- Bullins was Born on the 2nd of July 1935 in Philadelphia to Bertha

Queen and Edward Bullins. (mostly raised by mother and Attended

predominantly white schools)
- Life Changing, Stabbed. Crtitics – influence the theamatic
development in earlier plays
- In 1952, drop - navy
- On 1955 - California Los Angeles City college and San Francisco State
college
- In 1965 he joined the creative writing program at San Francisco State
college where he wrote How Do You Do?, Dialect Determinism (or The
Rally), and Clara's Ole Man.
- San Francisco -> Black Panthers eventually serving minister of culture
within the protest group
- Being a member – uplift and educated others through the use of art
- This of course (marked the black arts movment) Black curators
facilitated social progress through work

AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS

- Obie Award for Distinguished Playwriting for The Taking of Miss
Janie in 1975
- In that same year, he won New York Drama Critics Circle Award,
Drama Desk Vernon Rice Award, (4) Rockefeller Foundation
playwriting grants, and (2) National Endowment for the Arts
playwriting grants.
- Black Arts Alliance Award, for The Fabulous Miss Marie and In
the New England Winter. In 1971 (2)

Various Plays
- “Dialect Determinism” (1965)
- “How Do You Do” (1965)
- “The Helper” (1966)
- “It Has no Choice” (1966)
- “How Do You Do” (1965)
- “Mirror Scene” (1966
-
Context and Plot
 - play produced in 1968
- And In bullins words “Play about little men and women with big
dreams”where all characters assume that money is the end goal to life
- Play is set in the 1960’s where a group of characters try to escape a life
of crime, poverty and suffering to move into a new place Buffalo NY
where they can follow their dreams
- However, if should be noted that this “utopia” by which dreams can
flourish never even existed. Black citizens living in buffalo in that
period have the highest employment rate and held less desirable
jobs and received the lowest wages
- Curt plans expedition by masterminding a large drug deal which
inevitably fails, in favor of Art who ultimately takes Curt’s role.
- Art being quite a manipulative character will eventually take Mamma
and Pan to buffalo where he would force them to work as
prostitutions
- In the play the Characters in the play details each of their own
experiences through dialogue and there moments in which they break
out in violence signifying the constant ever pervading tension

Type
- Realism/Melodrama – Real life problems which strong emotions
presented.
-
Drugs and Reliance
- Mamma’s Too Tights addiction to Heroin
- Art’s past traumatic experience with Marijuana
- Constant drinking of beers at apt or mixed drinks at the club

Love and Relationships

- Curt’s constant struggle to find a brother or kinship with Art
- Mamma Too Tight’s Desperation to feel “understood” by someone
(this position is taken by Art but he does it solely to manipulate
- Pan and Curt’s “team” with is full of abuse and harassment of Pandora

Reversal of Roles or Symbols/ Irony

 - Although she’s white Mamma Too Tight becomes the object of
ridicule. As opposed to an African American being the object of
ridicule, Mamma Too Tight serves that purpose. She signifies the
reversal of the stereotypical role of the black comic
- Pan’s Box – in Greek mythology it symbolizes a box which contains evil
things however Bullins reinterprets this meaning as a box which items
by which the holders misuse

Dreams and Aspirations

Repetition/Recurrence
- Various tendencies and actions repeat themselves such as the setting
of the Curt’s apartment with he and Rich playing chess as well as Art
eventually taking up Curt’s role in Pan and Curt’s destructive
relationship filled with abuse

Discussion Questions:
 Is there an intended audience for the play? If there is one, is Bullins
trying to provoke a desired action or tell a story?
 In the description of the play, Bullins suggests that “this play is about
Black people” with “Black players”. How does this idea extend to the
portrayal of “Mamma”, who is a white character? What is Bullins
trying to say by using a white character?
 Bullins provides the ethnicity of each of the relevant characters, yet
states that it is “up to the director’s imagination to match colors to
portrayals”. What does he mean by this? Does this allude to the origin
of Black Theater and what must this stand for?
 How can the cyclical nature of crime and violence in the play be
related to today?
 What Is the true meaning of “Pandora’s Box” in the play