black theater
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Infinite Possibilities: Black Love Matters in Christina Anderson's How to Catch Creation
It’s impossible to talk about award-winning playwright Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation without talking about love; specifically, black love. In its world premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre on Monday, Anderson’s multigenerational drama introduced six black characters whose love stories span almost a half century and explore the myriad and unique ways in which we…
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An Unexpected Adonis: Actor William Jackson Harper Has Found His 'Good Place'
By now, perhaps you’ve heard the name William Jackson Harper. For those of you who unfamiliar with him, allow me to offer this introduction: William Jackson Harper is best known as the actor who plays Chidi Anagonye—an indecisive, neurotic philosophy professor—on NBC’s The Good Place. After a decade of paying his dues on and off-Broadway,…
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Rising Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Addresses Backlash Over Controversial Slave Play
Much to the chagrin of the many detractors who were in an uproar about last month’s world premiere of Slave Play, the controversial drama’s creator is getting the last laugh. It’s bittersweet, though. Jeremy O. Harris found his critically acclaimed pet project at the center of a firestorm on the heels of opening at the…
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African, American: Danai Gurira Hits Home with Her Latest Play, Familiar
An elegantly appointed middle class living room in Minnesota, punctuated with poinsettias and a wreath to celebrate the holidays—plus the rare (and oft-disappearing) piece of African art. Frankly, it could’ve been my childhood home in the same Midwestern state, but instead, it is the setting of Danai Gurira’s Familiar, an emotional family dramedy that explores…
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Review: Dael Orlandersmith's Lady in Denmark Bears the Strange Fruit of Billie Holiday's Legacy
When Dael Orlandersmith said she wanted to write a play about a Danish white woman who loved Billie Holiday, people balked. Why would a black female playwright who has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her meditations on race, colorism and culture want to … well, write outside of her race? “I said, ‘Why can’t…
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Telling Untold Stories: Playwright and Performer Dael Orlandersmith Gets Under Our Skin
A community in the aftermath of unrest. The painful legacy of abuse, as experienced by black boys and men. The intimately insidious effects of colorism. The remembrance of a life lived and love lost, inspired by a chance encounter with a famously tragic jazz singer. Playwright and actor Dael Orlandersmith’s particular skill is to tell…
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Broadway Star Uses His Platform to Bring the Arts to At-Risk Students
It’s back-to-school season, but not all students have access to art programs especially under the current administration. Actor, singer and activist Bryan Terrell Clark wants to change that. He currently stars as George Washington in the award-winning, hip-hop-influenced musical, Hamilton, and has co-created InDEFINED to help expose more young people in disenfranchised communities to theater…
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Colorism and the Legacy of Plaçage: The House That Will Not Stand Revisits a History Still Relevant Today
Seven women, a segregated society, and an age-old means of survival. That’s the pretext behind the play The House That Will Not Stand, now in production at the New York Theatre Workshop in New York City. Written in 2014 by Marcus Gardley (whose credits include Showtime’s The Chi) and inspired by The House of Bernarda…
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2018 Tony Awards: Black Excellence Takes the Stage and Once on the Island Has a Big Win
For lovers of theater, there is no bigger night during the year than the Tonys, which celebrated their 72nd annual ceremony at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday. Among others, Denzel Washington, Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry, previous Tony winner (for The Color Purple) LaChanze and director George C. Wolfe were all up…
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A Hero’s Journey: Father Comes Home From the Wars Is a Reckoning with American History
A war. A hero. A conflict. A journey. These are the components of any timeless tale, dating as far back as the ancient Greeks. In fact, they are the prototypical “hero’s journey,” as epitomized by the second-oldest known Western text in history, well-known to many high school and college literature students as Homer’s The Odyssey.…