Playwright Biography

Adrienne Kennedy is an African-American playwright. She was born in 1931 and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Kennedy graduated with a degree in Education from the Ohio State University in 1953. She continued to study at The New School for Social Research and Columbia University American Theater Wing. Kennedy is most known for her role in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960's and early 1970's. This political and social movement advocated for racial pride, independence and equality for all black people. She was a founding member of the Women’s Theatre Council in 1971.

After the birth of her son, she traveled to Africa and Italy. When she returned home she wrote her first play, Funnyhouse of a Negro. The play premiered in 1964 and won an Obie Award for Distinguished Play. In 1995, Signature Theatre dedicated their season to her work with performances of Funnyhouse of a Negro, A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White, June and Jean in Concert, Sleep Deprivation Chamber, and The Alexander Plays...Suzanne In Stages. She also won two Obie Awards in 1996 for June and Jean in Concert and Sleep Deprivation Chamber for Best New American Play.

In 2003, Kennedy was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature by Ohio State University. She has taught and lectured at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Stanford University, New York University, and University of California.

Additional Plays

Funnyhouse of a Negro, 1964

Synopsis

The protagonist, Sarah, confronts four versions of her racial identity within her New York City apartment. The presentation of her four selves display contradictions of race, gender, and social class. Throughout the play, she struggles with accepting her mixed ancestry because she was born to a white mother and a black father. Sarah has not left her apartment since her father’s alleged suicide. In her room, Sarah imagines she sees the historical figures Queen Victoria and Duchess of Hapsburg discussing white supremacy. By the end of the play, Sarah comes to terms with her shame of having African ancestry and murders her father with an ebony skull that he carried around with him. In the final scene of the play, Sarah commits suicide by hanging in her apartment.

How The Play Can Be Used

This play can be used in a college theatre setting to explore theatre of the absurd and surrealism. The actions of the play are seen through the imagination of the protagonist. The stage directions convey a "chamber" aesthetic that should represent the conflicted mind of the protagonist.

The play can be used in an applied theatre setting for teens and adults to open up a dialogue on suicide and the struggles that come with embracing race and gender identity particularly among young teens.

The Ohio State Murders, 1992

Synopsis

The play follows Adrienne Kennedy’s autobiographical character, Suzanne Alexander on her return to Ohio State University. She has been invited there to give a lecture on her writing. At this point in her life, Suzanne has experienced success as a writer. She is confronted by the memories of being a black student at a predominantly white university. Through these experiences she confronts segregation and racism she had to endure while attending the university. While reading Tess of the D’Ubervilles for English class, she begins to make frightening connections between her life and the character of Tess. During her lecture, she describes a violent tragedy she faced by the hands of a white male professor who murdered her baby daughter Carol. Suzanne describes to the students that this experience led to the violent imagery seen in her writing.

How The Play Can Be Used

The play could be used in an applied theatre setting to explore the experiences of minority students navigating their educational envoriments in predominantly white universities. Through the character of Suzanne, the struggles of embracing one’s identity yet feeling ostracized are presented.

Another issue that can be explored is the difficulties and pain women of color experience in white male patriarchal societies.