The acclaimed theater, The Apollo, among a long list of grant recipients.

The grants, totaling $47.1 million, include new investments and measures to support the city’s nonprofit cultural sector as it continues to struggle through the pandemic. These include allocating funding to hard-hit BIPOC communities and supporting arts education programs.

The department also announced that those receiving funding this upcoming year will also be receiving funds in 2022 of a similar amount, pending final budgets. NYC really has been leading the way in America when it comes to actively working to protect and support its citizens. Not perfect, by any means, but as always, a win for any black group is a win for us all. 

Look below for a larger list of NYC arts organizations impacted. 

Up to $9,999

LAByrinth Theater Company

League of Professional Theatre Women 

Negro Ensemble Company

$10,000 – $19,999

Bedlam

Harlem9

The New Group

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

The Shed

Sing for Hope

$20,000 – $49,999

Bushwick Starr, Inc.

National Black Theatre

Primary Stages Company

The Vineyard

$50,000 – $99,999

Ars Nova

Atlantic Theater Company

MTC

New Dramatists

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

Second Stage Theatre

The Tank

$100,000+

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Apollo Theater

La MaMa

New York Theatre Workshop

New York Philharmonic

Playwrights Horizons

Roundabout Theatre Company

Signature Theatre Company

Repertorio Espanol

St. Ann’s Warehouse

TDF

The post Money Moves: Several Black Arts Organizations to Receive NYC Grant appeared first on Broadway Black.

In the first month of the year, our imagination has its most powerful opportunity to help us grow beyond the limits of what we know. It’s in this month that we create vision sessions, we cast spells of affirmation, we seek to look at 366 days as stepping stones to manifest our dreams. However, have we really cleared the deck for this manifestation? Do we understand what growth really requires?

Drew has asked me to do something of great honor– to write a love note to this community about leaning into growth. To take time to think about the seeds I want to be sown for this community that I love; that I have personally invested so much time and energy in helping to evolve and empower. I think he is hoping I will provide us a salve of love to possibly be the foundation we root our existence in this year. So with this space, I hope to do justice to the honor of this request, to download my felt wisdom into words. 

To acquire the space of growth, this year has already shown me that the skeletons buried deep within my closet, deep within the crevices of my psyche, have to be purged in order to honor my vision for the future. This year, a year christened with the pregnant possibility of providing 20/20 clarity, is the year to lean into the concept of divine vision. To manifest this vision will require the discomfort of our dreams turning into flesh, the discomfort of our ambition raising our shine, the discomfort of our grace to allow ourselves the space to shift from surviving to thriving. I am asking us to change the lemons into lemonade and lean into our growing edge of becoming not just the humans we have sought to be externally yet honoring our internal power, wisdom, and intuition within. This is the year we can build muscle by first tearing the tissues that will eventually strengthen the core. We should really be sore this year and enjoy that good pain which serves as a reminder that we are ALIVE and growing.

I also know we must, as my pastor said so beautifully, “build an altar of testimonies that we walk past every day” to remind us of the victories we have lived through. And what an alter this community can assemble! What is love if not the way this community rallied to fortify the vulnerability shared in Donja Love’s work? Or the way the community shared their grief, memory, and love of Christine Jean Chambers? Or any time we show up to celebrate someone’s Broadway debut on a show as old as Lion King or as fresh as A Soldier’s Play? The way we champion each other is a miracle; it is a testimony that we are bigger than our individual parts, or followers we have on social media, or positions we helm. And we will need to lean into that found love to get through these unknown days. We will need a flame to guide us. You are the keeper of that flame. This year will test its resilience and I am asking that you all lean into the needs she requires so we can have a lighthouse to guide us in the midst of the fog.  

Together through individual acts of tending to our own needs, WE collectively transform. So what dreams have you let go rotten? What ideas are waiting to be birthed by your courage? If you can allow yourself to lean into the growth,  if you can allow your love testimony to guide your next footsteps as we head into the days of new beginning laden with discomfort, then we the children of ancestral wisdom, we the creators, the producers, the manifestors, the conjurers, the truth-tellers, can change, pivot and manifest the vision of a life we want now! Yet we must first lean into growth required.

The post Lean in… 366 days, not just 31! appeared first on Broadway Black.

