January 18–February 13

written by August Wilson

directed by Ron OJ Parson

PLAY GUIDE
About the Table of contents
ma rainey’s black 3 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Synopsis, Characters, Setting
bottom Play
4 About the Author: August Wilson
Guide
5 Sharing Beauty with the World—
This play guide is a resource designed to Liz Fentress and August Wilson
enhance your theatre experience. Its goal
is twofold: to nurture the teaching and 6 The Century Cycle
learning of theatre arts and to encourage
essential questions that lead to enduring
understandings of the play’s meaning and 7 Adrien-Alice Hansel on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
relevance. Inside you will find:
8 Music as Storytelling, How Much Did That Cost?
• Contextual and historical information
including a list of characters, plot 9 Gertrude “Ma” Rainey—Mother of the Blues
synopsis and information about the
playwright.
Institutional Racism: Some Terms and Definitions
• Evocative, thought-provoking articles
on topics surrounding the play, which are
meant to incite conversation and analysis.
Language in Ma Rainey—Dr. Thomas Offers Her Insights

• Bridgework activities 10 Discussion Questions, Bridgework

connecting themes and ideas from the

play to your curriculum.
Glossary
• Oral discussion and writing prompts
encouraging your students to draw 11 Writing Portfolio
connections between the play and their
own lives. These prompts can easily be
adapted to fit most writing objectives. 12 Other Reading and Works Cited

We encourage you to adapt and extend Actors Theatre Education

the material in any way that best Steven Rahe, Director of Education
fits the needs of your community of Jacob Stoebel, Associate Director of Education
learners. Please feel free to make copies Julie Mercurio, Education Fellow
of this guide, or you may download it Jane B. Jones, Education Intern/Teaching Artist
from our website: ActorsTheatre.org/ Christina Lepri, Education Intern/Teaching Artist
education_guides.htm. We hope this Liz Fentress, Teaching Artist
material, combined with our pre-show Jessica Leader, Teaching Artist
workshop, will give you the tools to Keith McGill, Teaching Artist
make your time at Actors Theatre a
Study guide compiled by Adrien-Alice Hansel, Jane B. Jones,
valuable learning experience.
Christina Lepri, Mik Mroczynski, Steven Rahe, Jessica Reese,
Jacob Stoebel, Amy Wegener.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom student
matinees and study guides address Cover image by Matt Dobson.
specific educational Graphic design by Elissa Shortridge.
objectives:
• Students will identify or describe the
use of elements of drama in dramatic
works.
• Students will identify or explain how The Kentucky Arts Council, the
drama/theatre fulfills a variety of state arts agency, supports Actors
purposes. Theatre of Louisville with state tax
dollars and federal funding from the
• Students will identify a variety of National Endowment for the Arts.

creative dramatics. The Crawford Charitable Foundation

supports Actors Theatre of Louisville’s 2010-2011 education programs.

2
 Cast of
Characters
Ma Rainey Based on Gertrude “Ma”
Rainey, an influential Blues singer from the
1920s. She is portrayed as an outspoken if
not difficult artist who has no illusions that
her white associates are only interested in
her for the money. She is fiercely protective
of her artistic integrity and personal
interests.

Mel Sturdyvant Owner of the

Chicago South Side recording studio
where the play is set. Mel is frustrated by
Ma’s behavior and is very vocal about it
throughout the play. However, he knows
that Ma’s music is quite popular. Despite
his complaints, he puts up with her to
make money.

Irvin Ma Rainey’s manager. Irvin acts

Ma Rainey and her Georgia Jazz band, 1924
as liaison between Mel and Ma Rainey.
He tries to smooth over any problems that
arise throughout the play to ensure that the
record gets made.
Setting Cutler Trombone and guitar player
Mel Sturdyvant’s recording studio in Chicago’s South Side, 1927. in Ma’s band. A career musician, Cutler
is the leader of the instrumentalists. He
Chicago’s South Side has long been associated with the city’s African American understands that Ma Rainey has the final
population. It began to be developed after the fire of 1871, when Chicago residents began word and is interested in maintaining the
to move out of the city center. peace in order to get the job done.

Chicago’s African American population steadily increased after the Civil War because Slow Drag Bass player in Ma’s band.
of job opportunities there. It became an especially popular destination for Northern- He got his name by slow dancing for hours
migrating African Americans between World War I and the 1920s. With many industrial to win a contest. A professional musician
jobs opening up because of World War I, there were increased financial opportunities for in his mid-fifties, he has worked with
African Americans in a vibrant and politically active community. Cutler for more than 20 years.

African American artists also thrived in Chicago. The black literary output from Chicago Toledo Piano player in Ma’s band. A
between the 1920s and 1950s rivaled that of the Harlem Renaissance, with authors self-educated and literate member of the
such as Richard Wright, Willard Motley, William Attaway, Frank Marshall Davis and band, Toledo speaks eloquently about the
Margaret Walker. black man’s experience at the time and tries
to educate the other members of the band.

