I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't and other Plays (review)

Often regarded as a poet alone, Sonia Sanchez is, in truth, one of the most prolific African American woman writers of the twentieth century, and the only African American woman playwright to receive widespread recognition for her contributions to the Black Arts movement during its own time. Sanchez wrote the drama The Bronx Is Next (1968) at the request of Black Arts heavyweight Ed Bullins. She was one of just two women included in Addison Gayle's classic The Black Aesthetic (1972). As critic and editor Jacqueline Wood has argued, "Sanchez forms a major presence in the development of an African American women's dramatic aesthetic, and her theory and practice concerning African American drama need to be more fully acknowledged and examined" ("This Thing Called Playwriting" 131). Wood's vision of Sanchez's neglected importance informs the heart of her edited anthology, I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't and Other Plays, the first complete collection of Sanchez's theatrical writing.

Wood's introduction to I'm Black When I'm Singing acts as a primer for readers and students unfamiliar with Sanchez's accomplishments as a playwright and her influence on black feminist theatre. The introduction briefly outlines Sanchez's biography, the historical context in which the plays were written, and their literary and artistic significance. Wood's orientation is most useful for students who are new to Sanchez and the Black Arts movement, although her extensive footnotes offer an additional source of information for more advanced scholars. Furthermore, the bibliography section lists critical works that provide an even deeper context for understanding Sanchez as a playwright.

The collection of plays and theatrical essays that Wood has assembled successfully carves out a space for Sanchez to discuss her own playwriting. The tendency to view Sanchez strictly as a poet makes her essays on theatre inherently fascinating. In the preface to Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us? (1974), Sanchez describes the impetus to "show what is right and what is to be played right" (19). She also reveals an artistic precision that surpasses a quest for le mot juste. "Poetry Run Loose: Breaking the Rules" is an informal explication of her artistic process. Paradoxically, it does not concern poetry, but rather the process of choosing an appropriate medium and the ways drama can provide crucial spaces for extended political dialogues that poems cannot. Here, Sanchez discusses the genesis of The Bronx Is Next, Sister Son/Ji (1969), I'm Black When I'm Singing, I'm Blue When I Ain't (1982), Malcolm/Man Don't Live Here No Mo (1972), and Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us? Sanchez explains how teaching and political activism inform her dramatic art. Her dramatic work, she suggests, is the result of a dialectical process fostered by a deep social engagement; for Sanchez, playwriting is another manifestation of radical feminist activism. In the epigraph to "Ruminations/ Reflections," she claims that "I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess to being a student, growing and learning something new every day" (15). Her assembled plays thus compose a collected call to action for future artist-activists.

Sanchez's essays provide an informative overview of her evolving understanding of how her work fits into the sometimes clashing traditions of black feminist performance and the Black Arts movement. Yet pressing questions about the lasting impact of Sanchez's work remain, even if implicitly addressed by Sanchez's analysis of her artistic process and Wood's efforts to more firmly situate her dramatic work in the public consciousness. The reader is left to wonder: If Sanchez has, in fact, had a major impact on African American women's drama, what is that impact? How is her work understood by her Black Arts contemporaries or more recent African American playwrights? These questions remain...