The Colored Museum
Encyclopedia
The Colored Museum is a play
by the African American
dramatist George C. Wolfe
. It had its premiere in 1986 at The Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ and won its author the Dramatists Guild Award in the same year.
The play features eleven vignette
s that satirize elements of African American culture
:
"The Colored Museum" was written in 1985 during the post-Vietnam War era. The beginning takes place on an airplane which is traveling through time. The airplane visits different museum exhibits, each of which displays African-American culture and history from the time they were brought to America as slaves all the way through nearly-recent times. Each exhibit displays a different event or lifestyle in different parts of the country during different eras of the African-American experience.
The Colored Museum examines the honor and desire of African-American people to escape centuries of suffering that have been a continuous source of baggage
.
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
dramatist George C. Wolfe
George C. Wolfe
George Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.-Early life and...
. It had its premiere in 1986 at The Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ and won its author the Dramatists Guild Award in the same year.
The play features eleven vignette
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
s that satirize elements of African American culture
African American culture
African-American culture, also known as black culture, in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African-American culture is rooted in...
:
- Git on Board
- Cookin' with Aunt Ethel
- The Photo Session
- Soldier with a Secret
- The Gospel According to Miss Roj
- The Hairpiece
- The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play
- Symbiosis
- Lala's Opening
- Permutations
- The Party
"The Colored Museum" was written in 1985 during the post-Vietnam War era. The beginning takes place on an airplane which is traveling through time. The airplane visits different museum exhibits, each of which displays African-American culture and history from the time they were brought to America as slaves all the way through nearly-recent times. Each exhibit displays a different event or lifestyle in different parts of the country during different eras of the African-American experience.
The Colored Museum examines the honor and desire of African-American people to escape centuries of suffering that have been a continuous source of baggage
Emotional baggage
Emotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...
.