Synopsis Levee Young and arrogant, Levee is a

talented trumpet player who considers
himself an artist. His ambition to write his
Blues music may be pervading the streets of 1927 Chicago, but inside this Paramount
own music and make it big with his own
studio it is a little too quiet. Ma Rainey, the Mother of The Blues herself, is late to her
band causes tension with the rest of the
own recording session. Her producers are frantic, the band is bored, and her trumpeter
band.
Levee won’t stop talking about his new shoes. As the band – Cutler, Slow Drag, Toledo
and Levee – wait around for Ma, they swap stories about their experiences with racism, Sylvester Brown Ma Rainey’s
religion, and, of course, music. Each musician has his own way of dealing with his 20-something nephew. Ma wants him to
frustrations and anger at the unfairness of the music industry. Toledo philosophizes, do the introduction on the “Ma Rainey’s
Levee rages, and Slow Drag drinks. When Ma finally arrives, she immediately asserts Black Bottom” record, but his stutter causes
her authority demanding that her stuttering nephew Sylvester be given a speaking part conflict with the rest of the band.
on the record. Levee, who dreams of having his own band someday, is meanwhile trying
to get the producers to record his new hip version of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, and Dussie Mae Ma Rainey’s young
Ma is having none of it. As Ma, her white producers, and Levee wrestle for control in lesbian lover. Dussie Mae’s own ambition
the studio, ambitions and grievances slowly build up to a shocking tragedy. is evident in her willingness to entertain
Levee’s advances in the few moments when
--Jane B. Jones and Christina Lepri she is able to call attention to herself.

3
About the Author: August Wilson
August Wilson was born Frederick August
Kittel in 1945. He spent his early years
in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, a vibrant,
mixed-race neighborhood. After dropping
out of high school at age 15, Wilson spent
many hours at the local public library
and immersed himself in the works of
African American literary luminaries
such as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and
Langston Hughes. When he wasn’t at the
library, he was listening to and observing
the people around him, especially his
elders. This early immersion in the culture
of the Hill District and its voices would
significantly influence his work. Another
major influence on Wilson was The Blues.
In 1965, around the time he bought his
first typewriter, he picked up a Bessie Smith
record, “Nobody in Town Can Bake a
Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine,” and listened to
the song 22 times in a row before realizing
that he could turn over the record. In the
rhythms and attitudes of The Blues, Wilson
found the connection to his ancestry
that he had lacked growing up as the
biracial son of a German immigrant and
an African American woman descended
from sharecroppers. When his father died,
he took his mother’s maiden name as his
own to solidify his ties with his African
American heritage, and was thereafter
known as August Wilson.

Sharing the story of the African American

experience onstage was Wilson’s career-
long mission. His major work is the ten-
play Century Cycle, a powerful portrait of
twentieth-century African American history
that resonates with audiences across lines
of race, class and gender. In the Century
Cycle, Wilson explored universal themes
such as self-awareness, love and dignity
through the struggles of his characters in
their particular historical moments. All of
the plays in the Century Cycle have been
produced on Broadway, starting with Ma
Rainey’s Black Bottom, which debuted in
1984. He won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony
Award for Fences in 1987 and a second August Wilson in 2004. Photo by David Cooper.
Pulitzer in 1990 for The Piano Lesson.

In June of 2005, Wilson was diagnosed

with liver cancer. Before he died in
October of that year, he finished rewrites
for the last installment in the Century
Cycle, Radio Golf, which would open on
Broadway in 2007. Wilson’s work continues
to be produced on Broadway and all over
the country. Critics and audiences alike
continue to respond to the depth of his
characters, his uniquely lyrical style, and his
ambitious historical and social vision.
—Jessica Reese
4
Sharing Beauty with the World
Actors’ Teaching Artist Liz Fentress and August Wilson
“He was a wonderful
human being, a kind,
gentle man with a beautiful
spirit.”
In 1982, Liz Fentress, now a local actress,
playwright, director and teaching artist
was struggling to make it as an artist in
New York City. Having studied acting and
theatre, she was in New York trying to
work as an actor. However, she found that
she had lost her sense of self. A chance
encounter would put her back on the path
of artistry.

