Intersecting Boundaries The Theatre of Adrienne Kennedy Paul K. Bryant-Jackson and Lois More Overbeck, editors

Although Adrienne Kennedy's plays are highly regarded in the world of American theater, this is the first major critical study of her work. Topics covered encompass all of Kennedy's writing for the theater and explore her innovative dramaturgy in the context of its intersections with African, modern, postmodern, and contemporary drama, African-American consciousness, and feminist theory in theater. In addition to examining the incredible variety of Kennedy's work and suggesting critical strategies that will support fuller study of her dramatic writing, Intersecting Boundaries demonstrates that only through a collage of critical models can the complexity and richness of her postmodern dramaturgy be illumined. Interviews with persons directly involved in the productions of Kennedy's work emphasize the central role theater artists have had in shaping her plays--ultimately suggesting useful approaches for the production of these compelling dramas. Contents Part I: The Life and Work Adrienne Kennedy: An Interview. Paul K. Bryant-Jackson and Lois More Overbeck People Who Led to My Plays: Adrienne Kennedy's Autobiography, Werner Sollors The Life of the Work: A Preliminary Sketch, Lois More Overbeck Part II: Intersecting Dramatic Traditions Kennedy's Travelers in the American and African Continuum, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson Diverse Angles of Vision: Two Black Women Playwrights, Margaret B. Wilkerson Adrienne Kennedy and the First Avant-Garde Adrienne Kennedy Through the Lens of German Expressionism, William R. Elwood Surrealism as Mimesis: A Doctor's Guide to Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro, Robert Scanlan Part III: Changing Boundaries: Interpretive Approaches Locating Adrienne Kennedy: Prefacing the Subject, Kimberly W. Benston Mimesis in Syncopated Time: Reading Adrienne Kennedy, Elin Diamond (Hetero) Sexual Terrors in Adrienne Kennedy's Early Plays, Rosemary Curb Kennedy's Body Politic: The Mulatta, Menses, and the Medusa, Jeanie Forte "A Spectator Watching My Life": Adrienne Kennedy's A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White, Deborah R. Geis Critical Reflections: Adrienne Kennedy, the Writer, the Work, bell hooks Part IV: Performance as a Collaborative Art An Interview with Michael Kahn, Howard Stein An Interview with Gaby Rodgers, Howard Stein An Interview with Gerald Freedman, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson An Interview with Billie Allen, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson and Lois More Overbeck Developing a Concert for the Spoken Voice: Solo Voyages, and an Interview with Robbie McCauley, David Willinger ISBN 0-8166-2016-4 paper $18.95 304 pages 1992 Kennedy home page