African American Theatre: A Historical and Critical Analysis.

Samuel Hay's analysis of the history of African American theatre has begun to fill a gap left open far too long. Hay manages to fit the highlights of more than 150 years of African American theatrical history into this book, with a clear and well-founded analysis of the difficulties and successes of African Americans in the theatre. As Hay states in his introduction, his ultimate goal is to find, through history and analysis, a way to "improve prospects for the further long-term health of this repository of African American life and history" (1), to shore up the African American theatre organizations which still exist, and to create more financially healthy theatre organizations. …