For Release: Aug. 25, 2003
A Voice to Be Reckoned With captures the energy and artistry of a new generation of African-American women playwrights, including Lynn Nottage, Regina Taylor, Dael Orlandersmith, Kia Corthron and Kirsten Childs.
Shaped by both racism and sexism, the writers featured in this documentary are the voices of a minority within a minority. Their work hones in on social breakdown, probes neglected corners of history and speaks with an intensity that pulls audiences into worlds never imagined.
"The African-American woman's voice is important because it is part of the American voice," says playwright Lynn Nottage. "But you would not know that by looking at TV or films. You would think that we do not exist. Part of my mission as a writer is to say, 'I do exist. My mother existed, and my grandmother existed, and my great grandmother existed, and they had stories that are rich, complicated, funny--that are beautiful and essential.'"
A Voice to Be Reckoned With pays homage to playwrights who have led the way, including Lorraine Hansberry, Ntozake Shange, Anna Deavere Smith and Suzan-Lori Parks, the only black women to have plays reach Broadway in the past 50 years. In 2002, Parks became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama with her play Topdog/Underdog.
A Voice to Be Reckoned With is presented as a companion to the American Shorts series of one-hour programs featuring adaptations of new short plays premiered by regional theaters. The series Web site, www.ket.org/americanshorts/, includes information and teacher resources on the role women playwrights played in the early development of African-American theater, as well as on playwrights who helped to shape modern theater, including Alice Childress and Adrienne Kennedy.
A Voice to Be Reckoned With is nationally distributed by American Public Television (APT) and made possible by the support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
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