She went to visit a friend in Waterford,

Connecticut who was working at the
O’Neill Theater Center’s National
Playwrights Conference. It was in the
dining hall at the conference that Liz first
met August Wilson, a young playwright
working on his new play Ma Rainey’s Black Teaching Artist Liz Fentress in the classroom
Bottom. On the bus back to New York, Liz
sat in the empty seat next to August and You see beauty in this life, and that is a when Actors produced The Piano Lesson and
struck up a conversation. wonderful thing. You need to share that Liz and August had breakfast one last time.
beauty with the world. Older, wiser, happier, they were able to
The next morning as Liz was finishing meet again. Liz brought the poem August
her duties as the cleaning lady for New Through the poem and their brief had written her, and August brought the
Dramatists, an organization supporting friendship, Liz felt that August had letter Liz had sent him from the circus.
the development of playwrights, Wilson validated her need to express herself as an
came down the stairs from the guest rooms. actress and a writer; he made her feel as Liz Bussey Fentress was the executive
Recognizing each other and the grand though her heart was valid. director of Playhouse in the Park in Murray,
coincidence, they went out to breakfast. Ky. and then the associate producer of
This became their habit throughout the Liz began to make changes. She left New Horse Cave Theatre (now Kentucky
summer that August was in New York. York and went to work as a promoter for Repertory Theatre at Horse Cave). Liz’s
Unfortunately, on what would have been the Franzen Bros. Circus, a one-ring circus one- woman play, Liz’s Circus Story, which
their last breakfast, they missed each other. where she had once been a ringmistress. she wrote, performed and adapted into
But, when Liz next went to work, she found Her life and career took a well earned a one-hour film, won the 2005 National
a note on the bulletin board from August upswing. Liz went on to a career as a writer, Educational Television Association award
with a poem for her. It’s a poem she has performer, executive director and producing for Best Dramatic Narrative and is part
with her to this day. director of regional theatre in Kentucky. of the KET Arts Toolkit. In 2008, her
August Wilson went on to become a play The Honey Harvest won the North
At a time when she felt deeply dissatisfied famous playwright. American Actors Association annual
with her life in New York, Liz found a Playwriting Competition and was staged in
special message for her in this poem: The story could end there, but it doesn’t. London’s West End.
In 2001, August Wilson came to Louisville ~Jane B. Jones

5
The Century Cycle
The ten plays of August Wilson’s Century Cycle—one for each decade of the 20th century—chronicle
in the African American experience. Here’s a decade-by-decade guide to Wilson’s groundbreaking
work.
With the exception of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, all of the plays take place in Wilson’s home
neighborhood, the Hill District of Pittsburgh.

Gem of the Ocean Joe Turner’s

(1904) Guided by centuries-old Come and
sage Aunt Ester, a free man named Citizen Gone (1911)
journeys into the collective memory of the This mystical play is set during
Middle Passage, the torturous transatlantic the Great Migration, when
voyage to the Americas that newly enslaved many members of the first
Africans were forced to endure. Citizen’s generation of African Americans
journey into the past is difficult, but it born free left the agrarian
allows him to navigate the no-man’s-land South for the urban North,
between slavery—still a living memory at only to find that prejudice
the turn of the century—and freedom. and loss pursued them there.
Pat Bowie in the 2006 production at Actors Theatre.
Protagonist Herald Loomis
is on a pilgrimage to find his
wife, but the other wanderers
he encounters at a Pittsburgh
boardinghouse are looking for
something too: the sense of
identity which slavery stripped
Radio Golf (1997) Harmond Wilks is an from them and their ancestors.
African American real estate developer whose most lucrative deal yet
will require demolishing the house of Aunt Ester, who has presided
over the Century Cycle as an embodiment of African American
history. As Harmond considers the deal, he realizes that he will have
to choose between honoring his heritage and pursuing financial and
political success.

king hedley
(1985) The sequel
to Seven Guitars, King
Hedley II explores the
devastating consequences
of African American Charles Parnell in the 2002 production at Actors Theatre.
disenfranchisement during
the boom times of the
Reagan administration. Just jitney (1977) The working-
released from prison, King class employees at a community cab
Hedley plants a garden and company face the government-sanctioned
joins his community in the demolition of the abandoned storefront
search for redemption and they use as a cab station. The play celebrates
security in the midst of the creative, community-oriented survival
confusion, regret, loss and strategies of an inner-city neighborhood as
senseless violence. it copes with the destabilizing effects of the
passage of time and the misguided urban
renewal policies of the seventies.
August Wilson outside his childhood home.

6
 Ma Rainey’s Black
Bottom (1927) A
tense recording session on Chicago’s
South Side exposes the exploitation of
African American musicians in the white-
dominated commercial music industry.
Successful, demanding Blues singer Ma
Rainey battles her producers and her
band members, including the talented
and ambitious trumpeter Levee. Wilson
depicts the psychological consequences of
African American musicians’ struggles for Ray Anthony Thomas and Joshua Wolf Coleman in the 2001
production at Actors Theatre.
economic and artistic self-determination
in the face of racism and a shifting The Piano Lesson
marketplace.
(1936) Timber cutter Boy Willie
Ma Rainey and her band. travels north from Mississippi to retrieve a
piano from his sister, Berniece. Boy Willie
wants to sell the piano to finance a farm,
but Berniece wants to keep it because it is
a family heirloom carved with the story
of their ancestors, who were slaves. The
Two Trains siblings must decide not only the fate of
the piano but also how to come to terms
RunninG with their family’s painful history.
(1969) Regulars at
a soul food diner examine
life in the wake of the death
of Malcolm X. The Hill
District is changing—the
diner is for sale, and no one
can escape the question of Seven Guitars (1948) Part murder mystery, part
whether or not to assimilate memory play, Seven Guitars depicts the events leading up to the untimely
into mainstream white death of Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, a gifted Blues guitarist. Released from
culture. But despite a lack jail after serving time for the crime of “worthlessness,” Floyd tries to retrieve
of guarantees in romance, his guitar and get to Chicago to make a record. He believes he is on the brink
business or life, the of a career breakthrough, but bad decisions and worse luck prevent him from
members of the community leaving Pittsburgh.
who stay true to themselves
ultimately triumph.

