Public Theatre and the Enslaved People of Colonial Saint-Domingue

Public Theatre and the Enslaved People of Colonial Saint-Domingue PDF Author: Julia Prest
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031226917
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was home to one of the richest public theatre traditions of the colonial-era Caribbean. This book examines the relationship between public theatre and the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue—something that is generally given short shrift owing to a perceived lack of documentation. Here, a range of materials and methodologies are used to explore pressing questions including the ‘mitigated spectatorship’ of the enslaved, portrayals of enslaved people in French and Creole repertoire, the contributions of enslaved people to theatre-making, and shifting attitudes during the revolutionary era. The book demonstrates that slavery was no mere backdrop to this portion of theatre history but an integral part of its story. It also helps recover the hidden experiences of some of the enslaved individuals who became entangled in that story.

Public Theatre and the Enslaved People of Colonial Saint-Domingue

Public Theatre and the Enslaved People of Colonial Saint-Domingue PDF Author: Julia Prest
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031226917
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book

Book Description
The French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was home to one of the richest public theatre traditions of the colonial-era Caribbean. This book examines the relationship between public theatre and the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue—something that is generally given short shrift owing to a perceived lack of documentation. Here, a range of materials and methodologies are used to explore pressing questions including the ‘mitigated spectatorship’ of the enslaved, portrayals of enslaved people in French and Creole repertoire, the contributions of enslaved people to theatre-making, and shifting attitudes during the revolutionary era. The book demonstrates that slavery was no mere backdrop to this portion of theatre history but an integral part of its story. It also helps recover the hidden experiences of some of the enslaved individuals who became entangled in that story.

Colonial-Era Caribbean Theatre

Colonial-Era Caribbean Theatre PDF Author: Julia Prest
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1837644810
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Cutting across academic boundaries, this volume brings together scholars from different disciplines who have explored together the richness and complexity of colonial-era Caribbean theatre. The volume offers a series of original essays that showcase individual expertise in light of broader group discussions. Asking how we can research effectively and write responsibly about colonial-era Caribbean theatre today, our primary concern is methodology. Key questions are examined via new research into individual case studies on topics ranging from Cuban blackface, commedia dell’arte in Suriname and Jamaican oratorio to travelling performers and the influence of the military and of enslaved people on theatre in Saint-Domingue. Specifically, we ask what particular methodological challenges we as scholars of colonial-era Caribbean theatre face and what methodological solutions we can find to meet those challenges. Areas addressed include our linguistic limitations in the face of Caribbean multilingualism; issues raised by national, geographical or imperial approaches to the field; the vexed relationship between metropole and colony; and, crucially, gaps in the archive. We also ask what implications our findings have for theatre performance today – a question that has led to the creation of a new work set in a colonial theatre and outlined in the volume’s concluding chapter.

From Plantation to Paradise?

From Plantation to Paradise? PDF Author: David M. Powers
Publisher: MSU Press
ISBN: 1628950226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In 1764 the first printing press was established in the French Caribbean colonies, launching the official documentation of operas and plays performed there, and marking the inauguration of the first theatre in the colonies. A rigorous study of pre–French Revolution performance practices in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Powers’s book examines the elaborate system of social casting in these colonies; the environments in which nonwhite artists emerged; and both negative and positive contributions of the Catholic Church and the military to operas and concerts produced in the colonies. The author also explores the level of participation of nonwhites in these productions, as well as theatre architecture, décor, repertoire, seating arrangements, and types of audiences. The status of nonwhite artists in colonial society; the range of operas in which they performed; their accomplishments, praise, criticism; and the use of créole texts and white actors/singers à visage noirs (with blackened faces) present a clear picture of French operatic culture in these colonies. Approaching the French Revolution, the study concludes with an examination of the ways in which colonial opera was affected by slave uprisings, the French Revolution, the emergence of “patriotic theatres,” and their role in fostering support for the king, as well as the impact on subsequent operas produced in the colonies and in the United States.

Theater, War and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France and its Empire

Theater, War and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France and its Empire PDF Author: Logan Connors
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009431218
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The first study of French theater and war at a time of global revolutions, colonial violence, and radical social transformation.

Staging Slavery

Staging Slavery PDF Author: Sarah J. Adams
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000849783
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This international analysis of theatrical case studies illustrates the ways that theater was an arena both of protest and, simultaneously, racist and imperialist exploitations of the colonized and enslaved body. By bringing together performances and discussions of theater culture from various colonial powers and orbits—ranging from Denmark and France to Great Britain and Brazil—this book explores the ways that slavery and hierarchical notions of "race" and "civilization" manifested around the world. At the same time, against the backdrop of colonial violence, the theater was a space that also facilitated reformist protest and served as evidence of the agency of Black people in revolt. Staging Slavery considers the implications of both white-penned productions of race and slavery performed by white actors in blackface makeup and Black counter-theater performances and productions that resisted racist structures, on and off the stage. With unique geographical perspectives, this volume is a useful resource for undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the history of theater, nationalism and imperialism, race and slavery, and literature.

