Reclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture examines works by contemporary Black artists in multiple media—drama, film, performance art, and photography—that trouble dominant conceptualizations and normative configurations of time in relation to race in the twenty-first century. Isaiah Matthew Wooden explores the ways in which an intentional and sometimes ludic engagement with time and temporality has enabled these artists to probe urgent questions and themes concerning the conditions of contemporary Black life. Wooden surveys a diverse array of performance-based and visual texts to explore the rich practices of contemporary Black expressive culture: dramatic works by playwrights Eisa Davis, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Robert O’Hara; performance art and photography by visual artists Jefferson Pinder and LaToya Ruby Frazier; and feature-length cinema by director-producer Tanya Hamilton. These works expose normative time as specious and evidence the transformative potential in honing practices of Black temporal experimentation and intervention. By putting this cross-disciplinary set of texts in conversation with each other, Wooden sheds new light on the shrewd ways that they each reflect an investment in unbinding time from the exigencies of normativity and teleology, as well as on their shared commitments to reclaiming time to reimagine and represent Blackness in all its multiplicities

august wilson in context

edited by khalid y. long and isaiah matthew wooden

August Wilson is one of the twentieth century’s most important and acclaimed playwrights. This volume demonstrates Wilson’s significance to contemporary theatre, culture, and politics by providing fresh and compelling insights into his life, practices, and contributions as an artist and public intellectual. Across four thematically organized sections, contributors situate Wilson’s work in his social, cultural and political contexts, examine ongoing developments in Wilson studies, explore the production contexts of his plays, and explicate his dramaturgical sensibilities and strategies. This is the authoritative guide to Wilson’s career and artistic legacy for students, theatre practitioners, and general readers interested in this remarkable figure.

tarell alvin mccraney: theater, performance, and collaboration

edited by sharrell d. luckett, david román, and isaiah matthew wooden

This is the first book to dedicate scholarly attention to the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney, one of the most significant writers and theater-makers of the twenty-first century. Featuring essays, interviews, and commentaries by scholars and artists who span generations, geographies, and areas of interest, the volume examines McCraney’s theatrical imagination, his singular writerly voice, his incisive cultural critiques, his stylistic and formal creativity, and his distinct personal and professional trajectories. Contributors consider McCraney’s innovations as a playwright, adapter, director, performer, teacher, and collaborator, bringing fresh and diverse perspectives to their observations and analyses. In so doing, they expand and enrich the conversations on his much-celebrated and deeply resonant body of work, which includes the plays Choir Boy, Head of Passes, Ms. Blakk for President, The Breach, Wig Out!, and the critically acclaimed trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet, as well as the Oscar Award–winning film Moonlight, which was based on his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.

a raisin in the sun by lorraine hansberry: methuen student edition

commentary and notes by isaiah matthew wooden

A revised student edition of Lorraine Hansberry's iconic 1959 play. Alongside the play text itself, this edition contains commentary and notes by Isaiah Matthew Wooden, which consider the play's: socio-historical context (including the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the US); major themes (including African-American identity, property ownership, and emergent Black feminist politics); structure and devices (including mid-20th century family dramas, "genuine realism," and Hansberry's use of music, dance and song in the play); production history (from the premiere production to the 2014 Broadway revival starring Denzel Washington and LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Dawn Walton's 2016 UK touring production); and engagement with the play (including contemporary "response" pieces such as Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, and Beneatha's Place by Kwame Kwei-Armah). The notes section at the back of the edition contains definitions of terminology used in the play with which students may not be familiar. Overall, this edition helps students to make sense of Hansberry's play and its politics through a contemporary lens, in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, and in line with current debates around race, gender and class.