Journeys into the heart of whiteness

a labor historian looks at the work of Naomi Wallace

Peter Rachleff

pp. 135-154

in: Scott T. Cummings, Erica Stevens Abbitt (eds), The theatre of Naomi Wallace, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

The plays of Naomi Wallace constitute a form of historical study. Her diligent research includes reading widely in labor history literature, engaging labor historians in conversations, and delving into critical race theory, particularly through the work of James Baldwin.¹ Her refusal to traffic in historical stereotypes and tropes, along with her use of imagination, ghosts, magical realism, and poetic language, has enabled her to create dramatic work that challenges audiences to see workers not only as the products of the historical development of structures of class, race, gender, and sexuality, and the interaction of these structures with each other, but also as the possible architects of new social realities. Her theatre encourages us to think critically about how the power wielded by class, race, gender, and sexuality has shaped our history and how it is shaping our own lives today.²