On the Cutting Edge of Research  in Contemporary Theater

By Tuere Marshall

The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson

Sandra Shannon, Ph.D., is professor of African American Literature, Criticism, and Drama in the Department of English [at Howard University]. . . . Dr. Shannon has established herself as an authority and scholar on [August] Wilson. Her book The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson , published by Howard University Press, 1995, [considers] the social and political themes that Wilson weaves throughout his dramatic works.

Last May, during [its] commencement, Howard University recognized Wilson for his contribution to the historical legacy of the African American tradition, bestowing upon him the honorary degree, Doctor of Letters.

Dr. Shannon's research has established a critical link between Wilson's historical fiction and the African American cultural experience of the twentieth century, and is indicative of the cutting edge research occurring at Howard University, which impacts broader historical and sociological studies.

Dr. Shannon is at the vanguard of cultural research, positioned to keep the discussion of African American culture, Wilson's common theme, in her words, "front and center." The multidisciplinary nature of Wilson's work interfaces with the fields of history and sociology, which provides Shannon an avenue to discuss these themes within the contexts of contemporary social issues.

For example, Professor Shannon asserts that within just one of Wilson's plays, "we can talk about post-reconstruction, the Great Migration, cultural fragmentation, black male/female relationships, Jim Crow, and other historical (themes)."

In her seminal work, The Dramatic Vision, Dr. Shannon  explains and identifies the historical time periods around which Wilson sets his drama, discussing the culturally relevant themes of pain, resignation, healing, renewal, dislocation, unemployment, and alienation.

She asserts, "his plays offer excellent talking points and allow me an opportunity to dismantle some of the myths that many whites have held about blacks. I also talk to bus drivers, church goers, and high school students, all of whom have a desire to know (about such myths)." Dr. Shannon uses these thematic frameworks as grist for her post-production lectures and seminar presentations on the social relevance of these themes in today's society. 

A much sought after lecturer nationally and internationally, she has been the invited lecturer at venues such as Dartmouth College's Department of Drama, the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), Drake University, Virginia State University, the Philadelphia Theater Company, Arena Stage, Studio Theater, the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Arts Series, and the Film and Literature Colloquium at West Virginia State University. She has presented on several occasions at the annual conferences of the Mid-Atlantic Writer's Association and the College Language Association.

Since publishing her latest book, Dr. Shannon has been busy producing two subsequent studies. her most recent book August Wilson and Black Aesthetics (Palgrave MacMillan, 2004) is a compilation of essay responses to "The Ground on Which I Stand," Wilson's controversial speech on the artist's social responsibility.

Prior to August Wilson and Black Aesthetics, Shannon published August Wilson's Fences: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Publishing, 2003). This is a definitive study and companion piece to Wilson's Fences, the play Dr. Shannon considers his signature work.

Shannon explores the historical and cultural framework of the play, illuminates the creative art that went into its production, and includes a discussion of the forces that propelled Wilson beyond his potentially troubled life in Pittsburgh to becoming one of America's greatest playwrights.

Shannon received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to compete this seminal work. According to E. Ethelbert Miller, director, African American Resources Center, Howard University, it will be impossible to write about Wilson in the future without making reference to the influential research of this Howard professor.

Concerning his emphasis on African American culture, Dr. Shannon explains:

Dr. Shannon, who received her doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1986, wrote her dissertation and several early publications on the plays and politics of Amiri Baraka. She claims, "I taught myself black literature through my dissertation research, but I became aware of the important aspects of African American culture through my research on Wilson."

As a Wilson scholar, Shannon received the Creative Scholarship Award in 1998 at the 58th Annual Conference of the College language Association and the Distinguished Writers Award at the 20th Annual Conference of Mid-Atlantic Writers Association (MAWA) in 1999. [She coordinated] the 25th Annual MAWA conference titled "This August Occasion: Examining Black Achievement in Literature, Performing Arts, and Telecommunications."

Dr. Shannon has received several grants to further her work. She was funded by the Andrew Mellon Fellowship for the American Drama: Text and Performance (Salzburg, Austria). And by the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. to research "The Ground Together: An Interdisciplinary Conference to assess the Cultural Ground on Which We Stand As We Approach the Millennium."

She was also awarded Howard University Faculty Research grants for "An Annotated Bibliography" on August Wilson, the "Reclaiming Broadway for the African American Community," and for "Fences: A Critical Study." 

Professor Shannon's proposal for funding the two-day interdisciplinary symposium, Situating August Wilson in the Canon and in the Curriculum, was recently approved by Howard University's Fun for Academic Excellence.

Dr. Shannon has already started laying the foundation in her new area of research the contemporary African-American female playwright. She hopes to attract and develop critical scholarship for this trend that is now gaining dominance on American stages and with Pulitzer Prize committees.

A favorite among her English graduate students, Dr. Shannon "keeps her 'finger on the pulse,' and is at the vanguard of research on these contemporary playwrights who have, heretofore, been marginalized or misunderstood," a student stated.

During her graduate seminar, Dr. Shannon incorporated primary research projects with local theater practitioners and playwrights, in order to foster the critical thinking and writing skills necessary for this next generation of scholars. Her students attribute "Shannon's in-class, critical questions about contemporary playwrights as the basis for dissertations" and other analytical research on today's scholars.

She is also pivotal in the development of new scholarship on the contemporary African American female playwright. Dr. Shannon's research was published in the African American Review, Callaloo, Obsidian II; she has contributed essays to May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson; Memory and Cultural Politics: New Approaches to American Ethnic Literatures; August Wilson: A Casebook; Assaig de Teatre, a note Spanish journal, and literary publications.

Source: Quest: Research at Howard University (Winter 2004/2005, 8-10). Tuere Marshall is a teaching assistant and Ph.D. student in the Department of English.