Remembering Bailey, Space, and A Whole Lotta Movement(s) in Michelle Tyrene Johnson's The Green Duck Lounge

Abstract

“Remembering Bailey, Space, and a Whole Lotta Movement(s) in Michelle Tyrene Johnson’s The Green Duck Lounge” is a critical study of Michelle Tyrene Johnson’s stage play, The Green Duck Lounge, and the premiere production in February 2018 at the University of Missouri. Through my scholarly analysis of the stage play (that is, through a dramatic analysis of the script, two oral histories, and an embodied written reflection remembering the premiere performance), this thesis explores the overarching question: How does Green Duck utilize Black feminist orality to theatrically emphasize Black women’s contributions to contemporary movements like the people for #BlackLivesMatter? By engaging Green Duck as a commemorative project, this thesis examines the ways in which Green Duck challenges how we remember Black resistance by telling history using a Black woman’s body (that is, Bailey).