| Summary: | Civil disobedience has a tattered history in the American story. Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as both moral reflection and political act, the performance of civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws is also, the author of this book argues, a deeply artistic practice. Modern parallels to King's civil disobedience can be found in Black theater, where the Black body challenges the normative assumptions of classical texts and modes of creation. This is a theater of civil disobedience. Utilizing Aristotle's Poetics, the author invokes the six aspects of Aristotelian drama - character, story, thought, spectacle, song, and diction. The author demonstrates the re-appropriation and rejection of these themes by Black playwrights August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy, and Eugene O'Neill. This book frames the theater of civil disobedience to challenge the hostility that still exists between theater and Black identity.
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