Dead and Breathing explores morality, mortality, and the controversy of the right to die with dignity through the relationship between rich, elderly, and terminally ill “Carolyn” and her feisty, Christian nurse “Veronika.” “Carolyn” has been in hospice for too long: she’s miserable, cantankerous and just wants to die. In a ploy to convince Veronika to participate in the assisted suicide, she offers her mansion and fortune as an incentive.

Hutchinson, a veteran writer for the Blue Man Group and the New York branch of the Neo-Futurists, was influenced to explore these topics because of challenges that impacted her personal life. She started writing Dead and Breathing shortly after taking care of her own mother, who was dying of uterine cancer. In an interview with NPR, she revealed that her struggles with multiple sclerosis forced her to consider end-of-life issues.

“I wonder if I’ll ever get to a point, or if I’m incapacitated in such a way, that will just make life seem not worth it,” she said.

The New York premiere of Dead and Breathing will be directed by Jonathan McCrory and will star Lizan Mitchell as “Carolyn” and Nikki Walker as “Veronica.” The play begins previews on October 28 and opens with a gala on November 2. It will run through November 23.

National Black Theatre was founded in 1968 in the heart of Harlem by the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, an award winning, visionary artist and entrepreneur. It is among the oldest Black theaters in the country, and also among the longest owned and operated by a woman of color. Since its founding, the theatre has produced over 300 original theatre works that have toured the U.S, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, and Asia. It has garnered over 45 AUDELCO Black Theatre Excellence Awards and received a CEBA Award of Merit for the award-winning production of “Legacy: Memories of the Gospel Song” that aired on CBS in 1988.

For more information about the National Black Theatre and Dead and Breathing, visit here.

Read more about playwright Chisa Hutchinson.

The post Dead and Breathing Set for New York Premiere appeared first on Broadway Black.

Kelley’s latest play follows “Sarah” as she begins a journey to sort out her family history and in the process she traces the lives of three generations of women “through music, memory, and magic.”

In a recent interview, Kelley revealed that the play’s unique name came about during a dream that she had several years ago.

“I woke up and had this phrase in my head: ‘For Her as a Piano.’ I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know what it was supposed to be, but I wrote it down and kept it in the back of my mind.”

Ilesa Duncan directs the play with music composed by Jaret Landon and is being produced in association with The Goodman Theatre and Chicago Dramatists. The cast features Toya Turner as “Sarah” along with Nadirah Bost, Dushon Brown, Toni Lynice Fountain, Nicole Michelle Haskins, Monette McLin, and Camille Robinson.

In addition to her critically acclaimed adaptation of Native Son, Kelley has penned plays for Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, and Court Theatre, American Blues, Lincoln Center in New York, and internationally. She was recently awarded a residency at The National Black Theatre in New York City to be a playwright in residence for 2015-17.

As an actress, she was recently nominated for a Hattie McDaniel Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play by the Black Theatre Alliance Awards, Inc. for her work as “Risa” in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. She’s also appeared on television in “Person of Interest,” “Madam Secretary,” “Elementary,” and “Chicago PD.”

Performances of For Her As A Piano are scheduled to run through November 1 and tickets can be purchased here.

The post Nambi Kelley’s Latest Play, For Her As A Piano Opens in Chicago appeared first on Broadway Black.

Among the veteran artists are: playwright/screenwriter Richard Wesley, 70; founding director of New Federal Theatre Woodie King Jr., 78; and actor/director Arthur French, 84. They will share memories and reflections chronicling their rich, artistic lives.

Wesley, associate professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.  His 1971 play The Black Terror, produced at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theatre, was a Drama Desk winner, produced at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theatre. He wrote the screenplays for Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and it’s follow-up Let’s Do It Again (1975), both which starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.  His The Mighty Gents, an Audelco Award winner, premiered on Broadway in 1978, while The Talented Tenth (1989)  was inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1903 article of the same name.

French, an original member of Negro Ensemble Company led by Douglas Turner Ward, made his Broadway debut in Melvin Van Peebles’ Ain’t Supposed To Die a Natural Death. Having films credits with “Car Wash” (1976), Julie Delpy’s “2 Days In New York” (2012) and Spike Lee’s “Red Hook Summer” (2012), French has thrived on smaller stages. He received a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in Peter Norton Space’s 2006 production of Two Trains Running.

