OyamO is a critically acclaimed playwright who focuses on the struggles of people of color in America, people whose voices are often ignored. Seeking to bring to life figures of the past who are not always familiar to contemporary audiences, he focuses his plays on politics, race, gender, and the American class structure. OyamO began writing in the 1960s, during the height of the Civil Rights movement, and he has continued to write plays aimed at educating his audiences and inspiring them to engage in social action. He believes that a successful play and theatrical experience is defined by audience response, that theater must "grab" theatergoers and entertain them. He has written a new play almost every year since the late 1960s, but not all of them have been produced or published.

Charles F. Gordon was born on 7 September 1943 in Elyria, Ohio, to Earnest Gordon, a steelworker, and...