Getting Past the Bad Rap: Hip Hop’s Slow Entry into Mainstream Theater
Friday 1/19/24 at 5pm ET
Community Gathering on Zoom - register with the bright red reservation box to receive the Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; we ask that non-members help keep us running by making a donation or joining as a member.
In the room: Patrick Blake, producer (The Exonerated, Play Dead, The 39 Steps) and founding artistic director of Rhymes Over Beats Hip Hop Collective, plus guest hip hop artists Masta Ace (playwright/rapper) and Power (actor/rapper) will talk about the history of hip hop, it's purpose and esthetic and its bumpy journey into mainstream theater. Did Hamilton finally break the barrier between hip hop and theater? Does "theater rap" differ in any way from street rap, gangsta rap and other variations on the form? What can rap uniquely bring to theater? And does the broader hip hop culture have relevance in theater, and vice versa?
Panelists
