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Black Theatre

The rich tradition and current state of Black Theatre is explored in this content, including discussions analyzing contemporary work and pieces honoring trailblazers. Consider starting with the Daughters of Lorraine podcast, the Journal series on the state of Black theatre, or the Journal series on Black women in the performing arts.

The Latest

The Virtuosity of Black Storytelling with Tarell Alvin McCraney
Podcast
The Virtuosity of Black Storytelling with Tarell Alvin McCraney
by Jordan Ealey, Leticia Ridley, Tarell Alvin McCraney
6 March 2024
Opening the Channel with Masi Asare
Podcast
Opening the Channel with Masi Asare
by Masi Asare, Leticia Ridley, Jordan Ealey
28 February 2024
Finding the Individual in Your Digital Choreography Library
Podcast
Finding the Individual in Your Digital Choreography Library
by Tjaša Ferme, LaJune McMillian
15 February 2024
Notes from a Latina at the Black Theatre Conference in Winston Salem, North Carolina
Essay

Notes from a Latina at the Black Theatre Conference in Winston Salem, North Carolina

3 October 2015

PhD candidate Daphnie Sicre writes about her experience presenting at the Black Theatre Conference.

Eyes Wide Open
Essay

Eyes Wide Open

The Potentials (and pitfalls) of Partnership

14 July 2015

Scholars Sonja Arsham Kuftinec and Stephanie Lein Walseth interview Penumbra Theatre Artistic Director Lou Bellamy.

Our Life: The Black Youth Stories, an original production presented at the University of California Irvine
Video

Our Life: The Black Youth Stories, an original production presented at the University of California Irvine

Saturday 6 June 2015
Irvine, CA, United States

 

Our Life: The Black Youth Stories, an original production presented at the University of California, Irvine, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 6 June at 8 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 9 p.m. MDT (Albuquerque) / 10 p.m. CDT (Austin) / 11 p.m. EDT (New York).  

The Long Shadow of Marble Busts
Essay

The Long Shadow of Marble Busts

12 February 2015

Brett Bailey’s Exhibit B poses actors in tableau vivants that nod to 19th century human zoos, and Southwest African concentration camps. Patrick Gaughan charts the controversy around the show and his own experience of it. 

The Gathering 2015: Advocating for Black Female Choreographers in the Contemporary Dance World
Video

The Gathering 2015: Advocating for Black Female Choreographers in the Contemporary Dance World

Sunday 11 January 2015
New York, NY, United States

Camille A. Brown presented The Gathering 2015 livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 11 January at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 7 p.m. EST (New York).

Art in a Complex World
Essay

Art in a Complex World

In Sweet Remembrance at Sweet Briar College

8 January 2015

Geoffrey Kershner, AD of the resident theatre company at Sweet Briar College, considers the complicated intersection of art and our racial history and the responsibility of the artist.

The cast of Take it From Me—Violence Just Don’t Understand.
It Takes a (Tofu Chitlin’) Circuit
Essay

It Takes a (Tofu Chitlin’) Circuit

Defining Community in Youth Theater

8 November 2014

Sydney Chatman is the creator and director of The Tofu Chitlin’ Circuit, a community and youth ensemble training collective based in Chicago’s South Side. Before creating TCC, Chatman worked on productions from Chicago to Broadway, while also teaching at the University of Chicago Charter School. When students she once taught as kindergarteners came to her as teens and said, “Can you train and teach me?” she said, “Yes.”

Photo from The Gospel of Lovingkindness.
Interview with Marcus Gardley
Essay

Interview with Marcus Gardley

24 August 2014

Rebecca Stevens interviews playwright-poet Marcus Gardley on his impacts on the national performing arts community. 

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Is Black Theatre Sustainable? at the National Black Theatre Public Summit
Video

Is Black Theatre Sustainable? at the National Black Theatre Public Summit

Thursday 7 August 2014
New York, NY, United States

The National Black Theatre presented their Public Summit, Is Black Theatre Sustainable?: From Sustainability to Collectivity, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 7 August at 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. EDT.

Catalyst is Coming!
Essay

Catalyst is Coming!

A National Convening of Black Theaters

3 August 2014

Carmen Morgan shares insight into the relevancy of Catalyst, a national convening of black theatre.

Friday Phone Call # 68
Podcast

Friday Phone Call # 68

Catalyst gathering at the National Black Theatre

1 August 2014

Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theater artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots. This week, David talks with three people involved in the Catalyst gathering at the National Black Theatre: Jonathan McCrory, Sade Lithcott, and Deadria Harrington.

Friday Phone Call # 62
Podcast

Friday Phone Call # 62

janera solomon of Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh

30 May 2014

Listen to weekly podcasts hosted by David Dower as he interviews theater artists from around the country to highlight #newplay bright spots. This week: janera solomon, the Executive Director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh.

