&gt; What is genuinely radical in the commission is not the process but the people involved...more than half of the selected playwrights will be women, and more than half will be writers of color. Shakespeare’s scripts have always resulted from collaborations among playwrights, actors, and editors. For most of the history I have traced, those collaborators were white men.<p>To what degree is it really true that there isn&#x27;t a history of women or black men re-interpreting Shakespeare? I would be pretty surprised to learn that was the case. Now, it would certainly be interesting if this work was being approached by folks with a strong background in the artistic and poetic traditions that originate from various colored communities. But that wasn&#x27;t what the article said and you cannot presume it. It is certainly not the case that any given black lit-nerd can rap.<p>&quot;&quot;&quot;
I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land?
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-- WEB DuBois, whom you should all totally read if you like a certain delicious if ornate style of prose.