Multicultural Works: The Richness of the Drama of America, an HTI seminar held in the Spring of 2001, explored themes found in plays written by American Indians, African Americans, Anglo Americans, Asian Americans and Mexican Americans. Several of the plays discussed were Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin the Sun, David Henry Hwang’s Bondage, Dolores Prida’s Beautiful Senoritas, Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart, Amy Hill’s Tokyo Bound, and Diane Glancy’s Stick Horse. One of the aims of the seminar was to address the common ground shared by many American playwrights while at the same time speak to the culturally specific aspects of multicultural drama. The seminar especially focused on those values that cross ethnic, religious, and economic boundaries. Seminar participants concentrated their oral presentations on the distinctive characteristics of the drama that identified them as American plays. Several themes surfaced during class discussions, including the search for self, alienation, invisibility, double consciousness, and the American Dream. Race, class and gender issues were at the very core of the majority of plays discussed.
The very rich seminar discussions, I believe, served as an impetus for the completion of a number of exciting curriculum units, all of which draw upon multicultural drama to focus their units. Annette Bogany-Williams’ unit, “Response to Drama: Using Readers Theater to Explore the Harlem Renaissance,” introduces students to race, class, and gender biases while underscoring the impact of double consciousness on Black Americans. The unit stresses self-actualization and self-determination. Joe Ferguson’s “A Texan Drama: Using Oral History and Drama to Teach Cultural Awareness” makes use of multicultural drama and oral histories to help students develop an appreciation of the diverse cultures within Texas and to begin to explore a primary question: “What makes you act the way you do?”
Bertrina McDaniel’s “Invincibility, or, Just Believe in Yourself: Using Multicultural Drama in a Special Education Classroom” approaches multiculturalism by focusing on a common thread among ethnicities: invincibility. The unit aims to build self-worth by introducing students to prominent leaders, celebrities, and historical figures as well as ethnic playwrights who concern themselves with the resilient spirits of people of color. Patti-Brown Milstead’s “Developing Multicultural and Self Awareness Through American Drama” explores the question: “Who defines you?” The unit addresses the need for students to strive toward self-definition and self-determination. Norina Olavere’s “Identifying American Culture in the Classroom Using Multicultural Drama” underscores the belief that understanding racial and ethnic diversity can help build relationships in society. The unit calls attention to the need to demythologize stereotypes. Leonard Rétiz’s “Let the Plays Begin: Three Plays for Young Spanish-Speaking Students” introduces students to recurring themes in Spanish literature, such as machismo and sexismo, while working with students to create their own plays. Lekha Srivastava’s “Finding an Identity in Two Worlds” seeks to teach students about their own culture and the cultures of others. The unit aims to help students to understand their heritage by focusing on conflict resolution as a way of studying culture.
Each of the units, in some way, addresses the struggles, the search for self, and the cultural disruption that often occurs for people of color in a race, class, and gender-biased society. In many respects the units are designed to help students survive disillusionment, a natural part of maturation, and move toward acceptance of the wonders that life has to offer.