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A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play"
A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play"
A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play"
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A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play"

By Gale and Cengage

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A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama for Students for all of your research needs.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 19, 2019
ISBN9780028671178
A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs: A Play"

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    A Study Guide for Lydia R. Diamond's "Harriet Jacobs - Gale

    19

    Harriet Jacobs: A Play

    Lydia R. Diamond

    2008

    Introduction

    Lydia R. Diamond's Harriet Jacobs: A Play, first produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2008, retells the life of an escaped former slave who wrote one of the first American slave narratives, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, in 1861, exposing the culture of rape and widespread degradation of morals found in plantation life. Diamond introduces audiences to the young, brightly intelligent, and fiercely strong Harriet, who must fend off her master's unwelcome advances while avoiding her mistress, who blames the beleaguered slave girl, rather than her husband, for his indiscretions. Harriet flees the plantation but remains nearby, hidden in a cramped attic space in her grandmother's shed for seven years.

    Diamond's play juxtaposes this action with soliloquies from other slaves living on the same plantation, offering a spectrum of experiences with which to compare Harriet's struggle for freedom. Song and direct addresses to the audience create an intimate atmosphere in which the horrors of slavery are presented as they are felt on the personal, individual level. The play was published by Northwestern University Press (2011).

    Author Biography

    Diamond was born Lydia Gartin in Detroit, Michigan, on April 14, 1969. She saw her first touring Broadway shows at the age of eight, at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center, where her mother was a manager. Her family moved often, to places as far flung as Massachusetts and Texas. They finally settled in Waco, Texas, where she attended high school. Early on Diamond learned to play the piano and violin. In 1991 she earned a bachelor's degree in theater and performance studies from Northwestern University in Illinois and went on to found her own theater company in 1992, called Another Small Black Theatre Company with Good Things to Say and a Lot of Nerve Productions. It was at a performance there that she met her husband, John Diamond, with whom she has a son.

    Her works include Here I Am … See You Can Handle It, Stage Black, The Gift Horse, The Inside, Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye, Stick Fly, Harriet Jacobs: A Play, and Smart People. Harriet Jacobs: A Play, inspired by the 1861 slave narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs, was commissioned and produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

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