Fences (1957) In the

backyard of their Pittsburgh home,
garbage collector Troy Maxson and his
family wrestle with the fallout from his
failed baseball career and the betrayal and
disappointment stemming from Troy’s
pursuit of the American Dream. Wilson
explores father-son relationships, marital
infidelity, and the dangers of self-delusion
in this depiction of the rise and fall of a
tragic Everyman.
Ernest Perry Jr., Stephanie Berry and Bowman Wright in the
2005 production at Actors Theatre.

7
Ma Rainey’s Blues
When Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opened in New York in 1985,
it was the second non-musical play by an African American to
run on Broadway. The previous play, Lorraine Hansberry’s drama
A Raisin in the Sun, opened in 1959, 36 years before. Writing
about the premiere in The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote that
August Wilson’s play “sends the entire history of black America
crashing down upon our heads…. This play floats on the same
authentic artistry as The Blues music it celebrates.” Wilson would
go on to have his complete Century Cycle produced in New York
City, placing the experiences of black Americans at the center
of his work. His opus forms, as Ellison says of The Blues, “an
autobiographical chronicle of a personal catastrophe expressed
lyrically.” Expressed so lyrically, indeed, that the details of Wilson’s
characters both live as expressions of their specific situations and
resonate beyond their specific decades to form a story of African
American life as it was, could have been, and can yet become.

Set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, and inspired by real-

life Blues legend Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
follows a session with Ma, her band members, and the white
producer and manager who both make a better living on Ma’s
music than she does. Ma’s Blues are popular throughout the rural
South, but her producer sees a larger market moving towards the
swing and big bands coming out of Harlem, and has some new
plans for the recording session. Ma, for her part, hates traveling
North and is willing to be as stubborn as she needs to be to keep
her records on track.

At the heart of the play lies a struggle for what Ma’s music is and
means. Levee, the young trumpet player in Ma’s band, has been
writing up-tempo settings of her songs at the request of the studio
owner. When Ma learns that he plans to record Levee’s version of
her signature song, she threatens to walk out. “It’s what the people
want now,” explains Ma’s manager. “They want something they can
dance to…makes ’em forget their troubles.” But Ma, along with
her other bandmates, sing to help people remember, not forget.
“White folks don’t understand The Blues,” Ma tells Levee. “They
Greta Oglesby in the 2011 production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Actors Theatre. hear it come out but they don’t know how it got there. They don’t
Photo by Alan Simmons. understand that’s life’s way of talking. You don’t sing to feel better.
You sing because it’s a way of understanding life.” Ma gets her way
“The Blues is an impulse to keep the painful on the recording, but all that Levee doesn’t understand—about life,
details and episodes of a brutal experience alive about music or about how life works for African Americans in the
1920s, even in the North—has tragic consequences for him and the
in one’s aching consciousness, to finger its jagged rest of the band.
grain and to transcend it, not by the consolation
Director Ron OJ Parson finds August Wilson’s work—and Ma
of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near- Rainey in particular—a stunning reminder of just how much
tragic, near-comic lyricism. As a form, The Blues there is to remember about the African American experience.
“I’m a better person, directing August Wilson. Because of what I
is an autobiographical chronicle of a personal learn about the past, sure, but his plays always connect me to the
catastrophe expressed lyrically.” ancestral spirit of my people.” And in reconnecting his audiences
to The Blues—the “near-tragic, near-comic lyricism” of African
—Ralph Ellison American legacy in the United States—Wilson recrafts the lives
of these long-forgotten musicians into a lesson on suffering and
resilience.

—Adrien-Alice Hansel

8
Music as Storytelling
With Music? About Music? consequences of racial inequalities for Okay, so why a play about musicians?
African American characters.
So it’s not a musical? Bands, in their own way, form a sort
Classical Blues music developed and of family, and have their own internal
No, not exactly. A musical uses song and became popular at a time when African structure: the band leader at the top and
dance to further the plot of a play. But Ma American racial identities were changing. the supporting musicians below. Bands
Rainey’s Black Bottom is a play with music, The communal spiritual music that had are all brought together by the common
and about musicians. unified the African American community goal of creating and performing music.
during the abolitionist movement was However, artists each have their own
August Wilson uses Blues music within shifting to reflect a growing individual motivations, creative and monetary, which
the play to inform us about the underlying and self-determined identity. However, can cause conflict. By also including the
social, political and emotional lives of the emancipation did not mean the end of band manager and record producer, Wilson
characters. The Blues acts almost as another racism, segregation and prejudice. The shows us more motivations for making
character in the play, telling us all the Blues gave voice to personal and political music.
secrets that the characters are not able to difficulties facing African Americans.
say aloud. Music illuminates the emotional -Jane B. Jones

How Much Did That Cost?

