slaverymiscegenation, and the cult oftrue woma lood). AIso,look at how Dove'spositionaspoet laureateinformsher role asa national storyteller, sirnilar to Greek epic poets, and influences 't1rama"of slavery her decision to use this narrative to play out the arrdrebellionin the US. POINTS TO PONDER ' WhydoesDove choosethis form Clhe Oedipalmlth/Sophocles' OedipusRex)to tell this story? . What US. (racial, national, familiat) mlthologies does she draw frofi/invoke? . How doesher play and her strategyfor telling her story resonate ard modern?(alienationof with other tragicplays,both classical audience,endswith rebellion, fall fo tragic hero, etc ) . What doesDove transform/changein her play? . Vrhat categorywould you put this play in? (tragedy?melodrama?) why? . How doessheboth incorporate and traJlsform-/revisethe "tragic mulatto" conventionfrom rgth and early2oth century narratives? . What is the importanceof repetitionin the play? . How is fate tied in *'ith the inevitability ofthe violent ending?In terms of rebellion?Suicide?Impending Civil War? . What African retentionsdoessheinsert into the Play? . Horv doesher play challengemore conventional formulations of raceandgender? POSSIBLE PAPERTOPICS . Compare the different versiom (rs,arrd2.deditions) ofthe play 'What changes were made arrd how does this shape the story and the way in which it emphasizes certain aspects of the tragedy . How does Dove transform classical formulations ofgendcr in her modern articulation ofthe Oedipus tragedy? . I-[ow does race alld the history of race relations in the US. inform Dove's retelling of this classic or "udversal' tale? . Tblk about the redemptive possibilities ofRita Dove's play How does her conclusion invite multiple interpretations of the racial drana rcptesetted it Darker Face? SUPPLEMENTAI TEXTS/PLAYS . Berzon,Judith R. Neithel WbiteNorBIacA:TheMulatto Character;n Ameican Fiaion. New York NYLI Press,1978. . Boucicault, Dion. Tre Octonon. 1859.Beit Play oftbeEarly AnericanTheatre:FromtheBegbmingto 1916.F;d.John Gassner New York:CrownPubtisfung, 1907.r8t - 2rs. . Fabre, Gene\.ieve.Dzzrbeat1 Mashsand Metaphor Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1983. . Hughes,Langston.Mz latto. 1935.BlackTlteatreUS.A: PIqs lryAf rianAmericdnr,Tbe RecmtPeriol r%S -Tbdqt Revised and Ex pandedEdition. NevrYork The FreePress,1996.Ed. JamesV Hatch andTed Shine. New York The FreePress,1996.qz3. . Johnson, Georgia Douglas. BlueBlood. 1926.BlackFenalePIal arighx: An AntbologyofPlal: beforery50. Ed.. Kathy A. Perkins. Bloomington:IndianaIIII 1989.38-46. . Johnson, Georgia Douglas. Blue-Eyed BlackBoy. r93S1939.Black FemalePhy@igbtt: AnAttthology of PIay heforery5o. Ed. Kathy A. Perkins. Bloomington: Indiana U\ 989. 47-5t.