From August Wilson to Tyler Perry: Crossing Paths on the Way to Tomorrow
Gene Bryan Johnson
Abstract
“From August Wilson to Tyler Perry: Crossing Paths on the Way to Tomorrow” begins by asking why events such as the NAACP Image Awards do not recognize black playwriting. I trace the roots of Tyler Perry’s financial success to urban Gospel theatre marketing innovations developed in the Frankfurt School-like environment of New York City circa 1984, and demonstrate how black communities bore a significant portion of the pain yet contributed the lion’s share of meaningful artistic expression. This essay connects Wilson’s roots as a disciple in the tradition of the 1960s Black Power movement to his belief in the need for contemporary theatre "about us, by us, for us and near us,” and intertwines historical facts with personal anecdotes and interviews with actor/scholar Stephen McKinley Henderson, members of Wilson’s production team and estate, TOBA circuit veteran Bill Dillard, urban Gospel theatre producer Tiffani Gavin, scholars Paul Carter Harrison, Todd Boyd and Carlton Molette and others. I argue that, while Perry’s “plays” do not reach the artistic level of Wilson’s theatre, Perry’s use of the Internet and social media has set a new standard for identifying, identifying with, marketing to, entertaining and inviting black audiences into the theatre.
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