A Decade of Bearing Witness

Adapted from 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today, the 2012 anthology published by The New Press and first staged by The Billie Holiday Theatre in 2015, this production marks a decade of evolution. Now reimagined as Freedom Riders: A Journey With No End in Sight, the work expands beyond its origins to encompass the full spectrum of Black experience, including the urgent realities facing Black Trans lives, the trauma of police brutality, and the haunting persistence of systemic racism.

Etwaroo, who first brought the stories to life a decade ago, frames this iteration as both a memorial and a movement. “Those were moments of protest, prayer, and spiritual reckoning,” she said. “Now, a decade later, these stories must be set free at a time when truth is under assault and history is being erased.”

A Cast of Titans

The star-studded ensemble reads like a roll call of artistic excellence across stage and screen:

• Lisa Arrindell (Disappearing Acts, Saints & Sinners)
• Russell Hornsby (Fences, The Hate U Give, Grimm)
• Billy Eugene Jones (A Soldier’s Play, Purlie Victorious)
• Angelica Ross (Pose, American Horror Story)
• Stephen Tyrone Williams (A Master Builder, The Knick)

Together, they embody the living testimonies of survival, resistance, and faith that define the Black American experience. Their performances are underscored by a live trio of musical brilliance—Arden Altino on piano, Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin, and Divinity Roxx, the Grammy-nominated bassist and former Beyoncé musical director. The trio’s original score, commissioned through Harlem Stage’s WATERWORKS initiative, transforms the stage into a living soundscape of struggle and transcendence.

A Theatre as Sacred Ground

Each performance of Freedom Riders functions as more than a show—it’s a communal gathering. Set inside Harlem Stage’s historic Gatehouse theatre, the production invites audiences to sit within a space built from the bones of the Croton Aqueduct system. This structure once carried life-giving water through New York City. Now, it holds something even more vital: truth.

Previews begin October 7–8, with an invite-only opening night on October 9, followed by public performances and student matinees through October 18. In a powerful gesture of access, Harlem Stage has launched a Buy One, Give One ticket initiative: every ticket purchased helps sponsor a student’s attendance, ensuring that young people have the chance to witness this transformative experience.

The Legacy Continues

Founded in 1983, Harlem Stage has built a global reputation as a sanctuary for artists of the Global Majority. The institution’s mission to center radical artistic freedom, equity, and innovation has fostered generations of groundbreaking talent, including MacArthur “Genius” fellows Kyle Abraham, Bill T. Jones, Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, and Cecil Taylor.

With Freedom Riders, Harlem Stage continues that lineage, proving once again that theatre isn’t just entertainment. It’s testimony. It’s survival. It’s legacy.

Broadway Black celebrates the legacy and future of Black theatre—on Broadway and beyond.

The post Freedom Riders: A Journey With No End in Sight, Harlem Stage Honors 10 Years of Reckoning and Resistance appeared first on Broadway Black.

“This season stands out as one that truly honors Harlem’s longstanding heritage as a cultural trailblazer,” boasted Brad Learmonth, Harlem Stage Director of Programming.  “The artists we are presenting honor, celebrate and understand the legacy they draw from and, because of that firm footing, are creating new forms that will define the future in exciting and lasting ways. We cannot wait to experience their genius and share it with the world.”

Housed at the state-of-the art performance space, Harlem Stage Gatehouse, this season touts a bevy of culturally enriched, historic and enlightening pieces by “visionary artists of color.”

Returning for another season is the popular ongoing series Uptown Nights, giving the audience an opportunity to experience the artists in an intimate context.  The series features producer and DJ Jason King,  jazz trumpeter Christian Scott, soul vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello, “Classic Man” artist Jidenna, a multi-day Prince tribute assembled and led by Grammy Award-winning bassist Ben Williams, and many more.

The theater is thrilled to host a screening and a post-screening discussion of the fascinating documentary Mary Lou Williams: The Woman Who Swings The Band.  “Williams was a woman in a ‘manʼs world,’ a Black person in a ‘whites only’ society, an ambitious artist who dared to be different and struggled against the imperatives of being a ‘star.’”  The film tells the story of one of the greatest jazz musicians whose inspirational story has never been told…until now.

Harlem Stage has also teamed up with the Museum of Modern Art to present the extraordinary exhibit 100 Years In Post Production: Resurrecting A Lost Landmark of Black Film History.  Featuring recently discovered, unedited footage, “this premiere installation stages a close reading of suppressed moments from the struggle for minority access to visual media.”

For over 30 years, Harlem Stage has been one of the nation’s leading arts organizations, achieving this distinction by commissioning, incubating and presenting innovative works by visionary artists of color, and by facilitating a productive engagement with the communities it serves through the performing arts.

For the full schedule and performance information, click here. Tickets and reservations to Harlem Stage are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.HarlemStage.org, or via phone at 212.281.9240 ext. 19/20. 

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Harlem Theater produced the show and commissioned Stew to compose the show.

Co-composed with his long-time collaborator Heidi Rodewal, who also performs, the show pays homage to the great African-American writer and activist James Baldwin.

Written in 1955 “Notes of a Native Song” is collection of, playwright, poet, and social critic, James Baldwin’s essays. Containing 10 of Baldwin’s essays the book discusses race issues in America and Europe.

Stew said Baldwin’s work is embedded so deeply within his DNA that, until I began writing Notes of a Native Song, he was rather unaware of how intimately, if not thoroughly, it had guided his path: from church youth choir to punk rock clubs, from LA to Amsterdam, from Broadway to Harlem Stage, Baldwin was his GPS. During youth his work answered a lot of big questions but the challenges he posed I’m still wrestling with today.

Notes of a Native Song is a cabaret style show consisting of a live collage of songs, text and videos. The show will highlight Baldwin’s brave and activism for airing uncomfortable truths as celebratory events of literature and beauty throughout his career.

Presented in association with the Schomburg Center the show is part of Harlem Stage’s 2015 season and celebrates the 90th anniversary of Baldwin’s birth.

Performances of Notes of a Native Song will take place Friday at 7p.m.and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse.

Get your tickets HERE before it’s sold out!

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