Black Thunder: An Anthology of African-American Drama

by William B. Branch (Editor), August Wilson, Amiri Baraka

This anthology of nine contemporary plays (all produced between 1975 and 1990) actively confronts the racial realities of American culture and celebrates the African American experience with originality and meaning. Playwrights include George C. Wolfe, Leslie Lee, Steve Carter, Amiri Baraka, P.J. Gibson, William Branch, Alexander Simmons, Ed Bullins, and August Wilson.

Genres: Plays, Drama

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 3, 1992

About the author

William Blackwell Branch was an African-American playwright who also worked in radio and television as a writer, director, and producer.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely varied, from stone militancy to kitchen-sink naturalism, and extremely well edited.

[Eric Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited by a man, typical of the 20th century, who apparently thought it sufficient for an anthology of contemporary Black playwrights to only include one woman writer out of the 9 playwrights selected. Needless to say, I didn’t read all of the plays, instead opting to find a more representative anthology.

The woman, P. G. Gibson, wrote my favorite of the ones I read, though others (Wolfe, Bullins) are perhaps more theatrically experimental. These plays were excellent. August Wilson, of course, is always great.