Canons, Black Performance, and the Classix Project

A conversation with Dominique Rider and Arminda Thomas of the Classix project

Canons have an important but complicated place in our culture. As definitive collections of essential works of art and literature, they can be helpful guides — but they’re also inherently exclusionary. Who decides what gets put into the canon, and what gets left out? That’s a particularly acute problem in American theatre, where much of the canon of classic plays consists of works by White, often male, authors, frequently excluding the perspectives of BIPOC artists.

For the last five years, the Classix project has been working to change this — to, as they put it, “explode the classical canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers.” We’re joined by two members of the Classix team: director Dominique Rider, a resident director at The National Black Theatre, and dramaturg, archivist, and musician Arminda Thomas.