$1 in 1927 has the equivalent value of $11.90 in 2007.

Coke 8 oz. glass bottle: $0.05 12 oz. can: $1

Car New 1925 Model T Ford: $300 New 2011 Ford Taurus: $24,810

Fancy pair of men’s shoes Handmade leather shoes: $8.50 Handmade leather men’s shoes: $325

Record A new Ma Rainey record: $0.39 New CD at Borders: $15-$20

Sandwich Steak sandwich at the Cotton Club: $1.25 Steak sandwich at Jack Fry’s: $10.75

9
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey
Mother of The Blues
The character of Ma Rainey may seem
larger than life, but the fiery diva was
actually one of the most popular Blues
artists of the 1920s. The real Ma Rainey
was born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26,
1886 in Columbus, Georgia. Gertrude first
performed at the age of 14 at the Springer
Opera House. In 1904, she married
fellow performer Will “Pa” Rainey and the
couple began touring together as “Rainey
and Rainey, Assassinators of The Blues.”
Although they divorced 12 years later,
Ma kept her stage name for the rest of her
career.

After her divorce, Ma’s popularity as a solo

Blues singer skyrocketed in the South and
she became one of the foremost performers
of The Blues. Paramount Records signed her
in 1923, making her one of the first African
American Blues singers to snag a recording
contract. Ma performed with some of the
greatest musicians of her time, including
Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson,
she was a star in her own right.
The real Gertrude “Ma” Rainey

Ma Rainey performed songs that contained Ma’s favorites, “Traveling Blues.” In a rare
provocative images of women who were interview, Ma talked about an act where
independent, and defiant. Through The she would come onto the stage dressed in
Blues, Ma was able to address some of the traveling clothes and carrying a suitcase: “I
most stringently taboo subjects of her time, put the suitcase down, real easy like, then
like domestic abuse and female sexuality. stand there like I was thinking—just to let
Ma quite openly referred to her own them see what I was about. Then I sing.
bisexuality in lyrics like “Went out last night You could just see them…wanting to go
with a crowd of my friends, They must’ve been someplace else.”
women, ‘cause I don’t like no men” from the
song “Prove It On Me Blues.” Ma recorded more than 92 songs with
Paramount Records between 1923 and
Another hit, “Black Eye Blues” portrayed 1928. But in the 1930s, female Blues singers
women who were the victims of domestic began to wane in popularity, including
violence, and yet still come off as resilient Ma. She eventually moved back down to
and powerful forces to be reckoned with. Columbus where she managed two theatres
until she died in 1939. Unfortunately, due
“Take all my money, blacken both of my eyes,
to the low quality of the records made for
Give it to another woman, come home and
Paramount’s black customers, many of Ma’s
tell me lies;
albums suffered severe damage over time.
You low down alligator, just watch me sooner
Yet her legacy lives on. In 1983, sixty years
or later,
after her first recording for Paramount, Ma
Gonna catch you with your britches down.”
was posthumously inducted into The Blues
Strange as it may seem, one of the most Foundation’s Hall of Fame and into the
revolutionary ideas Ma brought to her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. She
fans was travel. Ma belonged to one of lives on as an example of female resilience,
the first generations of black women who autonomy, and musical influence that can
had freedom of movement, a fact she best be summed up in Ma’s well-earned
sang about in songs like “Leaving This nickname: the Mother of The Blues.
Morning,” “Runaway Blues,” and, one of
-Christina Lepri

10
The world of ma Rainey and
Institutional Racism
Ma Rainey’s world exists just 64 years after
the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation
(which declared freedom for African
American slaves in Confederate States) and
during the heart of the Great Migration
(the movement of 2 million-plus African
Americans from the south to the north).
Intense disenfranchisement and strict
segregation was preeminent. Individual
racism was strong and unabashed–1927
witnessed race riots, lynching, violence
and harassment. Institutional racism was
ubiquitous.

Not suprisingly, in this cultural milieu An example of explicit Institutional racism

of oppression, the music business was
no exception. When African American
vaudevillian music legend Mamie Smith’s Race records, as all African American musician Al Jolson (who performed in
record sold an unprecedented 100,000- music in the era came to be dubbed, took blackface, cork makeup donned to imitate
plus copies in 1920, producers realized the off. It is estimated that 15,000 race records dark skin) was valued at $10,000 per record
untapped financial potential of marketing were released between 1920 and 1930 – in 1924, Ma Rainey’s comparable work
African American music. Struggling approximately 10,000 Blues, 3,250 jazz was compensated at $200. Ma’s producers’
financially in the early 1900s because and 1,750 gospel songs. Of these songs, attempts to reduce her pay to $100
of the growth of commercial radio, the negligible profits went to the African prompted her to quit.
overwhelmingly white-controlled and American artistic pioneers who innovated,
operated recording industry was more performed, and in many cases, wrote them. -Mik Mroczynski
than happy to profit from the growing For example, of the 160 songs she recorded
popularity of African American music and for Columbia records, Bessie Smith, the
the untapped potential of African American “Empress of Blues,” received not a single
audiences. royalty payment. And, while white jazz

