This paper is an analysis of a project that involved African American middle school students in a drama program that was based on their lives and the stories of their community. Students were trained in performance skills, participated in the development of a script, and then performed the script in local schools. The 10 student participants, 5 males and 5 females, were African Americans with difficulties in school ranging from occasional or perpetual alienation and boredom to disruptive behavior. The drama program was inherently culturally relevant and based on the core values of African American culture. Students were able to recognize themselves and their culture as valued as they became active agents in the construction and expression of knowledge. Students demonstrated a sense of joy and commitment simulated by the empowerment of self expression. A theoretical framework was developed in which the attributes of drama as culturally relevant instruction for African American students releases creativity, engaging the interaction between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. (Contains 1 figure and 66 references.) (SLD)