{"product_id":"selected-plays-9780810127517","title":"Selected Plays","description":"The first African American woman to have a play professionally produced in New York City (\u003ci\u003eGold Through the Trees\u003c\/i\u003e, in 1952), Alice Childress occupies an important but surprisingly under-recognized place in American drama. She herself rejected an emphasis on the pioneering aspects of her career, saying that \"it's almost like it's an honor rather than a disgrace\" and that she should \"be the fiftieth and the thousandth by this point\"-a remark that suggests the complexity and singularity of vision to be found in her plays. Childress worked as an actress before turning to playwriting in 1949, and she was a political activist all of her life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Spanning the 1940s to the 1960s, the plays collected here are the ones Childress herself believed were her best, and offer a realistic portrait of the racial inequalities and social injustices that characterized these decades. Her plays often feature strong-willed female protagonists whose problems bring into harsh relief the restrictions faced by African American women. This is the first volume devoted exclusively to the work of a major playwright whose impact on the American theater was profound and lasting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eALICE CHILDRESS \u003c\/b\u003e(1916-1994) was a playwright, novelist, and actress. Among her best-known plays are \u003ci\u003eTrouble in Mind\u003c\/i\u003e (1955), \u003ci\u003eWedding Band\u003c\/i\u003e (1966), and \u003ci\u003eWine in the Wilderness\u003c\/i\u003e (1969). She is also the author of \u003ci\u003eA Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich\u003c\/i\u003e, a young-adult novel that was also made into a film. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eKATHY A. PERKINS\u003c\/b\u003e is a Professor Emerita of Theatre at the University of Illinois. She is the editor of Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950, Black South African Women: An Anthology of Plays, and African Women Playwrights. She is co-editor of Contemporary Plays by Women of Color and Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women. She has been an award-winning lighting designer for productions throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Northwestern University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50523793883410,"sku":"9780810127517","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5cfb45ae-2c4d-48c0-92f8-4c0b49d381ba.jpg?v=1731168562","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/selected-plays-9780810127517","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}