Racism Any deed, intentional or not, Explicit institutional Implicit institutional

which oppresses an individual or group on racism A form of institutional racism racism A form of institutional racism
the grounds of their race. which is overt in an institution’s policy, which is hidden and embedded within
mission and/or actions. An example of bureaucratic policies and procedures which
Institutional racism explicit institutional racism can be found systematically exclude based on race.
Institutional racism is the built-in at Chicago’s Chess Recording studio, When Ma Rainey’s band members request
discrimination of governments, public where well into the 1960s black musicians to be paid in cash, they are responding
organizations, corporations and businesses were only allowed entrance through the to the implicit institutional racism of the
on the grounds of racial difference. It is back door. Any segregation-era image of banks, which made it nearly impossible
a powerful, insidious force in American a business with a “Whites Only” sign in for African Americans to cash checks.
history. As it is inextricably embedded the window serves as another example, for Steering, the practice of real estate agents
within social structure, institutional racism it explicitly denies non-whites service on guiding minorities to minority-dominated
is often difficult to see and define except in racial grounds. neighborhoods, is a present-day example
retrospect, when examples come into focus which elucidates why residential divisions
as glaringly obvious. Therefore, its menace on racial lines are the norm.
lies in its ever-present subtlety to those not
experiencing its oppression. Institutional
racism is a form of discrimination that can
be both explicit and implicit.

11
Language in Ma Rainey
U of L professor Dr. Thomas offers her insights
The African American Theatre Program (AATP) has begun its 17th
year as a special discipline within the University of Louisville’s
Theatre Arts Department. It consists of thirteen different courses
and two productions yearly on the mainstage season in black
history, literature, culture and performance. Each course provides
insight into the heritage and culture of peoples representing the
African Diaspora. These courses serve two undergraduate minors
and a Graduate Certificate in African American Theatre making
the University of Louisville the only institution with such a
program.

In the fall of 1997, there was a flurry of activity at U of L’s AATP.

I was preparing for my Louisville stage debut, at the same time
we were preparing to debut August Wilson’s plays in Kentucky
and premiere one of Wilson’s one-act plays, The Homecoming. My
debut was marked with excitement and trepidation for I would be
portraying Ma Rainey in Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

In 1986, my friend and I mistakenly saw the play on Broadway.

While visiting New York from the University of Michigan, we
were looking for a musical to see and on the marquee of the Cort
Theatre, I saw Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; so I told my friend it
was a hot musical. You will understand my surprise once you see
the show. After stopping for a snack, we began talking about the
play. We loved the great actors in the play and aptly renamed it
“The Boys in the Band”—Joe Seneca and Charles Dutton were
marvelous in their performances. More importantly, we loved
the story for what we learned and the reminisces of what we
remembered from history and childhood experiences.

In addition to the brilliant stories, we were amused by Wilson’s

colorful language, which includes an over indulgence of the
N-word. Moreover, while some object, I do not. Having spent some
time living in Chicago, I can say it is realistic. When others feel
that they should have the same right to use that word since blacks
use it, I do object. There is a sacredness of respect that should
be enforced. Paul Farhi writing about Laura Schlessinger in the
Washington Post’s August 18th article states, “To illustrate her claim Dr. Lundeana Thomas—Professor, Director of U of L’s African American Theatre program
of a racial double standard, she said that black comedians often use
the N-word on TV without criticism, but the word is forbidden
for white people.” There is no double standard. Other ethnicities Finally, here we are in the Bible belt with a play that blasphemes
use derogatory words with each other. Moreover, if a person from God. Surely, we are in danger of Hell’s fury. I think not again,
another culture uses them they will be admonished or more by the it is realistic. Rather than be angry with Levee for cursing God,
other culture. I have never used those words in reference to these we should empathize with his plight. He does not know God, he
groups, for I know my place is to honor and respect the intimacy cannot see or feel God because of the pain that has engulfed him.
utilized by other cultures as they do or should do about the He cannot see his future or his victory because he is stuck in the
N-word. Therefore, others should not use the N-word in relation to ugliness or horridness of his past. Bad things can happen to good
African Americans. It is sacred. Moreover, there is no difference people, but good things are there if you choose to look. Levee did
in Niggah or Nigger. Leave it alone—you do not have the same not know that God had already made plans for the men who had
permission as August Wilson has. raped and killed his mother as well as injured him. If he could
have believed that then maybe he would have been able to let the
Wilson has the exceptional quality of getting, keeping and past go. Then he could have seen the good days ahead. Therein lies
sustaining our attention. His other colorful language using curse the irony of the Black Bottom . . . Believing you are on the Bottom
words denotes a status hierarchy of emphasis. They are words that while being black.
attract attention, engage the listeners, and many times demand a
response. I remember a person saying that some blacks used curse Our AATP and productions of August Wilson are still flourishing
words because their vocabulary is not as wide and they are looking since our debut in 1997 as Actors Theatre of Louisville is now
for words that will have a major impact. I think Wilson has used producing its 5th August Wilson play. I look forward to seeing all
them expressively and they are not overdone. These words do not ten at Actors Theatre.
diminish the prime objective but heighten the action of the play.

