The Black Underground Theatre Arts Association (BUTA) will perform "Fragmented Pieces ... Complete on Black Life", a compilation of one-act monologues, poetry, dancing and singing tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Warner Bentley Theater.
The pieces comprise both original student compositions and previously published work.
BUTA Director Shaunda Miles '99 said tonight's performance will represent the students' search for a "true definition of what blackness is."
Part of this definition is about "a people fragmented, but [who] find completeness in that fragmentation," she said.
Drama Professor and faculty advisor James Loehlin said the purpose of the performance is "to express some different perspectives on African-American life, both within an educational environment, which is particular to Dartmouth, and also in a broader culture."
The show will include performances by Yaw Agyeman '00, Christian Felix '99, Dana Orr '01, Amelia Durant '02, Jennifer Bowman '02, Cara Fuller '00, Mitsuko Gardner '99, Farrah Russell '99, Negarra Kudumu '01, LaTanya Harry '01, Nadirah Shabazz '02, Renai Rodney '99, the Gospel Choir and Ujima, the Afro-American Society dance troupe.
BUTA plans to sponsor a production each term as well as bring outside performers to the College, travel to other schools and share pieces among writers in other Ivy League schools.
Their performance for next term is the Winter Hop Stop, a show which deals with issues facing young children and adults. It will be part of the Martin Luther King Day festivities.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner and former Montgomery Fellow playwright August Wilson has been working with Drama Professor and group advisor Victor Walker to strengthen BUTA's influence on campus.
Wilson has not directly helped with the performance tonight, but has taken an "ongoing interest in BUTA and making Dartmouth a center for black arts," Loehlin said.
Wilson first worked with students interested in black theater as a Montgomery Fellow during the Winter term.
Highlights of his visit to the College include the drama department's production of Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and a Black Theatre Summit convened in early March to examine the state of black drama in the United States.
Currently, there are no resources on campus for African-American students interested in theater, Miles said.
