Collection Stored Off-Site
All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval.
Subseries 2.1b
Scripts, 1966-2007
Boxes 78-87
Scope and Content Note
The subseries consists of scripts of Pearl Cleage's published and unpublished dramas from 1966-2007. Manuscript and typescript drafts of her play scripts, performance pieces, screenplays, and teleplays are included. Cleage's dramas primarily focus on African American historical events from a womanist perspective. Play scripts include drafts, notecards, and notes about plays including Flyin' West, about the Exodus of 1879, Bourbon at the Border, about experiences during the Civil Rights Movement, and Blues for an Alabama Sky, about the Harlem Renaissance. Early scripts include Cleage's first play, The Bangs, written while an undergraduate at Howard University; her playwriting notebook for her class taught by playwright Owen Dodson; and The Sale which was produced by Spelman College several months after Cleage's graduation in 1971.
Performance pieces were produced by Cleage at the Nexus Contemporary Art Center and the Just Us Theater Company, both in Atlanta, Georgia. For 10 years, Cleage collaborated with Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. on the award-winning performance series Live at Club Zebra! while acting as playwrights-in-residence at the Just Us Theatre Company.
Screenplays and teleplays include typescripts and film treatments for Cleage's works including the play Banana Bread which was filmed for television in Atlanta, Georgia.
Arrangement Note
Arranged by script type, then in alphabetical order.
| Play scripts | ||
| Box | Folder | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 78 | 1 | 3 on the Train to Colgate, typescripts, undated |
| 78 | 2 | Afro, typescripts, 1967 |
| 78 | 3 | The Bangs, typescripts, circa 1966 |
| 78 | 4 | Blues for an Alabama Sky, journal, undated |
| 78 | 5 | Blues for an Alabama Sky, typescripts, 1994 |
| 78 | 6 | Blues for an Alabama Sky, typescripts, 1995 |
| 78 | 7 | Blues for an Alabama Sky, typescripts [1], 1996 |
| 78 | 8 | Blues for an Alabama Sky, typescripts [2], 1996 |
| 78 | 9 | Bourbon at the Border, manuscript and typescripts, 1977 |
| 78 | 10 | Bourbon at the Border, notes [1], 1997 |
| 79 | 1 | Bourbon at the Border, notes [2], 1997 |
| 79 | 2 | Bourbon at the Border, notes [3], 1997 |
| 79 | 3 | Bourbon at the Border, notes journal [1], 1997 |
| 79 | 4 | Bourbon at the Border, notes journal [2], 1997 |
| 79 | 5 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, revisions, October 1996 |
| 79 | 6 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, April 1997 |
| 79 | 7 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts [1], July 1997 |
| 79 | 8 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts [2], July 1997 |
| 80 | 1 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, third draft, 1977 |
| 80 | 2 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, working draft [1], 1997 |
| 80 | 3 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, working draft [2], 1997 [1 of 2] |
| 80 | 4 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, working draft [2], 1997 [2 of 2] |
| 80 | 5 | Bourbon at the Border, typescripts, working draft [3], 1997 |
| 80 | 6 | Cave, handwritten draft, circa 1966-1968 |
| 80 | 7 | Chain, typescripts, 1991 |
| 80 | 8 | The Citation, typescripts, undated |
| 80 | 9 | The Difference Maker, typescripts, undated |
| 80 | 10 | Down at the Dinghy, typescripts, 1967 |
| 80 | 11 | Duet for Three Voices, typescripts, 1970 |
| 80 | 12 | Essentials, typescripts [1], 1983 |
| 80 | 13 | Essentials, typescripts [2], 1983 |
| 80 | 14 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, typescripts [1], 2010 |
| 81 | 1 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, typescripts [2], 2010 [1 of 2] |
| 81 | 2 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, typescripts [2], 2010 [2 of 2] |
| 81 | 3 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, typescripts [3], 2010 |
| 81 | 4 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, working papers, 2010 [1 of 2] |
| 81 | 5 | Fabulous Faith: A Gospel Truth, working papers, 2010 [2 of 2] |
| 81 | 6 | Flyin' West, book covers, 2010 |
| 81 | 7 | Flyin' West, manuscript drafts and notes, 1990 |
| 81 | 8 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1990 [1 of 2] |
| 81 | 9 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1990 [2 of 2] |
| 82 | 1 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [1 of 7] |
| 82 | 2 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [2 of 7] |
| 82 | 3 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [3 of 7] |
