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Ed Bullins

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Ed Bullins (born July 2, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an African American playwright. He is known for writing plays such as 'In the Wine Tine' and 'Goin A Buffalo.' He was also the minister of culture for the Black Panther Movement; the majority of Bullin's work is seen as useful and relevant to Black America[1]. In addition, he has won numerous awards: several Obies, fellowships for playwriting, and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for playwriting[2] Bullins is considered by some to be one of the most celebrated playwrights to come from the Black Arts Movement[3]

Early Life and Education

Ed Bullins was born July 2, 1935 in Philadelphia, PA. His parents were Bertha Marie Queen and Edward Bullins. He was raised primarily by his mother. As a child he attended predominantly white schools and got involved with gangs. He attended Franklin High School and got involved with gangs and was in accident where he was stabbed.[4] Shortly thereafter, he quit high school and joined the navy. During this period he won a boxing championship and started reading. He returned to Philadelphia and enrolled in night school. He stayed until 1958 when he went to Los Angeles leaving behind a marriage and kids. After receiving his G.E.D. in L.A., he enrolled in Los Angeles City College and he began writing short stories for the Citadel, a magazine he created. In 1964, Bullins went to San Francisco and joined the creative writing program at San Francisco State College. This is where he first started writing plays. His first was How do You Do and afterwards two more immediately followed Clara's Ole Man and Dialect Determinism.

Black House

After seeing Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, Bullins felt that Baraka's artistic purpose validated his own[5] He joined Black House, Baraka's Group. Black House included Sonia Sanchez, Huey Newton, Marvin X, and others. The Black House were supporters of the Black Arts Movement and strongly believed in Protest Theatre. The Black Panthers used Black House as a San Francisco's base, which allowed Bullins to be briefly the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. The Black House experienced a schism in beliefs between members who saw art as a weapon and were for joining with whites for political means and others who saw art as cultural nationalism and didn't want to work with whites. Bullins was a part of the second group and as a result he ended up leaving.

New Lafayette Players

Robert Macbeth read Bullins plays and asked him to join the New Lafayette Players. The New Lafayette Players were a newly formed group located in Harlem. Their first production was Ron Milner's "Who's Got His Own." The theatre was destroyed and they relocated to the American Place Theatre were the performed three plays by Ed Bullins. The plays as a whole was called Electronic Nigger and later changed to "Three Plays by Ed Bullins" to accommodate ranges in audience. The three plays The Electronic Nigger and Others A Son, Come Home and Clara's Ole Man earned Bullins a Vernon Rice Desk Award for 1968. Bullins stayed with the Lafayette Players until they ended due to funding issues in 1972. But, during his stay ten of plays were produced with the Players including "In the Wine Tine" and "Goin A Buffalo."Bullin's most ambitious playwriting undertaking was his twentieth-century play cycle, a proposed cycle of twenty plays that represents African-American experiences showing issues of race relations, but also problems and issues that arise in the lives of everyday African-Americans. Although some of his non-cycle plays seem to fit this ideology including Goin a Buffalo and Clara's Ole Man

Later career

After, the ending of the Lafayette Players, Bullins and his now third wife, Trixie Warner Bullins and children remained in New York living in the Bronx. In 1973 he was a in-residence playwright for the American Place Theatre. From 1975-1983, he was on staff at the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public Theatre Writers' Unit. During that time Bullins wrote two children's plays "I am Lucy Terry" and "The Mystery of Phyllis Wheatley." He, also, wrote books for two musicals "Sepia Star" and "Storyville." Bullins latest work is Harlem Diva and was set to be performed in 2006.[1] He went back to school again and received a bachelor's degree in English and Playwriting from Antioch University in San Francisco. In 1995, he became a professor at Northeastern University. Now, he is a distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Northeastern University in Boston.

Books

In addition to Bullins many plays, he also tried his hand in other forms of writing such as short stories and novels. He wrote The Hungered One and The Reluctant Rapist[6]. The latter features a sort of twin or alter ego of Bullins named Steve Benson, who is featured in many of Bullin's works. In the novel, Bullin's writes the world prepares a black man for a single kill: treachery to his brothers.[7]

Criticism

Many critics saw his early works of great and favorable. But, many thought there were violent and depicted African-Americans not in a positive light. He got lots of criticism for We Righteous Bombers. Some said that the play which plot was of a black man killed by local police. Although credited to Kingsley Bass, Jr. many believed that the play was actually written by Bullins. The problem was whether or not black writers should challenge revolutionary activity without providing alternative directions and resolutions within their work. Also, Clive Barnes says Bullins writes like an Angel.[5] Several black critics rallied to defend Bullins and attacked white critics for using "white" notions of good drama to evaluate black art.[8]

Awards

Ed Bullins has received numerous awards for playwriting[2] He received an Obie Award for distinguished playwriting and the Black Arts Aliiance Award for The Fabulous Miss Marie andIn the New England Winter. For the Taking of Miss Janie Bullins received the Obie Award for distinguished playwriting and the New York Drama Critics Award. In 1971 and 1976, Bullins won the Guggenheim Fellowship for playwriting. In 1975, he won the Drama Desk-Vernon Rice Award, two more Obies, two Guggenheim fellowhips, four Rockfeller Foundation playwriting grants, and two National Endowment for the Arts playwriting grants.

Plays


Play Year
How do you do 1965
It has no Choice 1966

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/bullins-ed-1935
  2. ^ a b http://www.bridgesweb.com/blacktheatre/bullins.html
  3. ^ http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=17522
  4. ^ http://www.helium.com/items/209113-biographies-edward-bullins-playwrite
  5. ^ a b Sanders, Leslie. "Ed Bullins (1935- )." Afro-American Writers After 1955: Dramatist and Prose Writers. Ed. Thadious M. Davis and Trudier Harris. Vol. 38. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. 38 vols. 43-61.
  6. ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/ed-bullins
  7. ^ Sanders, Leslie. "Ed Bullins (1935- )." Afro-American Writers After 1955: Dramatist and Prose Writers. Ed. Thadious M. Davis and Trudier Harris. Vol. 38. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. 38 vols. 43-61
  8. ^ http://www.enotes.com/drama-criticism/bullins-ed
  • Ed Bullins, Mike Sell (2006). Ed Bullins. University of Michigan Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780472031825.
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