Lecture on Sean O'Casey's Influence on African-American Theatre

Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun and the first Black female playwright produced on Broadway, cites Irish playwright Sean O’Casey as her single strongest influence and credits Juno and the Paycock with steering her toward committed social engagement through theater. While O’Casey’s influence on Hansberry has been acknowledged Raisin’s debut, O’Casey’s broader influence on African-American theater in the mid-20th century is seldom commented on. O’Casey’s plays provided a model for, and acted as part of the foundation of, nascent African-American theaters in both New York and the American South. In this talk, Cara McClintock-Walsh, Ph.D., associate director of Community College Engagement at Princeton University, will discuss the ways in which Hansberry and other African-American playwrights, directors, actors, and scholars used the example of Sean O’Casey to engage in a transnational, transatlantic dialog about the responsibilities and possibilities of socially engaged, avowedly radical, African-American theater.