Jouvay Women: Rejuvenating Classical Theatre in the Caribbean
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Classical Western productions, from Greek theatre to Shakespeare, play a role in the political suppression of non-white audiences, in part, through the typical casting of white actors for white audiences (Wetmore 2012) However, recent scholarship explores “Black Classicism,” contemporary research on race and ‘blackness’ in classical antiquity (Greenwood 2009). My project is an exploration of “Black Classicism” and Caribbean theatre artist Tony Hall’s performance practice, Jouvay Popular Theatre Process (JPTP)-a theatre workshop that utilizes traditional characters from Trinidad Carnival. Jouvay, from the French j’ouvert, is defined as “daybreak”; the ritual of the sunrise or morning of carnival, also meaning the festive spirit of its celebrations. JPTP incorporates traditional Trinidad Carnival characters, music, and folk practices in dramatic performance. The project focuses on Dr. Shirlene Holmes and Rhoma Spencer's Caribbean adaptation of Euripides' Medea (Carnival Medea), to investigate how the play utilizes JPTP as a mode of Black Classicism that incorporates emancipation strategies through performance.
Holmes and Spencer’s Trinidad inspired Medea adaptation foregrounds an antiracist reinterpretation of the Euripides’ classic. In doing so, it responds to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson 1996 speech, "The Ground on Which I Stand,” which argues for African American theatre to shift in diverse casting and production employment opportunities for improved representation of audiences (Wilson 1996). More recently, it also responds to #WESEEYOU, the BIPOC activist group, and their demand to install a more equitable, anti-racist theatre system. Carnival Medea, with its use of JPTP techniques, expands the canon of the “classic” often “reserved for [privileged]white cultures and institutions” to invest and celebrate underrepresented communities of color.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
COTA - Theatre and Performance Studies
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Thomas Fish
Jouvay Women: Rejuvenating Classical Theatre in the Caribbean
Classical Western productions, from Greek theatre to Shakespeare, play a role in the political suppression of non-white audiences, in part, through the typical casting of white actors for white audiences (Wetmore 2012) However, recent scholarship explores “Black Classicism,” contemporary research on race and ‘blackness’ in classical antiquity (Greenwood 2009). My project is an exploration of “Black Classicism” and Caribbean theatre artist Tony Hall’s performance practice, Jouvay Popular Theatre Process (JPTP)-a theatre workshop that utilizes traditional characters from Trinidad Carnival. Jouvay, from the French j’ouvert, is defined as “daybreak”; the ritual of the sunrise or morning of carnival, also meaning the festive spirit of its celebrations. JPTP incorporates traditional Trinidad Carnival characters, music, and folk practices in dramatic performance. The project focuses on Dr. Shirlene Holmes and Rhoma Spencer's Caribbean adaptation of Euripides' Medea (Carnival Medea), to investigate how the play utilizes JPTP as a mode of Black Classicism that incorporates emancipation strategies through performance.
Holmes and Spencer’s Trinidad inspired Medea adaptation foregrounds an antiracist reinterpretation of the Euripides’ classic. In doing so, it responds to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson 1996 speech, "The Ground on Which I Stand,” which argues for African American theatre to shift in diverse casting and production employment opportunities for improved representation of audiences (Wilson 1996). More recently, it also responds to #WESEEYOU, the BIPOC activist group, and their demand to install a more equitable, anti-racist theatre system. Carnival Medea, with its use of JPTP techniques, expands the canon of the “classic” often “reserved for [privileged]white cultures and institutions” to invest and celebrate underrepresented communities of color.