Current Projects

Current Projects

by | Mar 24, 2020 | Blog

How Are You Staying Creative?

Like almost everyone else, I’m limited to what I can do during these stressful times. Fortunately, writing a blog is not one of them. Writing seems to be one of the safest things anyone can do, and I’m going to take advantage of that.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the subject of a hip hop musical should be about something serious. Ideally, it tells a story of the oppression of one group by another, and how the oppressed group responded.

My next writing project, one that was inspired by this time of self-isolation, is taken from my ethnic heritage.

 

Famine in Ireland

 

Between 1845 and 1850 over one million Irish men and women died from hunger and disease, and another million emigrated. It was a humanitarian disaster. It was caused primarily by the indifference of one population to the suffering of another.

This is an appropriate subject for a hip hop musical.

For the beats, at least for the additional instruments, I’m planning on using the sounds of traditional Irish folk music. Look up “Irish hip hop” on YouTube to get an idea of the sort of music I’m considering.

I look forward to sharing the progress as things develop over the next few years.

In the meantime stay healthy. Listen to the doctors, not the politicians.

Wash your hands often. At least 20 seconds (I use Polonius’ speech from Hamlet act 1 scene three to time it.).

Limit physical contact.

Stay safe.

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What Makes a Hip Hop Musical?

What Makes a Hip Hop Musical?

by | Mar 14, 2020 | Blog

Two Requirements for a good Hip Hop Musical

 

Musicals can be created from practically any source. My Fair Lady was originally a play by George Bernard Shaw called Pygmalion. Fun Home was adapted from a graphic novel. Cats was once a book of poetry by T.S. Elliott. Li’l Abner was a comic strip. Even an extremely long, very dry, historical biography by Ron Chernow served as the basis for Hamilton.

Any source can be made into a musical.

The best sources have two requirements.

  • First, it has to be a good story.
  • Second, the story must have heightened emotions which can be musicalized.

Are these two requirements enough to make a good hip hop musical? I don’t think so. There is an additional requirement.

It is the reason why I think Hamilton makes a good hip hop musical, but Pygmalion would not.

 

Freedom

 

The culture of hip hop arose from an oppressed community. A community denied basic human rights, and one that burned with an overwhelming desire for freedom.

The story of the American Revolution is the story of a fight for freedom and self–determination. That backdrop makes Hamilton a good source for a hip hop musical.

Hip hop culture is the reach for freedom. The source material for a hip hop musical must be about freedom as well.

 

What do you think? Comment below or on social media, or email me privately at pat@rhymesoverbeats.org.

Play or Musical?

Play or Musical?

by | Mar 4, 2020 | Blog

What’s the Difference?

 

For the last blog this year acknowledging black theater history, I want to talk about the one thing that makes any kind of theater possible: the script.

Works of theater can be divided into two types: 

  • Musical or
  • Play

These two types can be divided into sub categories.

  • If the main character dies in the end, it’s a tragedy.
  • If they don’t die, it’s a comedy.

These subcategories can be further divided by subject. The subject for example, could be romance. A musical with romance can be a “romantic comedy.” A play with romance can be a “tragedy of unrequited love.”

 

Tradition!

 

When plays and musicals are created by artists sharing the same language, nation, an ethnicity or a race, a theater tradition is born.

In order for a theater tradition to be a serious theater tradition, there need to be examples of all types, kinds, and subjects.

Black theater in America is a serious theater tradition.

  • Black plays and musicals have been written and performed since the founding of the country.
  • Black Plays include serious dramas like Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff.
  • Black Musicals include light comedies like The Wiz.
  • Black theater tradition in America includes every known type, kind and subject matter that exists in the art of theater.

 

However…

 

Black Theater has even given birth to a new musical form –  a new world view that can be used to create theatrical work.

What is that world view? Hip hop.

Making THAT kind of work – Hip Hop Theater – is what Rhymes Over Beats was established to do.

Let’s make the future together: Hip Hop Theater. Interested? Get in touch with us here.

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What Makes a Producer?

What Makes a Producer?

by | Feb 25, 2020 | Blog

What makes a producer?

 

As far as I know there has been only one black lead producing team on Broadway. It is Front Row productions, run by Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey. Their first production was in 2008.

There are other black men and women who have produced on Broadway, just not as lead producers. Considering that blacks have been involved in Broadway theater since the late 1800’s, this is unacceptable.

We need to change this.

 

 

Who’s in Charge?

 

A lead producer is the boss. The person who makes the decisions. The person who decides which play or musical will be done. You can’t change what is done on Broadway without changing who is doing the producing.

I got started in producing in a manner similar to other producers I know. After a successful business career and bumping up against midlife, I was looking for something else to do. I met a playwright who had a play, but no idea of what to do next. I offered business advice, and got hooked. I became a producer.

This is how producers get made. A person with a business background contributes their expertise to a work of theater.

If you are a black actor, playwright, composer, or designer, and have a college friend involved in the business world, you need to encourage them to be a producer. You don’t need to have money to be a producer, just have friends who do.

 

Greater diversity in producers means greater diversity on stage.

First Black Play

First Black Play

by | Feb 19, 2020 | Blog

When did blacks begin to participate in American theater?

 

They participated from the very beginning.

The first play to be written In America by a black playwright is believed to be The Drama of King Shotaway, by William Henry Brown, in the early 1800’s. Brown also founded the first black theater company, the African Grove, in New York. The story centers around facts taken from the Insurrection of the Caravs on the Island of St. Vincent, written from an experience by Mr. Brown.

 

Like Hamilton?

 

I think I prefer the way play titles are done these days, with one name and an exclamation point, like Hamilton!

Similar to Hamilton!, King Shotaway is about a revolution against British tyranny. In 1795, Chatoyer, a chief of the indigenous people on the island of St Vincent, rebelled against British colonialism.

Unlike Hamilton!, this rebellion was unsuccessful.

 

The Seldom-Told Story

 

I decided to make this play the subject of this week’s blog, not only because if fits this month’s focus on black theater history, but also because it connects with one of the primary concerns that motivate Rhymes Over Beats.

No copies of the play are known to exist. This makes it a seldom-told story – the kind we were created to tell.

Anyone want to help us tell it? 

The Amazing Audra

The Amazing Audra

by | Feb 11, 2020 | Blog

Celebrating Black History Month

 

This month is black history month. We will be celebrating black theater history this month by every day posting on our social media accounts about a significant event in black theater history, or an achievement by an individual.

Some of these events warrant more discussion than 140 characters allow, so each blog this month will be devoted to a detailed discussion of a specific event.

 

Six Tony Awards Go To…

 

The Antoinette Perry awards are the premier awards in New York theater on Broadway. They began in 1947.

The Tony awards have four performance categories divided into subcategories by gender. They are:

  • lead actor in a play
  • lead actor in a musical
  • supporting actor in a play
  • supporting actor in a musical

The first person, ever to win best supporting actress in a musical was a black woman, Jaunita Hall. Only one actor in history has won a Tony award in each of the performance categories; this same person is the only person to have won a total of six Tony awards for performing.

This honor goes to Audra McDonald.

Her first win in 1994 was for a supporting actress in a musical, in Carousel, in 1994. Her latest Tony was in 2014 as the lead actress in a play, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.

Audra McDonald is the best stage actor of her generation, and it is impossible to celebrate black theater history and not recognize the talent and achievements of the amazing Audra McDonald.

Brava!