What Stories Do You Tell?
History is the story we tell ourselves and the people who come after us about what has happened to us or to others. In this it is similar to theater.
It has been suggested that theater is “history with the boring parts left out.” As the musical HAMILTON famously says, it’s about, “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”
This means that at times only certain stories get told.
The Stories Told Define Us All
Some stories in the past have not been told, or told only rarely. One of the reasons that Rhymes Over Beats was started was to tell these seldom-told stories.
We also try to tell them using music that has been, up to now, not the kind of music that was used to tell theatrical stories. It is the kind of music that belongs to the culture in which many of the stories we want to tell happened.
This upcoming month is black history month. We have in the past few years on our social media tried to change this lack of notice, of celebration.
Every day in February we have been putting up posts on black theater history on Instagram. Who was first. Who was best. Who was best most often. Who were these things individually as well as institutionally. Who were these things on stage, back stage, and front of house.
We know our list is extensive. We also know it is not exhaustive. Please look at what we posted last year on our Instagram page last year. Let us know what we may have missed.
Here are last year’s blog posts:
- February 6, 2020 Black World Theater?
- February 11, 2020 The Amazing Audra
- February 19, 2020 First Black Play
- February 25, 2020 What Makes a Producer?
We welcome any ideas on what event needs to be celebrated when we post, that we may have missed last year.