Abstract:
Bruce Jackson speaks about The B-Side: Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons. A Record Album Interpretation, a production by the The Wooster Group, New York’s most celebrated experimental theater company. The B-Side is based on the classic LP, Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons, based on Jackson’s 1964 field recordings. Peter Marks of the Washington Post called the production “ravishing,” and “a richly resonant auditory experience,” concluding that “the experience is history in melody, an a cappella song cycle that reveals how men sentenced to hard labor endured, forging bonds through music.” New York Times theater reviewer Ben Brantley named it one of the 10 best plays of the year. Jackson talks about the process of transforming his LP into theater with The Wooster Group, illustrating his presentation with photographs and audio and video clips.
Description:
This talk, the Phillips Barry Lecture, took place at the American Folklore Society's 130th Annual Meeting at the Buffalo Niagara County Convention Center, in Buffalo, New York, on October 18, 2018.