King, who founded New Federal Theater in 1970, received Atlanta Black Theatre Fesitival’s 2014 Theatre Legend Award and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2011. His production work has included several installments of Ron Milner’s Checkmates; August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun; Samm-Art Williams’ Home; and Howard Simon’s James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire.

Other artists to be celebrated include: photographer Dwight Carter and founding member of The Last Poets Abiodun Oyewole, 67. Interestingly, Oct. 17 is recognized as National Black Poetry Day. All the featured artists are poets in their own right.

Scott, an actress, director, playwright and cultural historian, has Off-Broadway and regional theater credits that include The Old Globe in San Diego, Yale Rep and Roundabout Theater in New York. She won a Drama Desk Award for her Broadway debut in My Sister, My Sister.

The event starts at 7pm. The National Black Theatre is located at 2031 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10035.

For more information visit the VENUE or EVENT PAGE.

The post Veteran Black Artists Reflect On Artistic Lives In INSIGHT/SECOND SIGHT appeared first on Broadway Black.

Marcia Pendelton

In association with Project1Voice and Harlem Hospital, the free event took place in the Herbert Cave Auditorium of Harlem Hospital Center. Act 1 – entitled “Sip, Shop and Bid” – featured Pendleton’s favorite fashion and accessory designers, with silent-auction proceeds benefiting designated theatre companies. Act 2 – titled “Show Out!” – was 90 minutes of special performances by artists and organizations among the rolodex of Walk Tall Girl Productions.

Featured artists were: Darius Crenshaw; Tony nominee André De Shields (The Wiz, The Full Monty); Eden Duncan-Smith (Fences, The Lion King); Marva Hicks (Motown The Musical); Ebony JoAnn (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom); Jamal Story (Motown the Musical, The Color Purple 2005); and Rema Webb (The Lion King, Violet, The Book of Mormon, The Color Purple 2015). Organizations included: Classical Theatre of Harlem; Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn; Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre; Sounds of Praise of Emmanuel Baptist Church; and The Designers Corner.

Founded in 2000, Walk Tall Girl Productions is a boutique marking, audience development and group sales agency dedicated to bringing diverse audiences to the arts on Broadway and beyond. The company, which specializes in theatre and reaching communities from the African Diaspora, has a client list that includes The Public Theater, The New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, National Black Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Urban Bush Women Dance Company. Productions receiving Pendleton’s services have included: Motown: The Musical; the Debbie Allen-directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Fences (with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis); and Fela!

Born and raised in Philadelphia and now a resident of Brooklyn, NY, Pendelton holds a bachelor’s in sociology (St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia) and a master’s in theatre management (University of Maryland, College Park). She is a member of the Harlem Arts Alliance and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.

The post Walk Tall Girl Productions Celebrated 15 Years With A Taste of My World appeared first on Broadway Black.

Black theatre has long lent its stage to the presentation of these issues. This year, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre in Harlem dedicates its 47th season to “The Policing of the Black Body.”  The mainstage productions include a New York premiere of Dead and Breathing, written by Chisa Hutchinson and directed by Jonathan McCrory. The show, through surprising humor and persistent questioning, investigates morality, mortality and the intense tug-of-war between the right to die with dignity and the idea of life as a gift. Previews for the show begin October 28 and it runs through November 23, 2015.

Look who's opening what's bound to be an explosive season @NatBlackTheatre … http://t.co/cjvQgivINZ

— Chisa Hutchinson (@chisahutchinson) September 9, 2015

Blood at the Root will also make its debut premiere in New York. The show was written by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Steve H Broadnax III, in co-production with HiArts. Blood at the Root has begins previews on April 19  and will run through May 15, 2016. This show was inspired by the events surrounding the “Jena Six,” six black teenagers convicted in the beating of Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, on December 4, 2006. Playwright Dominique Morisseau uses this historical event as a platform to develop the fictitious story that explores the experiences of a group of high school students desperately trying to define themselves and navigate around those who identify themselves differently. When the desire for change erupts within them individually, they find themselves powerless and are thus forced to confront and engage “the other” in order to move their community forward. 

This year’s workshop production runs February 24 – 28, 2016. The play is Zoohouse and was written by Aurin Squire and directed by Ebony Noelle Golden. The play is set in a dystopic future in an asylum for the criminally insane. Zoohouse is a twisted tale about who has narrative authority, where we keep history, and whose lives matter.  The psychological and social, sexual and political, public and private fuel the inmates on a dark and surreal ride toward an explosive conclusion.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody I didn't commit suicide. I was not resisting arrest, I have never owned or used a weapon. I am a non-violent activist

— Aurin Squire (@AurinSquire) July 19, 2015

The post National Black Theatre Probes The Policing of Black Bodies appeared first on Broadway Black.

