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Samuel T. Hay, professor of theater at North Carolina A&T State University and a leading scholar on black drama in the U.S., will present two lectures today, the second day of his campus residency.
Hay will speak on the legacy of the late actor and singer Paul Robeson at a noon brown bag at the David A. Portlock Black Cultural Center. This evening, he will talk about “The Harlem Renaissance: its Political, Social, and Economic Ramifications” 7:45 p.m. in the auditorium of Kirby Hall of Civil Rights.
Yesterday, Hay talked about playwright Ed Bullins with the Capstone Seminar in Africana Studies class taught by John McCartney, associate professor and head of government and law at Lafayette.
The visit is sponsored by the Africana Studies program, the departments of government and law and English, the Black Cultural Center, and the cultural program.
Listed in Who’s Who in America this year, Hay has served as interim chair of the department of performing visual arts and theater at North Carolina A&T, and also held positions on the faculty of University of California ( Berkeley), Morgan State University, Washington University, Purdue University, and University of Maryland (Baltimore County).
Hay has received numerous awards, including the Harvard University Foundation Medallion, the Distinguished Scholar Award from North Carolina A&T, and Arena Players Achievement Award (Baltimore).
Over 15 research grants totaling more than $1 million have been awarded to Hay and organizations he has represented, coming from groups including the U.S. Departments of Defense and Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Maryland Council for the Humanities, Fulbright Foundation, American Bi-Centennial Commission, North Carolina Humanities Council, and several universities.
Hay has served as archivist of the Ed Bullins Collection, Greensboro, N.C.; artistic director of Cottage Theatre, Riviera Beach, Fla.; Bullins Memorial Theater, Oakland, Calif.; professor of literature at Indiana State Prison, Michigan City; and curriculum adviser at West Jupiter (Fla.) Prep School.
He is author of African American Theatre: A Historical and Critical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 1994) and Ed Bullins: A Literary Biography (Wayne State, 1997). He has written many plays, including David Richmond, winner at the American College Theatre Festival, Region IV and performed at the Kennedy Center as Best College Production of 1999. He also has directed plays at North Carolina A&T, BMT Theatre in Oakland, Morgan State University, Purdue University, and University of Maryland.
Hay is editor of Black Protest Drama: Essays (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming), and has served as guest editor for Chicory: A Magazine of Black Writing, Footprints: Anthology of Black Student Writings, and Deep: Poetry and Things. He has written essays for publications such as Black Theatre Network Journal, African American Review, Black Women Writers, Media and Methods, Negro History Bulletin, Maryland English Journal, Black World, and several programs for annual Conferences on African American Theatre.
He has presented lectures, papers, and presentations at dozens of conferences, including “Black Theatre during the Harlem Renaissance” earlier this year at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Hay earned a Ph.D. in theater history and criticism from Cornell University in 1971, a master’s in playwriting from Johns Hopkins University in 1967, and a bachelor’s in both speech and drama and English from Bethune-Cookman College in 1959. He has conducted studies of psychodrama and American Literature at Atlanta University, English for the disadvantaged at Goucher College, and summer repertory theater at University of California, Santa Barbara.