SOYICA DIGGS COLBERT is an associate professor of African American studies and theater and performance studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is the author of The African American Theatrical Body: Reception, Performance and the Stage. ROBERT J. PATTERSON is an associate professor of African American studies and English at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he also directs the African American Studies program. He is the author of Exodus Politics: Civil Rights and Leadership in African American Literature and Culture. AIDA LEVY-HUSSEN is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of the forthcoming book, How To Read African American Literature: Post-Civil Rights Fiction and the Task of Interpretation.