SOURCE: "Drama," in Amiri Baraka, Twayne Publishers, 1980, pp. 135-65.

In the following excerpt, Brown demonstrates Baraka's poignant use of dramatic form and his careful integration of plot, character, and setting. Brown also comments on Baraka 's manipulation of such traditional forms as the morality play to criticize conventional social structures, values, and beliefs.

The Early Plays

"The Baptism," first produced in 1964, is a useful introduction to Baraka's drama because it includes features that dominate the earlier plays and others mat foreshadow subsequent developments in Baraka's dramatic art. Set in a church, the play is actually a modern morality drama about a young boy who is accused by an old woman of masturbating while pretending to pray. As the action unfolds it centers on a growing contest for the soul—and body—of the boy. The contest pits the old woman and the minister of the church against a...