A study of the development of the African-American theatre considering selected works of such playwrights as Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Ed Bullins, Charles Gordone, Douglas Turner Ward, Adrienne Kennedy, Ron Milner, Ben Caldwell, Philip Hayes Dean, Richard Wesley, and Joseph A. Walker, as well as such production companies as the Spirit House Players and Movers, the Negro Ensemble Company, and the Afro-American Studio Theatre. Plays focusing on such areas as ethnic identity and lifestyles and nationalism will be examined.