Kennedy's grandfather was a white and wealthy peach farmer, a fact which Kennedy claims has affected the direction of her work. In the early 1960s, Kennedy traveled to London and then Africa where she saw an African mask that she has claimed changed her outlook on life and her writing. Like Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka and Haki Madhubuti, Kennedy has written many plays and essays based on true stories from throughout her life. A Search for American Character . The relationships among peoples of color and within racial groups are getting more and more compicated.
Theater can mirror society.
But in order to do that theater must embrace diversity. It must include new characters in our human drama that have not been portrayed on our stages. Clearly even white mainstream theater could be more interesting, and more honest, if people of color were integrated into the drama rather than used as walk-on stereotypes. We now have the opportunity to be a part of the discovery of a larger, healthier, more interesting picture of America. I went to Los Angeles as part of this process, to listen to those who had lived through the disturbances and to reiterate their voices in the theater.