The “Problematics of Culture and Theory” Seminar, held by the School of English at Aristotle University, will be hosting an online talk by Dr David Crespy (Professor of Playwriting, Acting, Dramatic Literature and Theatre History at the University of Missouri; Fulbright Scholar) on Friday, March 10th, at 13.30-15.00.
The title of the online talk is:
“Visited by a Phantom: The Dramatic Relationship of African-American Playwright Adrienne Kennedy and Edward Albee”
The talk will take place via the Zoom platform. All those interested in attending via zoom, please submit the relevant registration form. The zoom link details for the event will be sent by email on the eve of the talk to all those who have registered for online participation.
The particular event is organized as part of the U of Missouri-AUTh bilateral agreement and the Fulbright Foundation collaboration.
Problematics Seminar Coordinators:
Dr L.E. Roupakia (roupakia@enl.auth.gr) and Dr Ε. Botonaki (botonaki@enl.auth.gr)
EVENT ABSTRACT
Adrienne Kennedy, the premiere African-American experimental playwright, began her career as an early student of Edward Albee’s playwriting workshop at the Circle in the Square. Edward Albee, along with his producing partners Richard Barr, and Clinton Wilder, was the co-producer of her first production of Funnyhouse of a Negro in 1964. Dr. Crespy will discuss Adrienne Kennedy’s major work as a dramatist, including the influence of Edward Albee and Kennedy’s strange tribute to him, Visited by a Phantom. Dr Crespy will also reflect on Adrienne Kennedy’s recent 2022 Broadway debut with her Ohio State Murders, including her important influence on other major experimental Black playwrights in the United States, such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Ntzoke Shange. The talk will address the current 2022 Broadway renaissance of American American playwrights, including many Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights, such as Lynn Nottage, Katori Hall, Jackie Sibblies, Michael R. Jackson, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Dominique Morriseau, Branden Jacobs Jenkins, and Jeremy O. Harris, who are diversifying and transforming the American Stage.
The presentation will include a student reading of Adrienne Kennedy’s extraordinary experimental short play, A Lesson in a Dead Language (1968).
GUEST SPEAKER BIO
Dr. Crespy is a professor of Playwriting, Acting and Dramatic Literature at the University of Missouri. He is the 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar to Spain and Greece, where he is developing six new plays about the Spanish roots of the Sephardic Jewish community of Thessaloniki, titled Mi Corazón Español Vive Ahora En Grecia.
Dr. David Crespy founded the University of Missouri's Writing for Performance program, serves as its Co-Director, and is the founding Artistic Director of MU.'s Missouri Playwrights Workshop. The playwriting program he founded received the Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in 2017. Dr. Crespy is the Founding President and Treasurer of the Edward Albee Society, having worked closely with Edward Albee, the Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, for over twenty years. Some of his selected books include The Off-Off Broadway Explosion, (Watson-Guptill, 2003) and Richard Barr: The Playwrights' Producer both with a foreword by Edward Albee. His most recent book is Dreamwork for Dramatic Writing: Dreamwrighting for Stage and Screen, to be published by Brill in 2024.
