A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. A related form, the "closet screenplay," developed during the 20th century.

Form[link]

Any drama in a written form that does not depend to any significant degree upon improvisation for its effect can be read as literature without being performed. Closet dramas, however, are designed especially for reading and do not concern themselves with stage technique. Featuring little action but often rich in philosophical rhetoric, they are seldom produced for the stage.

The philosophical dialogues of ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Plato were written in the form of conversations between "characters" and are therefore similar to closet drama (for example "Myth about Erotes").

History[link]

Beginning with Friedrich von Schlegel, many have argued that the tragedies of Seneca the Younger in the first century AD were written to be recited at small parties rather than performed. Although that theory has become widely pervasive in the history of theater, there is no evidence to support the contention that his plays were intended to be read or recited at small gatherings of the wealthy. The emperor Nero, a pupil of Seneca's, may even have performed in some of them. Some of the drama of the Middle Ages was of the closet-drama type, such as the drama of Hroswitha of Gandersheim, or dialectical works such as The Debate of Body and Soul or the Interludium de Clerico et Puella.

Fulke Greville, Sir William Alexander, and Mary Sidney wrote closet dramas in the age of Shakespeare and Jonson. Thomas Killigrew is an example of a stage playwright who turned to closet drama when his plays could no longer be produced; he was in exile from England during the English Civil War. The period of the Civil War and the Interregnum, when the public theatres were officially closed (1642–60), was perhaps the golden age of closet drama in English.^[1] John Milton's play Samson Agonistes, written in 1671, is another example of early modern drama never intended for the stage.

Closet drama written in verse form became very popular in Western Europe after 1800; these plays were by and large inspired by Classical models. Faust, Part 1 and Faust, Part 2 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among the most acclaimed pieces in the history of German literature, were written as closet dramas. Nonetheless, both plays are often performed onstage today in Germany and France. Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as a host of other figures, also devoted much time to the closet drama. The genre also influenced other forms of literature and theatre; the portions of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick that are in dialogue form are at least a casual allusion to closet drama. Some of the poems of William Butler Yeats are in dialogue form, suggesting a similar inspiration (though Yeats was not fond of closet drama). The austerity of many of the plays he wrote for the Abbey Theater derives largely from his study of Japanese Noh drama; their closest analogue for contemporary Europeans, however, would have been the Romantic closet drama.

The popularity of closet drama at this time was both a sign of, and a reaction to, the decline of the verse tragedy, so popular during the Neoclassical period, on the European stage in the 1800s. Popular tastes in theater were shifting toward melodrama and comedy, and there was little commercial appeal in staging verse tragedies (though Coleridge, Robert Browning, and others wrote verse dramas that were staged in commercial theaters). Playwrights who wanted to write verse tragedy had to resign themselves to writing for readers, not actors and audiences. Nineteenth-century closet drama became a longer poetic form, without the connection to practical theatre and performance.

Robertson Davies called closet drama "Dreariest of literature, most second hand and fusty of experience!" However, many closet dramas were written in Victorian times and afterward. Closet drama continues to be written today, although it is no longer a very popular genre.

References[link]

1. ^ Randall, Dale J. B. Winter Fruit: English Drama 1642–1660. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1995.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.

A baby mama (also baby-mama and baby-mother) is generally defined as a mother who is not married to her child's father, although the term is often used with other meanings as well.

Definition[link]

Originally, the term was used by the fathers of children born out of wedlock to describe the mothers of their children, but the term is now in general use to describe any single mother. Since entering currency in U.S. tabloids, the terms baby mama and baby daddy have even begun to be applied to married and engaged celebrities.^[1]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines baby mama as "the mother of a man's child, who is not his wife or (in most cases) his current or exclusive partner".^[1]

Peter L. Patrick, a linguistics professor who studies Jamaican English, has said of the terms baby mother and baby father, "[they] definitely imply there is not a marriage—not even a common-law marriage, but rather that the child is an 'outside' child".^[1]

The term "baby-mother" in Jamaica is most often used to describe any pregnant woman or any woman with a young child. For example on a crowded bus you may be admonished to give the "baby-mother" a seat. However in this case no judgement is being made about her marital status and literally means "the mother of the child".

