Colored Museum: A Play

by George C. Wolfe

Book Overview

George C. Wolfe's iconic play on the black experience of the 1980s.

The Colored Museum has electrified, discomforted, and delighted audiences of all colors, redefining our ideas of what it means to be black in contemporary America. Its eleven exhibits undermine black stereotypes old and new, and return to the facts of what being black means. Mr. Wolfe is the kind of satirist who takes no prisoners. The shackles of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802130488
• ISBN13: 9780802130488
• Release Date: May 1988
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 680 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Stinging Satire

I was fortunate enough to see "The Colored Museum" when it was off Broadway in 1987. It's amazing, though some might find it insensitive, especially the skit ("exhibit") called "Git on Board" which is a satire of a transAtlantic slave voyage. Other highlights include "The Hairpiece" which has two wigs, a straight one & a "nappy" one, trying to convince a woman to wear one of them. The best piece in the whole collection is a satire of Lorraine Hansberry's "Raisin in the Sun" ( & the overacted movie version of the play starring Danny Glover) called "The Last Mama on the Couch" play. If anyone has a tape of the PBS presentation of "The Colored Museum," I would appreciate being able to get a copy of it because mine got cut off.

Where can I find a VHS of "The Colored Museum"

If anyone knows where to find a video of "The Colored Museum" that was aired on PBS in 1991, any advice would be appreciated!My email: carlahealy@aol.com

Where I Can Buy A Video Of This Production?

I love this work and remember seeing a theatrical production of it on PBS' Great Performances. Does Anyone Know Where I Can Buy A Video Of This Production?My email address is wtellis@nyc.rr.comThanks

"A life changing event"

The creative and imaginative pen of Geroge C. Wolfe "paints" a canvas of honesty through humor and reflection. How often do we get to laugh at ourselves while educating yourself and others? I have used The Colored Museum in teaching liturature to my urban students and it provided a vehicle that allowed them to express a deeper understanding of themselves. Very seldom does that happen.

Poignant Shock

George C. Wolfe's play details the African-American experience, shocking the reader more and more. This shock is meant to portray the outrage and sheer madness that the situation of blacks in America provokes. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes electrifying and political, this play is a masterwork that attacks various issues in African-American life.