THE EMERGENCE OF A CARIBBEAN AESTHETIC
The role of Africa and its New World manifestations by Caribbean artists, writers and intellectuals in the 1920s, particularly as these expressions contributed to major political and social changes.
Errol Gaston Hill (1921–2003) was a playwright, theatre historian and former John D. Willard Professor of Drama and Oratory (Dartmouth). Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he championed the creation of a theatre reflecting Caribbean popular culture and published many articles, plays, essays, monographs, and books. His published plays include Man Better Man (1964), Dance Bongo (1966) and Strictly Matrimony (1971). Hill also edited several volumes of black and Caribbean plays, as well as authored many articles on Caribbean drama. His major books include The Trinidad Carnival: Mandate for a National Theatre (1972), Shakespeare in Sable: A History of Black Shakespearean Actors (1984), The Jamaican Stage, 1655-1900: Profile of a Colonial Theatre (1992), and (with James Hatch) A History of African American Theatre (2003). Hill was presented with the Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History in 1985.