The Saint-Domingue Plantation; or, The Insurrection

The Saint-Domingue Plantation; or, The Insurrection PDF Author: Charles de Rémusat
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807133574
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Based on events that began in Saint-Domingue on August 21, 1791, The Saint-Domingue Plantation; or, The Insurrection vividly dramatizes the genesis and outbreak of a slave revolt. When a representative of the French Assemblée nationale, Monsieur de Tendale, arrives at the Valombre family plantation to examine the condition of slaves in Saint-Domingue and to preach their liberation, he sparks a debate among the local curé and the Valombres -- Monsieur, Madame, son Léon, and daughter Célestine -- who disagree about how slaves should be treated and whether they should be freed. Meanwhile, rebellion brews on the plantation. As the slave revolt unfolds, the play's white hero, Léon, realizes the discrepancy between his liberal political and philosophical ideas and the reality of his family's economic interests. The black hero, Timur, confronts the slaves' bloodthirsty desire to kill the masters, their resistance to his leadership, and the realization that freedom places heavy demands on him and the other insurgents.Translated into English by Norman R. Shapiro for the first time since its publication in 1825, The Saint-Domingue Plantation addresses a wide range of topics that antislavery activists raised during Charles de Rémusat's time, including antitorture measures, slaves' access to the sacrament of marriage, and religious education. An informative introduction by Doris Y. Kadish places the play in its historic and literary contexts, inviting further discussion and interpretation of this important work.

From Plantation to Paradise?

From Plantation to Paradise? PDF Author: David M. Powers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611861235
Category : Musical theater
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description


Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War

Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War PDF Author: Matthew J. Clavin
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812201612
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
At the end of the eighteenth century, a massive slave revolt rocked French Saint Domingue, the most profitable European colony in the Americas. Under the leadership of the charismatic former slave François Dominique Toussaint Louverture, a disciplined and determined republican army, consisting almost entirely of rebel slaves, defeated all of its rivals and restored peace to the embattled territory. The slave uprising that we now refer to as the Haitian Revolution concluded on January 1, 1804, with the establishment of Haiti, the first "black republic" in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian Revolution cast a long shadow over the Atlantic world. In the United States, according to Matthew J. Clavin, there emerged two competing narratives that vied for the revolution's legacy. One emphasized vengeful African slaves committing unspeakable acts of violence against white men, women, and children. The other was the story of an enslaved people who, under the leadership of Louverture, vanquished their oppressors in an effort to eradicate slavery and build a new nation. Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War examines the significance of these competing narratives in American society on the eve of and during the Civil War. Clavin argues that, at the height of the longstanding conflict between North and South, Louverture and the Haitian Revolution were resonant, polarizing symbols, which antislavery and proslavery groups exploited both to provoke a violent confrontation and to determine the fate of slavery in the United States. In public orations and printed texts, African Americans and their white allies insisted that the Civil War was a second Haitian Revolution, a bloody conflict in which thousands of armed bondmen, "American Toussaints," would redeem the republic by securing the abolition of slavery and proving the equality of the black race. Southern secessionists and northern anti-abolitionists responded by launching a cultural counterrevolution to prevent a second Haitian Revolution from taking place.

The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution PDF Author:
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1624661777
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
"A landmark collection of documents by the field's leading scholar. This reader includes beautifully written introductions and a fascinating array of never-before-published primary documents. These treasures from the archives offer a new picture of colonial Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution. The translations are lively and colorful." --Alyssa Sepinwall, California State University San Marcos

Haitian Revolution

Haitian Revolution PDF Author: Captivating History
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781548860301
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Explore How the Slaves Freed Themselves in the Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution was a slave rebellion that began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti. On this small island, the tyrants were the slave owners, people who not only denied their slaves freedom, but felt justified in killing them. The Haitian Revolution began to change the way slaves were viewed all over the world. Although it took nearly another 100 years to eradicate slavery in the west, the parallels between what the Americans and French had done to the slaves was impossible to ignore. The Haitian Revolution was the first and only time that a slave rebellion resulted in a new state. Some of the topics covered in this book include: The Wealth from Saint-Domingue Beginning of the End of the French Colony Planning of One of the Most Historic Revolutions in History The Revolution Begins The Revolution Spreads Ripples of Events in Europe The Abolishment of Slavery and the British Response Toussaint Louverture's Rise to Power The Defeat of Britain and a Newfound Respect Napoleon's Rise and Its Initial Effect on Saint-Domingue The End of the Revolution Lasting Effects - Beyond the Island Haiti Today And much more! Scroll to the top and select the "Add to Cart" button to learn more about the Haitian Revolution!