"This small book is a personal account of Tracie Morris' development of her performance work-in-progress, The Impossible Man, about the legendary slavery-era African-American Shakespearean actor, Ira Aldridge. In this engaging essay, Morris, a experimental poet, scholar and performer discusses how her research of rare books and manuscripts at Houghton Library, and other archives, lead to her to the innovative staged theatrical production about Aldridge's legacy, and his daughter composer Amanda Aldridge (a.k.a. Montague Ring). This book was created for the work-in-progress presentation of The Impossible Man at Harvard's Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center"--Publisher's website
