Contemporary Plays by Women of Color Contemporary Plays by Women of Color is a compelling collection of new and recent works by African American, Asian American, Latina American and Native American playwrights. This ground-breaking anthology includes works by well-known and award-winning playwrights, and newly emerging talents. Together these plays represent a stunning array of voices and play styles from women of color. The works which are included here explore and speak out on issues from the playful to the painful, and show varied approaches to play-making from solo performances to collective creations. The volume also includes an invaluable appendix of published plays by women, biographical notes on each writer and the production history of each play. Contemporary Plays by Women of Color will be a unique resource for practitioners, students and theater lovers. It will be an inspiring addition to any bookshelf. Kathy A.Perkins is a lighting designer and Associate Professor of Theater at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), where she heads the lighting design program. She is the editor of Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays Before 1950. Roberta Uno is the Artistic Director of the New WORLD Theater and a lecturer in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the editor of Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women. Contemporary Plays by Women of Color An Anthology Edited by Kathy A.Perkins and Roberta Uno London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Editorial material © 1996 Kathy A.Perkins and Roberta Uno The Queen’s Garden © 1994 Brenda Wong Aoki Re/membering Aunt Jemima: A Menstrual Show © 1994 Glenda Dickerson • Breena Clarke Flyin’ West © 1994 Pearl Cleage 1992: Blood Speaks © 1992 Elvira and Hortensia Colorado Come Down Burning © 1995 Kia Corthron The Have-Little © 1991 Migdalia Cruz Till Voices Wake Us © 1993 Louella Dizon How Else Am I supposed to Know I’m Still Alive © 1989 Evelina Fernandez Weebjob © 1987 Diane Glancy Memory Tricks © Marga Gomez August 4th, 1992 Marga Gomez Is Pretty Witty & Gay © Marga Gomez August 4th, 1992 A Line Around the Block © Marga Gomez August 11th, 1994 Inter-Tribal © 1995 Terry Gomez Combination Skin © 1991 Lisa Jones Heroes and Saints © 1990 Cherríe Moraga My Ancestor’s House © 1992 Bina Sharif Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 © 1994 Anna Deavere Smith R.A.W. (‘Cause I’m a Woman) © 1993 Diana Son “I’m a Woman” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller © 1961 Jerry Leiber Music & Mike Stoller Music. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. Permission to iv perform excerpts from the song “I’m a Woman” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in stage productions of R.A.W. (‘Cause I’m a Woman) may be obtained by contacting Leiber & Stoller, 9000 Sunset Blvd., Suite 1107, Los Angeles, CA 90069. Sun Moon and Feather © 1981 Spiderwoman Theater China Doll © 1991 Elizabeth Wong Cover photo: © The Advertiser/Sunday Mail, Adelaide All rights, including, but not limited to, live stage performing rights (both professional and amateur), film, radio and television broadcasting recording, recitation, lecturing, and public reading, are expressly reserved to the authors. Particular emphasis is placed upon the question of readings and all uses of these plays by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the authors representatives. Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to the publisher in the first instance. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Contemporary Plays by Women of Color: An Anthology / edited by Kathy A.Perkins and Roberta Uno. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. American drama—Minority authors. 2. Minority women—United States—Drama. 3. Minorities—United States—Drama. 4. American drama—Woman authors. 