Reading Zake: Stories of Our Own

“as a poet in american theater/ i find most activity that takes place on our stages overwhelmingly shallow/ stilted & imitative,” (Lost in Language & Sound, 13). 

As an artist, what Shange wants to create is a moment/experience and not a product. Shange argues that the American theater tradition that many black artists emulate are not sufficient to reach black people. The American theater tradition “cannot function for those of us from this hemisphere,” (13). She says that this theater tradition comes from a “[E]uropean psychology” that cannot and is not meant to heal and nurture black individuals. She means that this form is not useful for black people because it does not convey their experiences.

“in other words/ we are selling ourselves & our legacy quite cheaply/ since we are trying to make our primary statements with somebody else’s life/ and somebody else’s idea of what theater is. i wd suggest that: we demolish the notion of straight theater for a decade or so, refuse to allow playwrights to work without dancers & musicians. “coon shows” were somebody else’s idea. We have integrated the notion that serious drama must be words/ with no music & no dance/ cuz that wd take away the seriousness of the event/ cuz we all remember too well. the chuckles & scoffs at the notion that all niggers cd sing & dance/ & most of us can sing & dance/ & the reason that so many plays written to silence & stasis fail/ is cuz most black people have some music and movement in our lives. we do sing & dance. this is a cultural reality. this is why i find the most inspiring theater among us to be in the realms of music & dance,” (Lost in Language & Sound,15). 

According to Shange, black artists cheat themselves by using the forms of their former colonizers instead of creating artistic experiences that reflect their own lives. Shange argues that for art to reflect the lives of black people it must include music and dance. Not because that is all black people are good at music and dance, but because those forms of expression are usually part of black experiences. Shange says that we “must move our theater into the drama of our lives,” (14).

These quotes have been essential to my understanding of the aesthetic that Shange and other artists who collaborated with her were pulling from. I am interested in how the performing arts transmits and conveys culture. According to Shange, for the performing arts to be successful at impacting an audience its form has to represent their culture. Shange’s refusal to work within standards that do not stem from the black community is an act of defiance. Her theories are in line with the ideals of the Black Arts Movement which called for art that benefited the race and did not confine itself to the white gaze. The Black Arts Movement and Shange proved to artists that “you don’t have to assimilate. You could do your own thing, get into your own background, your own history, your own tradition and your own culture,” (Ishmael Reed, 1995).