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{{Short description|Trinidadian playwright, performer, poet and novelist}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell''', also known as '''Marina Maxwell''' |
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*https://artistscoalition.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/actt-doc.pdf |
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*:''Triggered by <code>\bfiles\.wordpress\.com\b</code> on the global blacklist''|bot=Cyberbot II|invisible=true}} |
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{{Infobox person |
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|birth_name = Marina Jesslyn Crichlow |
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|image = |
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|birth_date = November 10, 1934 |
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|birth_place = [[San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago|San Fernando]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]]<!--Don't change to [[Colony of Trinidad and Tobago]]; no place by that name ever existed--> |
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|death_date = September 30, 2024 (age 89) |
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|death_place = Curepe, [[Trinidad]] [[Trinidad and Tobago]] |
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|occupation = Playwright, performer, poet, novelist, activist, educator |
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|nationality = [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] [[Jamaica|Jamaican]] |
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|education = [[University of the West Indies]], [[Michigan State University]] |
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|other_names = Marina Maxwell<br/> |
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|known_for = |
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|spouse = John William Maxwell 1934-2010 (divorced) |
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|parents = Felix Augustus Crichlow, MD, Beryl Archbald Crichlow, |
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|children = 1 |
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|notable works = Play Mas; About our own business; Chopstix in Mauby; Decades to Ama |
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|website = |
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}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell''', also known as '''Marina Maxwell''' <ref>[https://artistscoalition.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/actt-doc.pdf The Artists Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT).]</ref> was a [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] playwright, performer, poet and novelist. She was associated with the [[Caribbean Artists Movement]] in London in the late 1960s, working with [[Edward Kamau Brathwaite]], while back in the Caribbean she was responsible for developing the experimental Yard Theatre,<ref>[[Alison Donnell]], Sarah Lawson Welsh (eds), [https://books.google.com/books?id=tlulw5fg2zIC&dq=%22yard+theatre%22+marina+maxwell&pg=PA349 ''The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature''], p. 349.</ref> which was "an attempt to place West Indian theatre in the life of the people [...] to find it in the yards where people live and are."<ref name=Voyce>Stephen Voyce, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rYuBAAAAQBAJ&dq=marina+maxwell+trinidad&pg=PT145 ''Poetic Community: Avant-Garde activism and Cold War Culture''], [[University of Toronto Press]], 2013, pp. 158–159.</ref> The concept of "yard theatre" was considered revolutionary, according to Brathwaite, because it not only "rejected/ignored... traditional/ colonial Euro-American theatre," it also "provided a viable and creative alternative."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brathwaite |first1=Edward Kamau |title=The Love Axe/L: Developing a Caribbean Aesthetic 1962-1974 |journal=[[Bim]] |date=June 1978 |volume=63 |page=181–192}}</ref><ref name=PCDrama /> |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Born in [[San Fernando, Trinidad]], she gained a BA and MSc (Sociology) and an MA at [[Michigan State University]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2011/06/26/flying-tt-flag-high "Flying T&T flag high"], ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'', 27 June 2011.</ref> |
Born in [[San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago|San Fernando]], on November 10, 1934, she gained a BA and MSc (Sociology) at UWI Mona and St. Augustine, and an MA at [[Michigan State University]] She received a Phd from UWI St Augustine.<ref>Maharaj, Maxwell, [http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2011/06/26/flying-tt-flag-high "Flying T&T flag high"], ''[[Trinidad and Tobago Guardian]]'', 27 June 2011. She died September 30, 2024</ref> |