Usage[link]

In news[link]

The term originated in Jamaican Creole as "baby-mother" (pronounced [ˈbebi ˈmada]), with the first printed usage appearing in the Kingston newspaper, The Daily Gleaner in 1966.^[1][2] Another Daily Gleaner use dates from November 21, 1989.^[2]

On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Fox News Channel used the phrase "Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama's baby mama" in an on screen graphic in a discussion as to whether U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, was being unfairly criticized. A senior vice president of programming at Fox said in a statement that a producer "exercised poor judgment" during the segment.^[3]

In music[link]

Baby mother and baby mama had entered wide use in American hip-hop lyrics by the mid-1990s.^[1] The Outkast song "Ms. Jackson", released in 2000, was dedicated to "all the baby mamas' mamas". American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino released a song entitled "Baby Mama" in 2004. Planet Earth, an album by Prince released in 2007, features a song called "Future Baby Mama".

In film[link]

In 2008, Universal Pictures released a comedy entitled Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Poehler plays a woman Fey hires to be her surrogate.

See also[link]

References[link]

Iman Shumpert

Iman Shumpert in a game against the Atlanta Hawks
No. 21 – New York Knicks
Guard
Personal information
Born	(1990-06-26) June 26, 1990 (age 22) Oak Park, Illinois
Nationality	American
High school	Oak Park and River Forest HS (Oak Park, Illinois)
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
College	Georgia Tech (2008–2011)
NBA Draft	2011 / Round: 1 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the New York Knicks
Pro career	2011–present
Career history
2011–present	New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2012) All-ACC Second Team (2011) ACC All-Tournament Second Team (2010)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Iman Asante Shumpert (born June 26, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Knicks with the 17th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.^[1]

High school career[link]

He was first-team all-state player at Oak Park and River Forest High School and was one of the nation's top 30 seniors. He helped Oak Park and River Forest High School to three conference titles and was named conference MVP as a junior and senior. He was rated No. 15 among the nation's senior players by Scout.com and No. 26 by Rivals.com. Before high school, Shumpert and fellow NBA player Evan Turner were teammates on the same 8th grade basketball team at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park, IL.^[2]

College career[link]

On October 18, 2007, he committed to play for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.^[3] During the 2008-09 NCAA men's basketball season, he was GT's fourth-leading scorer for the season, averaging 10.5 points per game and hitting 34.5 percent of his three-point attempts. During the 2009-10 season, Shumpert underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his right knee on Dec. 3, and missed six games. He ended up the season as GT's third leading scorer, with 10.0 ppg. He was also second in the ACC in steals.

In the 2010-11 season, Shumpert led his team in scoring (17.3 ppg), rebounding, and assists, becoming only the seventh player in ACC history to do so. He ranked fourth in the ACC in scoring, 15th in rebounds, 10th in field goal and free throw percentage, and first in steals (seventh in the nation). He was named to the second All-ACC team and was a member of the conference's all-defensive team. Having impressed scouts with his defense and athleticism, Shumpert opted for the 2011 NBA Draft. Shumpert impressed scouts with his vertical jump, recorded at the combine of 36.5".

NBA career[link]

Shumpert was drafted with the seventeenth overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. Teammate Jared Jeffries said that "he’s about as good an on-ball defender as there is in the league right now".^[4] Shumpert was selected to participate in the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest, but was unable to due to a knee injury.^[5]

On April 28, 2012, during a first round playoffs game against the Miami Heat, Shumpert suffered a knee injury while dribbling in midcourt. He was immediately helped off the court. An MRI later revealed that Shumpert tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee and would miss the rest of the season.^[6]

NBA statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]

Personal[link]

Iman Shumpert's father, Odis Shumpert, is an insurance broker. Iman's mother, L'Tanya Shumpert, is an adjunct professor of art and design at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shumpert's CSTV profile
• Profile at rivals.yahoo.com