Women of Color Women of Word-- African America Female Playwrights-- Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World

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death of the last black man in the entire world

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suzan-lori parks

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Produced at BACA Downtown in Brooklyn, New York in September 1990 under the direction of Beth A. Schachter.

CHARACTERS

Black Man with Watermelon

Black Woman with Fried Drumstick

Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork

Yes and Greens Black-Eyed Peas Cornbread

Queen-then-Pharoah Hatshepsut

Before Columbus

Old Man River Jordan

Ham

And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger

Prunes and Prisms

Voice on thuh Tee V

SETTING

The action takes place in the present.

PLAY STRUCTURE

Overture

Panel I: Thuh Holy Ghost

Panel II: First Chorus

Panel III: Thuh Lonesome 3some

Panel IV: Second Chorus

Panel V: In Thuh Garden of HooDoo It

Final Chorus

PRODUCTION NOTES

In "Last Black Man", heroism is being there and seeing it through. I guess I have a greater understanding of the small gesture, or the great act that is also very small - like being present. He is present and trying to figure out what's wrong with him; she's present and trying to figure out what's wrong with him and what's wrong with her; and the spirit people come to visit and their presence is helpful.

EXCERPT FROM THE PLAY

This section was taken from the Overture.

BLACK WOMAN WITH FRIED DRUMSTICK: Yesterday today next summer tomorrow just uh moment uhgoh in 1317 dieded thuh last black man in thuh whole entire world. Uh! Oh. Don't be uhlarmed. Do not be afeared. It was painless. Uh painless passin. He falls twenty-three floors to his death. 23 floors from uh passin ship from space tuh splat on thuh pavement. He have uh head he been keepin under thuh Tee V. On his bottom pantry shelf. He have uh head that hurts. Don't fit right. put it on tuh go tuh thuh store and it pinched him when he walks his thoughts don't got room. Why dieded he huh? Where he gonna go now that he done dieded? Where he gonna go tuh wash his hands?

YES AND GREENS BLACK-EYED PEAS CORNBREAD: You should write that down and you should hide it under a rock. This is the death of the last black man in the whole entire world.

PUBLICATION HISTORY

in the following anthologies:

The America play, and Other Works. Suzan-Lori Parks. New York : Theatre Communications Group, 1995.

Moon Marked and Touched By Sun: Plays by African-American Women. Sydne Mahone (Ed.). New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1994.

Bedford Introduction to Drama. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Women on the Verge. New York: Applause Books, 1994.

also in:

Theatre. Summer/Fall 1990 v.21 p.81-94.

SELECTED ARTICLES/REVIEWS

Bernard, Louise. "The Musicality of Language: Redefining History in Suzan-Lori Parks's 'The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World.'" African American Review. 31(4):687-97. 1997 Winter.

Rayner, Alice. Elam, Harry J., Jr. "Unfinished Business: Reconfiguring History in Suzan-Lori Parks's 'The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World.' Theatre Journal. 46(4):447-61. 1994 Dec.

Brustein, Robert. "'The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World.'" The New Republic. 206(15): 29-31 . 1992 April 13.

Markland, Taylor. "'The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World.'" Variety. 346(6):257. 1992 February 24.