[Letter from Karen DeVinney to Sandra Mayo - January 31, 2003] Page: 3 of 8
[4] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this letter.
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I'm writing to evaluate the manuscript of Sterling Houston's plays you sent for my
consideration.
Although I'm familiar with Houston's work by reputation, I've never seen them in
production, and hadn't read them until I was sent this collection. I came to the work,
then, as an interested reader without any background in Houston's style (although I knew
something of his political preoccupations). To respond first to your questions:
1. Present status of literature in this field: As far as I'm concerned, the reading
public, as well as the theatre community and academic theatre programs need
many more plays of the sort Houston writes, to teach their students, to consider
producing, and to join a cultural conversation about politics, history, race, class,
and nation. Playwrights like Houston tend to see their work ignored by the larger
play publishing houses, like Dramatists Play Service and Samuel French.
Publishing these plays together would be an important contribution.
2. Competing books: There are scattered examples of writers with a similar
progressive perspective on race relations who've published collections of their
plays. Theatre Communications Group often prints collections of plays by people
of color. It's rare to see a single-author collection by a person of color.
3. This collection would rank of moderate significance in its field.
4. The collection does represent a new approach, especially because so few plays in
this genre (parody, satire, political agit-prop) are available in print Much of this
work disappears after it's produced. Publication would help the work travel to
readers who might want to reproduce it, shaping it to the concerns of their own
communities.
5. I'll address these issues below.
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DeVinney, Karen. [Letter from Karen DeVinney to Sandra Mayo - January 31, 2003], letter, January 31, 2003; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth291052/m1/3/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UT San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.