National Black Arts Festival News

Cal State Fullerton’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present “Urinetown the Musical.” With music by Mark Hollmann and lyrics by Greg Kotis,“Urinetown” is directed by Collette Rutherford, with musical direction by Michelle Do and choreography by Tula B. Strong.

The Muny has revealed the teams of directors, choreographers and music directors for its 2024 season. Learn about the shows this season and see how to purchase tickets!

The National Center for Choreography - Akron (NCCAkron) announces the fifth cohort of their Creative Administration Research (CAR) program. The program supports U.S. dance artists and challenges traditional models.

Artistic Director Marti Lyons and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, currently presenting the world premiere of Jessica Dickey's Galileo's Daughter through May 14, have announced its 2023 - 2024 season.

The World Premiere of ALI will be presented in Ali's hometown of Louisville, at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, in Fall 2024. Learn more about the show here!

McCarter Theater will welcome audiences to Pearl Cleage's love letter to friendship and the Harlem Renaissance, BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY, on stage in the Berlind Theatre May 6th through the 28th. The play marks the McCarter directorial debut of Associate Artistic Director Nicole A. Watson. 

NBAF have announced their 2023 Black History Month Program, The Living Word: A Celebration of African American Theatre.

The Guthrie Theater today announced the cast and creative team for Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage, directed by Nicole A. Watson. Blues for an Alabama Sky will play January 28 – March 12, 2023, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

From January 17 through May 24, Imagining Digital features seven online events, as well as the continuation of Imagining: A Gibney Journal, a bimonthly online publication. Black Diaspora, a virtual, peer support program serving up-and-coming, Black and Afro-Latinx-identified dance and performance artists from various cultural backgrounds and aesthetic traditions, also continues February 11 – June 12 with nine sessions, including co-presentations in the 2023 BlackLight Summit.

In the spirit of Sankofa, in order to understand our present and ensure our future, we must know our past. Through Reframing the Narrative, June 14–19 with seven performances on the Opera House stage, the weeklong programming highlights and recognizes the extensive contribution of Black voices in ballet.

Broadway might be dark, but that doesn't mean that theatre isn't happening everywhere! Below, check out where you can get your daily fix of Broadway this weekend, January 23-24, 2020.

Presented in partnership with B.L.A.C.T ATL, Inc., Black Theatre and the Black Lives Matter Movement will center on the role of Black theatre companies in shaping, influencing, and amplifying the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the role that Black theatre companies have historically played in giving a voice to civil rights.

Atlanta based singer and songwriter, Brenda Nicole Moorer, gathers 20 millennial artists to create and explore the next generation of jazz through a new lens. The resulting project is a 10 song concept genre bending jazz album entitled MARROW.

The Stage Managers' Association has announced its annual Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management.

Quick Silver Theater Company (QSTC) presented a staged reading of Pearl Cleage's latest play Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous, featuring Crystal Fox (A Fall from Grace, 'Big Little Lies,' Burden opposite Forrest Whittaker, 'The Haves and Have Nots') as Anna Campbell, Tony nominee and QSTC company member Pascale Armand (Eclipsed) as Precious Pete Watson, Tony nominee Brenda Braxton (Smokey Joe's Café) as Kate Hughes and Two-time Audelco Award winner Marjorie L. Johnson (Coleman Domingo's-Dot) as Betty Samson at the National Black Theatre, 2031 125th Street & National Black Theatre Way (5th Avenue) 10035 on February 20.

Quick Silver Theater Company (QSTC) presents a staged reading of Pearl Cleage's latest play: 'Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous'

From February 27 to March 29, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will celebrate both Black History Month and Women's History Month with an Off-Broadway production of 'Two Can Play' by Trevor Rhone, directed by Clinton Turner Davis, at Castillo Theater, 543 West 42nd Street. In this two-act comedy, Gloria and Jim, a lower middle-class couple in Kingston, try their wildest schemes to escape gun crime and establish residence in the United States. They survive because they learn to communicate and rediscover each other. Playwright Trevor Rhone was the artistic giant of Jamaican theater. The play celebrates the pent-up need for self-discovery and personal development in Jamaican women, a theme which is also universal. Director is Clinton Turner Davis, who helmed the comedy's New York premiere in 1985.

Lil & Louis Armstrong Come to Life in Sarasota

City Winery Chicago has released its schedule (1200 W. Randolph St) for the month. All City Winery Chicago events are open to all ages and start at 8:00 p.m., unless noted.  Tickets can be purchased by calling 312-733-WINE (9463) or by visiting www.citywinery.com/chicago.

The following acts are performing at City Winery Chicago (1200 W. Randolph St) throughout the month. All City Winery Chicago events are open to all ages and start at 8:00 p.m., unless noted.  Tickets can be purchased by calling 312-733-WINE (9463) or by visiting www.citywinery.com/chicago.