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| Louise Stubb, Arthur French, Kishasha, Gloria Edwards. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
For background on how this previously
unpublished series—introducing all mainstream New York shows between 1970 and
1975—came to be and its relationship to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New
York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the
prefaces to any of the earlier entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the
list at the end of the current entry.
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| Minnie Gentry (standing), Louise Stubbs. |
BLACK GIRL [Drama/Family/Race/Southern/Youth] A: J.E.
Franklin; D: Shauneille Perry; S: Charles Mills; C: Femi; L: Buddy; P: Henry
Street Settlement’s New Federal Theatre; T:Theatre de Lys (OB); 6/16/71-1/16/72
(234)
Originally staged Off-Off Broadway at the New Federal Theatre, Black Girl did quite well for itself in
a respectable Off Broadway mounting.
Set in a small Texas town, the hour-long, episodic play zeroes
in on the dilemma of a 17-year-old black girl, Billie Jean (Kishasha), who
aspires to leave the ghetto squalor to become a ballet dancer. Her dreams,
though, are mocked by two of her elder sisters, for whom such escape smacks of
impossibility. The aid of a foster sister, who has just completed college,
finally provides the means for Billie Jean’s release.
This naturalistic drama, though flawed, received much
commendation for its “splintered, harsh and bright” insights and “air of
honesty” (Clive Barnes), its biting and original use of language and excellent
cast (Walter Kerr), its “raw gut humor” (Jerry Tallmer), and its “striking cast
of characters” and “swift, compelling flare-ups of violence” (John Simon).
Drawbacks, however, included an overly passive central character
and too heavy a reliance on description rather than revelation through action,
according to Kerr. Simon faulted it for lacking “rising action, the interplay
of humdrum complexities that leads from the flatnesses to the culminations.” He
also was one of the few to criticize the acting ensemble (which included
stalwarts like Arthur French and Minnie Gentry) but even he agreed with the
consensus that Louise Stubbs, as Billie Jean’s mother, was outstanding.
Playwright J.E. Franklin won the Drama Desk Award for Most
Promising Playwright.
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The
Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell
Revue
The Birthday Party
