What role did performance play in African American history?

The idea of, of taking on an alternate ethos has been important for Africans living in America since the, since their arrival here. The, for most of them, that existence was so, so dismal, so horrifying, that the taking on of another personality, another way of dealing with those issues, was part and parcel of the existence. In other words, it allowed you to exist. It was a psychological safety valve.

The idea of using stories, for instance, to explain the cosmos, explain your place in it, is very, very African. Very folk. I mean, everyone has those stories. For that existence it was particularly important because this is the only group of people that I'm aware of in the United States where it was against the law for them to be able to read and write.

So this idea of acting things out, the idea of telling stories and so forth, was a way of passing culture from generation to generation. As well as providing that psychological safety valve. And there has always been a degree of humor in that existence. And you see that sort of thing, where you'll find folks making fun of the "house Negroes" and all that sort of stuff that we know grew into minstrelsy.

Some folks saw that, and sort of misinterpreted the, they took it away and began to use it to for satire for all Blacks. Which we've got to say, and this will fall with a, perhaps, some consternation by some historians, but I gotta say that's the beginning of the American musical. You see. Now, those kinds of celebrations and those kinds of, of, that, that kind of drama. So it's always been a part of this experience, the acting out and so forth.

The earliest, Black-produced legitimate theatre that I'm aware of happened in 1821 in New York, with a theatre by the name of Brown's African Grove. They had a production of "Richard the Third" and a number of other productions. They were closed down by the police. And, the actors were held in jail until they promised never to act Shakespeare again. So that was the first legitimate attempt at, at the theatre.

But it has, it has played a role in the African American, perception of self since those early days. Folks like W.E.B. DuBois, they recognized the power of this medium. And began to teach people. W.E.B., for instance, published a Brownie Book, where he showed people how to put theatre together and how to use it for social change and so forth.

Much of the philosophy that guides the theatre we do here at Penumbra is pioneered by people like that. I still quote W.E.B., Langston Hughes, all those kinds of folks. I'm just here standing, on a hill that's made up of their thinking. And that's what allows me to see as far as I can see.

The following is an excerpt of an interview for the documentary "Literature & Life: The Givens Collection." This excerpt features Lou Bellamy (University of Minnesota/Penumbra Theatre) discussing the work of August Wilson.

I'm sure that August would say that he is, is brought to a place because of what's come before him. In fact, he's said it, he says, l'm standing in my grandfather's shoes," is the way he says it poetically.

One of the wonderful things, I think, that August does, because he is a poet, is that he can capture the musicality of this experience in the language that he uses. In fact, his plays are so dense that it takes actors a goodly amount of time to bring those words into themselves, then bring them up and be familiar enough with his load that they're carrying, so that they can get up ride on top of the language and the music, rather than carrying it around and plodding through it. And "Ma Rainey" is a stunning example. It's chaotic, you know, but the music is still there. There's all kinds of arguments and fights, and these men start trying to play this music, and they never get the song out because something else takes them all off somewhere. But the music goes on, you know. And that's a theme that you're seeing him hit constantly.

It’s wonderful; it’s hard. Because see, as I say, you know the character, and you know what he's doing. I mean, all of us know it, if you grew up in, where all of us grew up, and you know that old man that he's writing about, just as sure as shooting, you know who he is. But that poetry, and that language, is hard to carry. So you've got to have a degree of craft, a facility with the language, and have all of your technique together so that you can master that language, and then go back and be that old man that he created.

And that's hard to do. Especially for many African-Americans who go through these "finishing schools." They tend to sweep out that kind of stuff with the training. You know what I mean. And, and keeping that identity is quite difficult. When you're always taught that the only way you can test your mettle is by a European classic. See what I mean?

So this kind of work that he, this grist that he gives us is, is phenomenal. But it's hard! It's not easy to do this stuff. (Laughs.)

As an African American actor from the North, what’s it like play Wilson’s Southern characters?

Well, you know that almost all Black people in the United States have a link to the South. I mean, we all do. In fact, August says, and I think he's right, that's the closest as we're going to come to Africa. I mean, you go down South and you see all them people moving around, and that's Africa. (Laughs) It's really interesting.

So we all got that link. And all you have to do is just, just tap into it. We're only (snaps fingers) that far away from it. We are an agrarian society, primarily, and only recently we started living in cities. I mean, these are people who came off the farm, and stuff, you know. And August has got that feel in there. There's a certain competency that one has in one's physical being, from hard work, touching the ground and so forth, and all those people have that.

So that stuff is part and parcel of the drama. The characters he creates are so, so heavy, sometimes, that they weigh on you. I mean, I did "Fences" for about, I guess, totally about eight months of my life. And carrying around Troy Mackson on my back was something to behold. Because it made me get introspective and figure out--I believe that my education, my socio-economic level and all those things, had put me at a level that was beyond, you know, much of that stuff.

And then when I start getting into Troy, and seeing what this man was about and so forth, I realized that I hadn't come that far. So it was really a heavy thing to carry.

You know what August has done more than anything, is he has taken the big issues that traditionally, like |Shakespeare has to have kings, to do Lear and so forth and -put them in a garbage man. You see a Troy Mackson. And then he’s dealing with these huge problems. August took that stuff out of the realm of royalty, and put it in everyday man stuff. Very much the way Arthur Miller did. It's pretty amazing.