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Glossary
Arrangement: An adaptation of a piece of Juke joint: An informal, often-rowdy
music intended for a particular instrument, bar, dancehall and performance space
group of musicians, performance context, popular among African Americans in
or style of music. the rural South. Juke joints were a key
Band room: A rehearsal space and break incubator for The Blues.
room separate from the studio and control
booth. In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, this is
the domain of the African American band
members.

Black Bottom: A popular dance of the

1920s that incorporated syncopated
rhythms and suggestive movements.
It developed in the African American
neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Brogans and clod-hoppers: Two Florsheims: A brand of shoes, in this Manager: A business professional whose
terms that refer to heavy work shoes. case men’s dress shoes. In contrast job is to guide the career of an artist in
Both terms also imply that the wearer to the other band members’ old the entertainment industry. Duties include
of these shoes is a low-class, rustic clod-hoppers, Levee’s shoes are new, negotiating contracts and scheduling
person. expensive Florsheims. performances and recording sessions.

Reefer: Slang term for a marijuana cigarette

Improvisation: The act of playing a or joint.
piece of music without prior planning
or consulting written musical notation. Release form: A legal document that
Improvised pieces can be brand-new pieces surrenders certain rights and privileges. In
created in the moment or spontaneous riffs Ma Rainey’s case, signing the release form
on familiar tunes. Improvisation is common gives permission to Irvin and Sturdyvant to
in the Blues and Jazz. sell her recordings.

Control booth: The area designated for the Shuffling them feet: An allusion to
operation of technical equipment. In Ma Jug band: A makeshift group of minstrelsy, a performance genre that
Rainey’s Black Bottom, this is the domain musicians playing upbeat popular popularized negative caricatures of African
of the white producers, situated above the music on homemade and found Americans through music, dance, skits
studio. instruments such as washboards, and the use of blackface (makeup used
bottles and kazoos, in addition to other to darken one’s face, used by both black
Cornet: A brass instrument similar to instruments such as harmonicas and and white performers). When Slow Drag
a trumpet. Levee plays the cornet in banjos. Jug bands likely originated in says Levee is “shuffling them feet” for the
Ma Rainey’s band. Louisville in the early part of the 20th white producers, he means that instead of
century. maintaining his dignity, Levee is groveling
in order to get ahead in the music industry.

Slow drag: In addition to being the

name of a member of Ma Rainey’s band,
it is also a popular dance that evolved in
New Orleans in the 1890s. The slow drag
features syncopated steps and alternating
quick-slow rhythms that reflect West
African and Caribbean influences.

Uppity: An adjective meaning “pretentious”

or “arrogant.” “Uppity” has historically
been used to refer especially to African
Americans who did not “know their place”
in a social structure built on racism.

—Jessica Reese
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Discussion Questions
Pre-show
1. Ma Rainey takes place inside the
recording studio where Ma and her
band are trying to make their new Blues
record. How do you imagine music
being used in the show? What kind
of instruments do you associate with
The Blues? How would you describe a
Blues performance? What songs do you
associate with The Blues?
2. Institutional racism was a major force
in the world of the recording industry,
and Ma Rainey’s world at large. The
characters of the play, true to history,
live their lives responding to this
oppressive force. Have you ever seen
examples of institutional racism in the
media? In your own lives? How do you
imagine that racism will be portrayed
onstage?

Post-show
1. The play is called Ma Rainey’s Black 2. Spoiler! Why do you think Levee lashes 3. Who do you think was the main
Bottom, but Ma herself doesn’t get a lot out at Toledo? Can you relate this act character of Ma Rainey? Is there a
of stage time. Why do you think that is? of seemingly senseless violence to any protagonist of this piece? An antagonist?
How do the only two female characters, modern equivalents? Do you think they are specific people or
Ma and Dussie Mae, try to have a part of the situation?
voice in this male-dominated recording
studio?

BRIDGeWORK
At Your Desk 2. Ma Rainey was a real Blues singer who recorded many albums.
1. The characters in the play are Blues musicians. Blues songs Listen to one of her albums and write a review.
are usually about some personal problems and how the singer
is feeling about those problems. Write lyrics to your own
Blues song.

