Revivals in the Dark: A Two-Part Engagement by CLASSIX

Featuring Brittany Bradford, A.J. Muhammad, Dominique Rider, Arminda Thomas, and Awoye Timpo

“The loss of stories sharpens the hunger for them. So, it is tempting to fill in the gaps and to provide closure where there is none. To create a space for mourning where it is prohibited. To fabricate a witness to a death not much noticed.” —Saidiya Hartman '84, Hon. '19, Venus in Two Acts (2008)

What does it mean to stage and engage with revivals in the 21st century? Since 2017, CLASSIX has exploded the classical canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers. In doing so, CLASSIX is attempting two different projects at once: to ensure that plays by writers of the African diaspora are preserved and remembered; and to ensure that these plays receive productions and that they are accessible to as many places as possible. To revive these works requires not only introducing audiences to lesser-known artists but also a critical consideration of the way these works navigated the politics of representation in their own historical context and in ours. Can revival be a way to both preserve and reframe, a mode of remembrance and reimagining of what the theater makes possible when it turns towards the past?

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts and Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life.

Images (from left): Brittany Bradford, Awoye Timpo, A.J. Muhammad, Arminda Thomas, and Dominique Rider.