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In London during the 1960s she was associated with the [[Caribbean Artists Movement]] (CAM), of which she was a former secretary,<ref name=MUP>Ruth Craggs and Claire Wintle (eds), [https://books.google. |
In London during the 1960s she was associated with the [[Caribbean Artists Movement]] (CAM), of which she was a former secretary,<ref name=MUP>Ruth Craggs and Claire Wintle (eds), [https://books.google.com/books?id=-JwDDAAAQBAJ&q=marina+maxwell&pg=PT97 ''Cultures of Decolonisation: Transnational productions and practices, 1945-70''], Manchester University Press, 2016.</ref> and participated in 1967 in the CAM symposium entitled "West Indian Theatre" at the [[West Indian Students' Centre]] in London.<ref name=Voyce /> Back in the Caribbean, she established the Yard Theatre, rejecting existing theatrical norms and venues and instead staging plays in back yards in [[Kingston, Jamaica]].<ref name=MUP /> Maxwell's Yard Theatre has been described as "one of the most significant experiments in relocating theatre performance to more culturally appropriate sites. Running for several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Yard Theatre—literally a yard rather than a building—addressed itself to the people of the street, the poorer classes who had no access to a formal theatre often segregated along the lines of race and class."<ref name=PCDrama>Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins, ''Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics'', Routledge, 1996, p. 158.</ref> |
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Her 1968 drama ''Play Mas′'' — one of several [[Trinidad and Tobago Carnival|Carnival]]-based plays dating from around that time, including Lennox Brown's ''Devil Mas′'' (1971), Ronald Amoroso's ''The Master of Carnival'' (1974) and [[Mustapha Matura]]'s ''Rum and Coca Cola'' (1976), with other productions in the 1980s and '90s by [[Earl Lovelace]], [[Derek Walcott]] and Rawle Gibbons similarly drawing on local creative resources<ref>Martin Banham (ed.), [https://books.google. |
Her 1968 drama ''Play Mas′'' — one of several [[Trinidad and Tobago Carnival|Carnival]]-based plays dating from around that time, including Lennox Brown's ''Devil Mas′'' (1971), Ronald Amoroso's ''The Master of Carnival'' (1974) and [[Mustapha Matura]]'s ''Rum and Coca Cola'' (1976), with other productions in the 1980s and '90s by [[Earl Lovelace]], [[Derek Walcott]] and Rawle Gibbons similarly drawing on local creative resources<ref>Martin Banham (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8qMTPAPFGXUC&dq=Marina+maxwell+trinidad&pg=PA1125 "Trinidad and Tobago"], in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'', Cambridge University Press, 1995 edn, p. 1125.</ref> — exemplified a belief expressed in her 1970 article "Towards a Revolution in the Arts", in the journal ''[[Savacou]]'': "We have only to look around us and listen....[W]e only have to listen across the Caribbean, on the streets, in the [[Sound system (Jamaican)|Sound System]] yards, in the [[Calypso tent]]s, in the rejection statements of the [[Rastafari]]--and we can know that we are in the presence of our own gods."<ref>[https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Who%27s+got+history%3F+Kamau+Brathwaite%27s+%22Gods+of+the+Middle+Passage%22.-a016465671 "Who's got history? Kamau Brathwaite's 'Gods of the Middle Passage'"], The Free Library. 1994, University of Oklahoma. Retrieved 23 November 2017.</ref> She called on the middle-class artists to "stop looking back over their shoulders in some misty distance at [[Shakespeare]], at pleasing the European–oriented audiences with well-modulated verse and slick theatre, and (to) address themselves to experimenting with their own thing, unafraid to fail."<ref name=Gonzalez>Quoted in Anson Gonzalez, ''Bare Boards and a Passion – The Early Theatre of Trinidad and Tobago'', 30 November 1973. Via Literatures in English at UWI, St Augustine.</ref> |
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Maxwell is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and has also contributed articles and reviews to various publications.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AMaxwell%2C+Marina+Ama+Omowale.&qt=hot_author "Maxwell, Marina Ama Omowale"] at WorldCat.</ref> |
Maxwell is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and has also contributed articles and reviews to various publications.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AMaxwell%2C+Marina+Ama+Omowale.&qt=hot_author "Maxwell, Marina Ama Omowale"] at WorldCat.</ref> |