On Your Feet
1. Ma Rainey is a lady who knows what she wants- much like a 2. Levee spends a lot of time in the play trying to convince
queen. Select one person to be the Queen. The group forms a everyone to do his version of Ma’s hit song. Think of a time
circle around the Queen. The Queen goes around from person when you tried to convince someone of something you wanted
to person in whatever order she likes and demands an offering very badly. Break the class up into groups of 4-5. Each person
from her subjects by saying “And What Do You Have For Your will have five minutes to arrange the other people in their
Queen?” The offering could be a song, a dance, an imaginary group into a frozen picture or tableau that represents that
object; whatever you think will please the queen. If the Queen moment from their own life when they tried to get something
does not like it, he or she yells “Off With Their Head!” and that they wanted. Each member of the groups should arrange their
person is out of the circle. The last person standing becomes the own tableau. Then perform them for the other groups in silent
new queen. Queen often works well when the teacher plays the succession and discuss with your audience what they gleaned
part of the Queen. from this frozen parade of images.

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Cross-Curricular Connections
geography
The play takes place in south side of Chicago in 1927. What about
the location and history of Chicago in the 1920s that makes it an
appropriate location for this play? What was happening in Chicago at
that time?

math
What are the time signatures of Blues music? What effect do those
time signatures have on the overall feeling of the music?

history
The Blues is an American musical form. When did begin? How has
it changed over time? Create a timeline of The Blues and how it has
developed over time.

Ma Rainey’s record, “Dream Blues”

Writing Portfolio
Personal Literary Transactive
Many of the characters in Ma Rainey’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is part of August Write a review of the performance of Ma
Black Bottom suffer from lack of control Wilson’s Century Cycle. Pick another Rainey’s Black Bottom that you saw at Actors
over their music, their pay and other aspects play from the Century Cycle. Read it and Theatre of Louisville. Describe what it was
of their lives. Write a personal narrative write a paper comparing that play to Ma like to watch the play, but be sure to write
about a moment from your own life when Rainey. What were the themes and issues more than just the plot of the play. Think
you did not have control over a situation. of the other play by Wilson? How were about how the play tells the story. Make
What were the circumstances? How did you the character portrayed? Was the structure the experience come alive for the reader by
react to them? Did you accept the situation similar? What about the language? using lots of sensory details when writing
or fight back? Were you ever able to gain about several of the play’s elements, like
control? the costumes, lights, props, music, how the
actors said their lines, and how the director
realized the vision of the play. Let the
audience decide for themselves if the play is
worth seeing.

15
Works Cited
“African Americans,” Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society, 2005. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. <http://www.encyclopedia.
chicagohistory.org/pages/27.html >
Bloom, Harold, Ed. Bloom’s Major Dramatists: August Wilson. Library of Congress, Chelsea House, 2002. Print.
Davies, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Print.
Derks, Scott. The Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States, 1860-2004. Millerton, NY: Grey House, 2004. Print.
Ellison, Ralph, “Richard Wright’s Blues.” The Antioch Review 5.2, Summer 1945.
“History of Jazz Before 1930.” The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://www.redhotjazz.com/>.
JAZZ: A Film by Ken Burns. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, 2001. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.
Knowles, Louis L. and Kenneth Prewitt, eds. Institutional Racism in America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1970. Print.
Moon, D. Thomas. “Strange Voodoo: Inside the Vaults of Chess Studios.” Blues Access. Web. 27 Oct.
2010. <http://www.Bluesaccess.com/No_36/chess.html>.
Morra, Frank. “Vintage Costs: Dancing Was Never Cheap!” Swing and Lindy Hop in DC. Web. 27 Oct.
2010. <http://www.jitterbuzz.com/costs.html>.
Parson, Ron OJ. Interview by Adrien-Alice Hansel. 20 Aug. 2010.
Rich, Frank. “Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Opens.” The New York Times, 12 Oct. 1984. Web.
<http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?pagewanted=print&res=9902e6db1639f931a25753c1a962948260>
Randall, Vernellia. “Institutional Racism.” Race, Racism and the Law. University of Dayton, n.d. Web. 27
Oct. 2010. <http://academic.udayton.edu/race/intro.htm>.
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Pendergast. Vol. 4. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 168. St. James Encyclopedia
of Popular Culture. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.
Schoenberg, Loren, and Geoffrey C. Ward. “Race Records.” JAZZ: A Film By Ken Burns. PBS: Public
Broadcasting Service. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/jazz/exchange/exchange_race_records.htm>.
Shafer, Yvonne. August Wilson: A Research and Production Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood,
1998. Print.
Shannon, Sandra. The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Washington, DC: Howard UP, 1995. Print.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. August Wilson: A Literary Companion. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. Print.
The Blues. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, 2003. Web. 21 Oct. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/theBlues/>
“What Is Institutional and Structural Racism?” Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate
Racism. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://www.eraseracismny.org/html/whatis/whatis.php>.

If you liked Ma Rainey...

Books Plays
Institutional Racism in America edited by Louis L. Knowles and The August Wilson Century Cycle by August Wilson
Kenneth Prewitt A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Mother of The Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey by Sandra Lieb The Color Purple, a musical adapted from the book by Alice Walker

Film
Cadillac Records (2008)
Lady Sings The Blues (1972)
St. Louis Blues starring Bessie Smith (1929)

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