5. American drama—20th century. I. Perkins, Kathy A. II. Uno, Roberta. PS627.M5C66 1966 812'.540809287—dc20 95–7465 ISBN 0-203-99250-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-11377-6 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-11378-4 (pbk) For our mothers Minerva F.Perkins and Kiku Fukuyama Uno and in memory of Alice Childress (1916–1994) Contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 Kathy A.Perkins and Roberta Uno 1 The Queen’s Garden 19 Brenda Wong Aoki 2 Re/membering Aunt Jemima: A Menstrual Show 51 Glenda Dickerson • Breena Clarke 3 Flyin’ West 71 Pearl Cleage 4 1992: Blood Speaks 1 20 Elvira and Hortensia Colorado 5 Come Down Burning 1 38 Kia Corthron 6 The Have-Little 1 60 Migdalia Cruz 7 Till Voices Wake 1 91 Us Louella Dizon 8 How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive 2 28 Evelina Fernandez 9 Weebjob 2 42 Diane Glancy 10 Excerpts from Memory Tricks, Marga Gomez Is Pretty Witty & 2 77 Gay, and A Line Around the Block Marga Gomez 11 Inter-Tribal 2 87 Terry Gomez 12 Combination Skin 3 10 Lisa Jones vii 13 Heroes and Saints 3 32 Cherríe Moraga 14 My Ancestor’s House 3 79 Bina Sharif 15 Excerpts from Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 4 06 Anna Deavere Smith 16 R.A.W. (’Cause I’m a Woman) 4 25 Diana Son 17 Sun Moon and Feather 4 37 Spiderwoman Theater 18 China Doll 4 57 Elizabeth Wong Appendix Published plays by American women of color 4 64 Acknowledgments We would like to thank the following individuals for their advice and/or gracious assistance in leading us to some of the works in this anthology: Emilia Cachepero, Anthony Garcia, Hanay Geiogamah, Eric Hayashi, Ron Himes, Fred Ho, Shelby Jiggett, May Joseph, Ricardo Khan, Yuki Nakamura, Jorge Ortol, Deborah Oster Pannell, Sophie Parker, and William Yellow Robe, Jr. For assistance with research and the preparation of this manuscript we would like to thank Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns, Hilary Edwards, Ann Haugo, Terrilynn Mitchell, Sangeeta Rao, Dan Rivera, and Nadine Warner. We would also like to express our appreciation of the support we have received for this project from Dean Lee Edwards and Dr. Frederick Tillis of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Yvonne Mendez and the staff of the New WORLD Theater; David Knight, and Joseph Smith of the University of Illinois; and the University of Illinois Research Board. We also thank our editors, Talia Rodgers and Sarah- Jane Woolley for their patience, encouragement, and good humor. Finally for their unwavering personal support we thank Merle Bowen, Elinor Bowles, Jim Cyress, Nancy M.Davis, Tracy Davis, Tim Daz, Rita Disroe, Suzanne Dougan, Riki Hing, Velina Houston, Tulani Jordan and Stan Kinard, Ed and Kay Kaneko, Emma Kaplan, Aquila Ayana McCants, Mariko Miho, Nobuko Miyamoto, Linda Perkins, Marion Perkins, Sr., Minoca Pinto, Norma Rivera Diaz, the Soman- Faulkner family, Chinua and Mikiko Thelwell, Ernest and Grace Uno, Josie Camacho and Victor Uno, Roger and Teresa Uno, and San San Wong. Thanks and praises to the spirits of those who continue to guide us: Hazel Bryant, Louise Evans Briggs-Hall, Sidney Kaplan, Aichi Kochiyama Duncan, Patti O’Neal, Freda Page, Yvonne Adel John, and Atanasio Camacho Uno. Introduction Kathy A.Perkins and Roberta Uno Photos: © Rick Newton In the tradition of cultural workers before us, this generation of women of color will…define the ground we walk on and bring our creative forms into the light. We will sometimes complain, and protest, and wear on the nerves, but we will not return to the dark. Marsha Jackson In 1984, when we first collaborated on the premiere of a musical entitled Gullah!, written and directed by the late Alice Childress, Kathy Perkins and I began the work that has resulted in this anthology and an ongoing series of research, archival, and production projects. At that time, Kathy was four years into her first teaching appointment as an instructor at Smith College, and I was (and continue to be) the artistic director of the then five-years-old New WORLD Theater and a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts. Kathy designed the lighting for the production and I produced it; although we were immediately caught up in the intense madness of production and rehearsal, an unspoken bond was established. We recognized in each other a counterpart—another woman, a woman of color, a working artist, a teacher, an artist/teacher trying to thrive in an academic environment. We instinctively knew several things about each other: that the other was most likely the only person of color in her academic