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She has served as president of the Writers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago (WUTT) |
She has served as president of the Writers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago (WUTT),<ref>[http://archives.newsday.co.tt/2006/07/16/writers-group-honours-keens-douglas/ "Writers' group honours Keens-Douglas"], ''[[Trinidad and Tobago Newsday]]'', 16 July 2006.</ref> which she founded in 1980.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.446679.9bbf254af6|title=Local writer makes her way into Wikipedia|website=Trinidad and Tobago Guardian|date=17 July 2011}}</ref> |
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==Selected writings== |
==Selected writings== |
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* "Towards a Revolution in the Arts", ''Savacou'' 2 (September 1970), pp. |
* "Towards a Revolution in the Arts", ''Savacou'' 2 (September 1970), pp. 19–32.<ref>[http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00072342/00001/2?search=marina+maxwell ''West Indian Social Science Index''], St. Augustine, 1974, p. 59.</ref> |
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* ''About our own business'', Drum Mountain Publications, 1981 |
* ''About our own business'', Drum Mountain Publications, 1981 |
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* ''Chopstix in Mauby: A Novel of Magical Realism'', [[Peepal Tree Press]], 1997, {{ISBN|978-0948833960}} |
* ''Chopstix in Mauby: A Novel of Magical Realism'', [[Peepal Tree Press]], 1997, {{ISBN|978-0948833960}} |
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* ''Decades to Ama'', Peepal Tree Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-1845230173}} |
* ''Decades to Ama'' (poetry), Peepal Tree Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-1845230173}} |
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* ''The 8th Octave: A Magical Realism/real Maravilloso Novel'', Arima, Trinidad and Tobago: Drum Mountain Publications of Omnamedia Productions, 2012<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/870684536|title=The 8th octave : a magical realism/real maravilloso novel|via=WorldCat|oclc=870684536 |access-date=18 May 2022}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Latest revision as of 07:40, 28 November 2024
Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell | |
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| Born | Marina Jesslyn Crichlow November 10, 1934 |
| Died | September 30, 2024 (age 89) Curepe, Trinidad Trinidad and Tobago |
| Nationality | Trinidadian Jamaican |
| Other names | Marina Maxwell |
| Education | University of the West Indies, Michigan State University |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, performer, poet, novelist, activist, educator |
| Notable work | Play Mas; About our own business; Chopstix in Mauby; Decades to Ama |
| Spouse | John William Maxwell 1934-2010 (divorced) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | Felix Augustus Crichlow, MD, Beryl Archbald Crichlow, |
Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell, also known as Marina Maxwell [1] was a Trinidadian playwright, performer, poet and novelist. She was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement in London in the late 1960s, working with Edward Kamau Brathwaite, while back in the Caribbean she was responsible for developing the experimental Yard Theatre,[2] which was "an attempt to place West Indian theatre in the life of the people [...] to find it in the yards where people live and are."[3] The concept of "yard theatre" was considered revolutionary, according to Brathwaite, because it not only "rejected/ignored... traditional/ colonial Euro-American theatre," it also "provided a viable and creative alternative."[4][5]
Biography
[edit]Born in San Fernando, on November 10, 1934, she gained a BA and MSc (Sociology) at UWI Mona and St. Augustine, and an MA at Michigan State University She received a Phd from UWI St Augustine.[6]
In London during the 1960s she was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM), of which she was a former secretary,[7] and participated in 1967 in the CAM symposium entitled "West Indian Theatre" at the West Indian Students' Centre in London.[3] Back in the Caribbean, she established the Yard Theatre, rejecting existing theatrical norms and venues and instead staging plays in back yards in Kingston, Jamaica.[7] Maxwell's Yard Theatre has been described as "one of the most significant experiments in relocating theatre performance to more culturally appropriate sites. Running for several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Yard Theatre—literally a yard rather than a building—addressed itself to the people of the street, the poorer classes who had no access to a formal theatre often segregated along the lines of race and class."[5]
