019: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Lisa, Brian and Dean are joined by two very special guests to discuss the amazing tour de force that is Chadwick Boseman's final performance, but which also features knockout performances from a killer ensemble cast, starring the spectacular Viola Davis, Coleman Domingo (who Lisa has cast before in the film Nothingman), Glynn Turman (who Lisa cast on Criminal Mind and adores from Fargo) and Michael Potts (Brother Mouzone to you Wire fans out there!!). 

Chiming in with great insight are two professors who are both experts and authors in the field;

Dr. Monica White Ndounou is an Associate Professor of Theater and the founding Executive Director of The CRAFT Institute which convenes The International Black Theatre Summit and administers the Pay-It-Forward All-Career Level Mentorship Program along with various initiatives designed to create culturally inclusive ecosystems throughout the world of arts and entertainment by transforming formal training and industry practices while promoting equitable access.  She is also the past President of the Black Theatre Association (BTA) (2016-2018), Vice President of Advocacy for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) (2019-2021) and serves on the board of The August Wilson Society.  She is a founding member of the National Advisory Committee of The Black Seed, a national strategic plan to create impact and thrivability for Black theater institutions and initiatives.https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/shaping-the-future-of-african-american-film/9780813562551 

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Laurence Glasco is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. Since coming to the University of Pittsburgh's History Department in 1969, he has focused on African American history, both locally and globally. A graduate of Antioch College, Dr. Glasco received his Ph.D. in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Professor Glasco has studied the history of Black Pittsburgh for the past decade or so. He researched and narrated the recent exhibition on slavery in early Pittsburgh, "Free at Last?" and has extensively written about Black Pittsburgh history for exhibits at the Heinz History Center and a variety of publications.

Dr. Glasco has made an intense study of the Pittsburgh upbringing and childhood experience of August Wilson to reveal how the playwright developed his characters, gained inspiration for his stories, and cultivated his craft as one of the most celebrated African-American playwrights in the world. What can we glean about ourselves from the life and writings of Pittsburgh's own playwright?

Editor, The WPA History of the Negro in Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004)

Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: African-American Landmarks in Allegheny County (with Frank Bolden and Eliza Smith) (Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, 1995)

"Race, Caste and Untouchability: Lessons from India" (Sanskriti 1993) 

"National Versus Racial Identity: Juan Gualberto Gomez of Cuba and W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States," in Wolfgang Reinhard and Peter Waldmann, Nord und Süd in Amerika (Rombach,1992) 

"The Life Cycles and Household Structures of American Ethnic Groups," Journal of Urban History (1975)

How's that for some heavy hitters kids ?  Enjoy!