2014 NoPassport Theatre Conference at LSU in Baton Rouge
Video

2014 NoPassport Theatre Conference at LSU in Baton Rouge

Saturday 29 March 2014
Baton Rouge, LA, United States

NoPassport and Louisiana State University Department of Theatre presented the 8th annual NoPassport Theatre Conference—Dreaming the Americas: The Diasporic Imagination livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 29 March 2014. In Twitter, use #3030NP to participate in online conversation.

Portrait of Amiri Baraka.
A "Ballot or Bullet" Art
Essay

A "Ballot or Bullet" Art

The Legacy of Amiri Baraka

24 February 2014

In his autobiography, Amiri Baraka, born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934, describes a stunned moment of self-discovery after reading a poem in the New Yorker. Baraka, then a 22-year-old aspiring poet, is confronted with a vast gulf between his reality and the sentiments and aesthetics of the poem, not to mention that of the New Yorker itself.

Jones-Ly with Baraka.
Dinner with Amiri Baraka
Essay

Dinner with Amiri Baraka

12 February 2014

Before I was a mother, I was a mini-revolutionary. I say was, because I currently feel as if my politics are lost in a world of Elmo and potty-training... That is another story for another post, but after the loss of such a great writer in early January, I have been trying to form the most appropriate words to honor a man whose work encouraged my own in the theater and a man who later encouraged me personally, Amiri Baraka.

Still from The Dutchman.
In Memory of Amiri Baraka
Essay

In Memory of Amiri Baraka

10 February 2014

Amiri Baraka’s work taught me that as an artist you could be brash, political, irreverent, and even obnoxious if you liked. Baraka’s words could take the audience by the throat, pour gasoline down their gullet, and laugh while striking a match. "Dutchman" is raw, violent, earth shattering, controversial, and politically arresting.

Entrance to the National Black Theatre.
The Real Danger
Essay

The Real Danger

A Movement for Black Liberation Theatre

27 January 2014

The real danger in building a rigorous, black liberation theater movement is rooted in the reality that the powers that be won’t be able to contain it on stage or anywhere else. Why? Because the "rehearsal of the revolution" will cease and the revolution in the streets, hearts, minds and sensibilities of the people will begin. It will be a new day.

The New Play Map.
Conversation with Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury
Essay

Conversation with Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury

21 January 2014

The following is a conversation with playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury for the Boston production of "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation about the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915" which is a current co-production between Company One and ArtsEmerson.

Poster for the American Century Cycle.
August Wilson Takes New York
Essay

August Wilson Takes New York

19 November 2013

Patrick Maley examines the 2013 readings of August Wilson's American Century Cycle, presented by The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR in New York.

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Free Southern Theater's 50th Anniversary
Video

Free Southern Theater's 50th Anniversary

Friday 18 October and Sunday 20 October 2013
New Orleans, LA, United States

Junebug Productions in New Orleans presents Talkin' Revolution, a four-day gathering to celebrate and honor the 50-year legacy of Free Southern Theater livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 18 October and Sunday 20 October 2013. In Twitter, use hashtag #howlround and direct comments @JunebugNoLa. Additionally, follow @HowlRoundTV for updates about livestreaming events.

Poster for Free Southern Theatre.
Talkin Revolution
Essay

Talkin Revolution

Free Southern Theater Then and Now

16 October 2013

Michael Moore talks about finding the spirit of Free Southern Theatre in Junebug Productions, and his awaking of the urgency found in the community for socially activated theater.  

Logo for Camden Repertory Theatre.
Projects, Plays, and Bobby Flay in New Jersey
Essay

Projects, Plays, and Bobby Flay in New Jersey

8 October 2013

Desi P. Shelton looks at how she ending back at home in Camden, NJ challenged her to start her own theatre company to illuminate the experiences around her.

Creating from the Vanguard
Essay

Creating from the Vanguard

State vs. Zimmerman

26 July 2013

Keith Josef Adkins recounts the verdict of Mark Zimmerman's trial, discussing how New Black Fest commissioned playwrights across the country to write ten-minute plays addressing race and privilege.

Banner ad for Penumbra Theatre Company.
Creating Culture Warriors
Essay

Creating Culture Warriors

My Internship with Penumbra’s Summer Institute

3 July 2013

Jeff Freeman details his experience of interning with Penumbra Theatre.

Event banner ad for the play Beneatha's Place.
Expanding the African American Narrative panel at A Playwrights' Convening at CENTERSTAGE
Video

Expanding the African American Narrative panel at A Playwrights' Convening at CENTERSTAGE

Wednesday 15 May 2013
Baltimore, MD, United States

CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore presented a discussion with playwrights on “Expanding the African American Narrative,”livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 15 May 2013 at 3:45 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 5:45 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6:45 p.m. EDT (Baltimore) / 22:45 GMT / 11:45 p.m. BST (London). View a conversion into your local time.