Her 1968 drama Play Mas′ — one of several Carnival-based plays dating from around that time, including Lennox Brown's Devil Mas′ (1971), Ronald Amoroso's The Master of Carnival (1974) and Mustapha Matura's Rum and Coca Cola (1976), with other productions in the 1980s and '90s by Earl Lovelace, Derek Walcott and Rawle Gibbons similarly drawing on local creative resources[8] — exemplified a belief expressed in her 1970 article "Towards a Revolution in the Arts", in the journal Savacou: "We have only to look around us and listen....[W]e only have to listen across the Caribbean, on the streets, in the Sound System yards, in the Calypso tents, in the rejection statements of the Rastafari--and we can know that we are in the presence of our own gods."[9] She called on the middle-class artists to "stop looking back over their shoulders in some misty distance at Shakespeare, at pleasing the European–oriented audiences with well-modulated verse and slick theatre, and (to) address themselves to experimenting with their own thing, unafraid to fail."[10]
Maxwell is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and has also contributed articles and reviews to various publications.[11]
She has served as president of the Writers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago (WUTT),[12] which she founded in 1980.[13]
Selected writings
[edit]- "Towards a Revolution in the Arts", Savacou 2 (September 1970), pp. 19–32.[14]
- About our own business, Drum Mountain Publications, 1981
- Chopstix in Mauby: A Novel of Magical Realism, Peepal Tree Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0948833960
- Decades to Ama (poetry), Peepal Tree Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1845230173
- The 8th Octave: A Magical Realism/real Maravilloso Novel, Arima, Trinidad and Tobago: Drum Mountain Publications of Omnamedia Productions, 2012[15]
References
[edit]- ^ The Artists Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT).
- ^ Alison Donnell, Sarah Lawson Welsh (eds), The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature, p. 349.
- ^ a b Stephen Voyce, Poetic Community: Avant-Garde activism and Cold War Culture, University of Toronto Press, 2013, pp. 158–159.
- ^ Brathwaite, Edward Kamau (June 1978). "The Love Axe/L: Developing a Caribbean Aesthetic 1962-1974". Bim. 63: 181–192.
- ^ a b Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins, Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics, Routledge, 1996, p. 158.
- ^ Maharaj, Maxwell, "Flying T&T flag high", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 27 June 2011. She died September 30, 2024
- ^ a b Ruth Craggs and Claire Wintle (eds), Cultures of Decolonisation: Transnational productions and practices, 1945-70, Manchester University Press, 2016.
- ^ Martin Banham (ed.), "Trinidad and Tobago", in The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 1995 edn, p. 1125.
- ^ "Who's got history? Kamau Brathwaite's 'Gods of the Middle Passage'", The Free Library. 1994, University of Oklahoma. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
- ^ Quoted in Anson Gonzalez, Bare Boards and a Passion – The Early Theatre of Trinidad and Tobago, 30 November 1973. Via Literatures in English at UWI, St Augustine.
- ^ "Maxwell, Marina Ama Omowale" at WorldCat.
- ^ "Writers' group honours Keens-Douglas", Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 16 July 2006.
- ^ "Local writer makes her way into Wikipedia". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 17 July 2011.
- ^ West Indian Social Science Index, St. Augustine, 1974, p. 59.
- ^ The 8th octave : a magical realism/real maravilloso novel. OCLC 870684536. Retrieved 18 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
Further reading
[edit]- Mollie McFee, "Aspirational Nations: Language, Intimacy, and Twentieth-Century Caribbean Culture", The University of Chicago, June 2017.
| International | |
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| National | |
Categories:
- 20th-century women writers
- 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago poets
- 21st-century women writers
- Caribbean Artists Movement people
- Living people
- People from San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
- Trinidad and Tobago dramatists and playwrights
- Trinidad and Tobago women dramatists and playwrights
- Trinidad and Tobago women novelists
- Trinidad and Tobago novelists
- Trinidad and Tobago poets
- Trinidad and Tobago women poets