In addition to visionary, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, the creators of NBT also included Adetunde Samuel, and Fredrica L. Teer; each with an award to be given at the gala. In addition to those three awards, there is also recognition for contributors to NBT and the community.

This year’s Trailblazer recipient is playwright, Dominique Morisseau (Detroit ’67). The Pioneer Award will honor Carmen de Lavallade, Rosalba Rolón, and Sydne Mahone. The Adetunde Samuel Award will go to directors Kwame Kwei-Armah and Kamilah Forbes. Mary Schmit Campbell and Roberta Uno will receive this year’s Frederica L. Teer Award; and the Honorable Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye will receive the Dr. Barbara Ann Teer Spirit Award. Live entertainment for the evening will feature music led by Bert Price, Nsangou Njikam, and Rain Pryor who is currently performing her one-woman show, Fried Chicken and Latkes, at NBT now until June 28.

For tickets and more information about the TEER Spirit Awards Gala and the National Black Theatre, visit www.nbtf.org.

The post The National Black Theatre TEER Spirit Awards appeared first on Broadway Black.

Iterations of this piece have seen great success in L.A., Chicago, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Atlanta, and Scotland as well as being called a NY Times “Critic Pick”. Now, under the direction of Kamilah Forbes, it will make its official world premiere at the National Black Theatre.

Throughout Rain Pryor’s career as an actor, comedian, director, producer, educator, and activist, she has been diligent in being true to who she is and all that she is. Refusing to be defined by industry labels, her unique and impactful voice has won her critical acclaim as well as delighted sold-out crowds nationwide.

One of the exciting things about the presence of this type of production is its rarity. Too often seen in the theater are replications of phallocentric narratives that so seldom allow the presence of those belonging to the “other” and when they are seen, they are all too frequently stereotyped. Pryor explores some of those stereotypes as they appeared in her own family and brings the cultures together to show the unifying humanity. In a time where the voices of women and people of color are still struggling to be heard in this country, Pryor stands out as more than a source of humor or entertainment, she is an artist who educates and heals with plenty of laughs along the way.
The world premiere of “Fried Chicken & Latkes” will run June 2-28 at the National Black Theatre 2031 5th Ave. New York, NY 10035. For tickets and more information visit www.nationalblacktheatre.org

The post Rain Pryor Brings Fried Chicken and Latkes To National Black Theatre appeared first on Broadway Black.

The lastest and final event INSIGHT/SECOND SIGHT: Celebrating the Journey of Women Actresses will take place on March 28, 2015 at 5:30pm.

Conceived and directed by Seret Scott, this event will celebrate the legacy of veteran actress, over 50. The evening will be a special event sharing memories and reflections chronicling their rich artistic lives. Come hear history from the source as these women tell their story. Audiences will get insight into an artistic way of life that is seemingly never acknowledged or articulated. There are many artists whose journeys have not been spotlighted, but their work has been as artistically colorful, rich, scary and enlightening as the stars among us. Join NBT as we salute these living legends

The women whose jounrey will be featured on this wonderful and much needed night of celebration will be Michelle Shay (A Raisin In The Sun, Seven Guitars), Lynda Gravatt (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, King Hedley II) Carol Maillard (Comin’ Uptown, Eubie), Laurie Carlos (For Colored Girls…), Barbara Montgomery (The Tap Dance Kid, AMEN – Television Series) Ebony Jo-Ann (Drowning Crow, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Terria Joseph (Shadowboxer – film w/ Cuba Gooding Jr.), & Seret Scott (For Colored Girls…, My Sister, My Sister)

It is listed as a free event with a suggested donation of 15$. However, as an organization founded and led by a woman, NBT has created the space to celebrate the artistic legacy and impact of Black women in our community. So, the suggested donation, if not more, should be more than feasible for an event of this caliber. Make sure you’re there! It will be more than worth your time to celebrate these women and their journeys. For more information or to RSVP for the event head online:www.nationalblacktheatre.org or call the theatre directly at (212) 722 -3800. See you there!

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