Faedra Chatard Carpenter centers the representation of theatrical whiteness within her chapter through analyses of the plays of four playwrights: Adrienne Kennedy, Douglas Turner Ward, Lydia Diamond, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Although the dramas studied by Carpenter chronologically range from Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964) to The Bluest Eye (2006), which reveal a contemporary engagement with ideas of race and embodiment, the author opens her chapter by noting that critical whiteness studies has a long history within African American communities. She memorably writes, “black folks have been analyzing White folks for quite some time.” The novel contributions of her chapter are her emphasis on how the critical evaluation of whiteness by Black artists is part of African American theatre, and her reminder of the power of theatrical spectacle to engage with issues of race.

On screen Bette Davis captivates James Baldwin. Baldwin is unsure what to make of her, except that he recognizes a kinship between the two of them and he is not alone in finding himself in Bette Davis’ eyes. What to make of this fascination with Davis? This essay parses the affective currents that flow between Davis, Baldwin, and the playwright Adrienne Kennedy, using the frameworks of camp and melodrama. Both affective genres build identification through excess and exaggeration – camp hyperbolizes style while melodrama amplifies feeling. These queer forms attach to Davis in different ways, revealing identificatory strategies for coping with the unhappiness of minoritarian subjectivity while simultaneously revealing the vacuum that lies at the heart of this excess.