WE’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER TABLE

REPRESENTATION AND AWARENESS GO HAND IN hand. It’s simple math: The more representation of a group in the arts, the more aware the wider culture becomes of that group’s culture. But an upward tick in representation doesn’t change the demographics. There aren’t suddenly more Asian Americans, say, because of Crazy Rich Asians, and Black Panther didn’t increase the Black population in this country either.

So rather than saying there’s a new wave of Black playwrights sweeping the nation, it’s better to say that U.S. theatres are at last waking up to the many writers already out there doing important work. These include, to list just a few of the most prominent names, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon, Gloria), Dominique Morisseau (Pipeline, Skeleton Crew), Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play, Daddy), Danai Gurira (Eclipsed, Familiar), Mfoniso Udofia (Sojourners, Her Portmanteau), Aleshea Harris (Is God Is, What to Send Up When It Goes Down), Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen), James Ijames (Kill Move Paradise, White), Ike Holter (Rightlynd, Exit Strat egy), Antoinette Nwandu (Pass Over), Marcus Gardley (The House That Will Not Stand), Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho), Donja R. Love (Fireflies), Jackie Sibblies Drury (We Are Proud to Pres ent…, Fairview), and Tarell Alvin McCraney (The Brother/Sister Plays, Choir Boy). And that’s not counting a few veterans still working at the top of their form, including Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Anna Deavere Smith, Robert O’Hara, and Pearl Cleage, among others.

Some have been on the scene for decades, others are just out of college and have quickly