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Langston Hughes’ Poem “The Black Clown”

AUG 1, 2018

Note: this piece contains racial slurs.

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The Black Clown—Langston Hughes A dramatic monologue to be spoken by a pure-blooded Negro in the white suit and hat of a clown, to the music of a piano, or an orchestra. THE MOOD A gay and low-down blues. Comic entrance like the clowns in the circus. Humorous defiance. Melancholy jazz. Then defiance again followed by loud joy. A burst of music. Strutting and dancing. Then sudden sadness again. Back bent as in the fields. The slow step. The bowed head. “Nobody knows de trouble I've had.” Flinching under the whip. The spiritual syncopated. Determined to laugh. A bugle call. Gay, martial music. Walking proudly, almost prancing. But gradually subdued to a slow, heavy pace.

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The cast of The Black Clown.

The Black Clown

A.R.T. Subscription Season

A world premiere music theater experience that animates a Black man’s resilience against a legacy of oppression.

Aug 31, 2018 - Sep 23, 2018
Loeb Drama Center

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