| 82 | 4 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [4 of 7] |
| 82 | 5 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [5 of 7] |
| 82 | 6 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [6 of 7] |
| 82 | 7 | Flyin' West, manuscript draft, 1992 [7 of 7] |
| 82 | 8 | Flyin' West, notecards [1 of 3] |
| 82 | 9 | Flyin' West, notecards [2 of 3] |
| 82 | 10 | Flyin' West, notecards [3 of 3] |
| 82 | 11 | Flyin' West, notes journal, 1991 |
| 83 | 1 | Flyin' West, typescripts [1], 1992 |
| 83 | 2 | Flyin' West, typescripts [2], 1992 |
| 83 | 3 | Flyin' West, typescripts [3], 1992 |
| 83 | 4 | Flyin' West, typescripts [4], 1992 |
| 83 | 5 | Flyin' West, typescripts [5], 1992 |
| 83 | 6 | Flyin' West, typescripts [6], 1992 |
| 83 | 7 | Flyin' West, typescripts, 1993 |
| 83 | 8 | The Funeral, typescripts, 1967 |
| 84 | 1 | Good News, typescripts [1], 1984 |
| 84 | 2 | Good News, typescripts [2], 1984 |
| 84 | 3 | Hospice, typescripts [1], 1983 |
| 84 | 4 | Hospice, typescripts [2], 1983 |
| 84 | 5 | Hymn for the Rebels, typescripts, circa 1968 |
| 84 | 6 | Incident, typescripts, circa 1969-1970 |
| 84 | 7 | Late Bus to Mecca, manuscript draft, circa 1992 |
| 84 | 8 | Late Bus to Mecca, typescripts, circa 1992 |
| 84 | 9 | Love and Trouble, typescripts, undated |
| 84 | 10 | The Love Project, manuscript notes, undated |
| 84 | 11 | The Love Project, typescripts, undated |
| 85 | 1 | The Love Project, typescripts, 2007 |
| 85 | 2 | Nacirema Society, manuscript notes, 2010 |
| 85 | 3 | Notes for play and Coca-Cola proposal, 2008 |
| 85 | 4 | Notes on a positive play in progress, 1982 |
| 85 | 5 | Notebook on playwriting, 1968 |
| 85 | 6 | Oprah Winfrey Live at Radio City, manuscript notes, 2009 |
| 85 | 7 | Oprah Winfrey Live at Radio City, typescripts, 2010 |
| 85 | 8 | Oprah Winfrey Live at Radio City, working papers, 2009-2010 |
| 85 | 9 | Porchsongs, typescripts, circa 1985 |
| 85 | 10 | Puppetplay/Le Mari Honnete, typescripts, circa 1981 |
| 86 | 1 | Re-Union, manuscripts, typescripts, circa 1966-1968 |
| 86 | 2 | Revolutionary Action, typescripts, circa 1969-1970 |
| 86 | 3 | The Sale, typescripts, circa 1972 |
| 86 | 4 | See About Me, typescripts, 1990 |
| 86 | 5 | A Song for Coretta, manuscripts, circa 2007 |
| 86 | 6 | A Song for Coretta, notes [1], circa 2006 |
| 86 | 7 | A Song for Coretta, notes [2], circa 2006 |
| 86 | 8 | A Song for Coretta, notes [3], circa 2006 |
| 86 | 9 | A Song for Coretta, typescripts, 2006 |
| 86 | 10 | Sella, typescripts, circa 1966-1968 |
| 86 | 11 | Street Scene, typescripts, circa 1966-1968 |
| 86 | 12 | Untitled, manuscripts [1], circa 1966-1968 |
| 87 | 1 | Untitled, manuscripts [2], circa 1966-1968 |
| 87 | 2 | Untitled, manuscripts [3], circa 1966-1968 |
| 87 | 3 | Untitled, manuscripts, fragments, circa 1966-1968 |
| Performance pieces | ||
| 87 | 4 | Atlanta College of Art Series: Artists in Collaboration, typescripts, 1988 February |
| 87 | 5 | "Ask Sister Pearl," notes, undated |
| 87 | 6 | "Blue Lights in the Basement," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 7 | "Clearing the Heart," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 8 | "The Confession: Crimes of Passion," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 9 | "My Father Has a Son," typescripts, 1986 |
| 87 | 10 | "Good Brother Blues," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 11 | "Hairpeace," typescripts, 1993 |
| 87 | 12 | "Listening to L.L. Kool J.," typescripts, 1987 |
| 87 | 13 | "Live Sex Act," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 14 | "My Mother's Voice Visits," typescripts and notes, undated |
| 87 | 15 | "One for the Brothers," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 16 | "The Past as Prologue," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 17 | "Rap's Song," typescripts, undated |
| 90 | 43 | "Ridin' Through America,' typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 18 | "The Ritual Record," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 19 | "Robin and Mike," typescripts, undated |
| 87 | 20 | Untitled, typescripts, no date |
| 87 | 21 | "WNTV Is on the Air, Live at Club Zebra," typescripts, 1990 [1 of 3] |
| 87 | 22 | "WNTV Is on the Air, Live at Club Zebra," typescripts, 1990 [2 of 3] |
| 87 | 23 | "WNTV Is on the Air, Live at Club Zebra," typescripts, 1990 [3 of 3] |
| Screenplays and teleplays | ||
| 87 | 24 | Banana Bread, teleplay, undated |
| 87 | 25 | Mother, film scripts, undated |
| 87 | 26 | Nuthin' But a Movie, film scripts, 1986 |
| 87 | 27 | Untitled, film treatment, 1980 |
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