Episode 43 (Heightened Language and Black Playwrights)

For the August 2021 podcast, Paul talks about heightened language and Black playwrights with his guest, Professor Jacqueline Springfield of Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Often defined as a more formal, emotional, or poetic way of speaking, “heightened language” frequently features words that are chosen for their sound and power, not just their meaning. Among the many playwrights Paul and Jacqueline discuss are Lorraine Hansberry and August Wilson.

Professor Springfield is a professional actor, director, and instructor of acting, voice, speech, and dialects. She has been based in New York for the last nine years and has just relocated to the Metro Atlanta area. Her teaching credits include: The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NY), The Black Arts Institute at Stella Adler, New York Film Academy, Brooklyn College, Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts, Montclair State University, University at Albany, Wildwind Performance Lab at Texas Tech, The Kennedy Center, and The American College Theatre Festival.

Her professional dialect coaching credits include: True Colors Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, American Players Theatre and Pittsburgh Playhouse. She holds a master of fine arts degree in acting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a certified associate instructor of Fitzmaurice Voicework. Jacqueline is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, and she continues to work as a performer in film, television, theatre, and voiceover. For more information, visit her website.

The YouTube clips played in this podcast are used under the copyright doctrine of fair use. The complete copyright information on each clip is listed at the end of the podcast. For the full Raisin in the Sun clips, go here and here. For the Fences clips, click here and here. For the clip from The Mountaintop, go here. And for the clip of Marcus Gardley, go here.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

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