National Black Theatre to Present 2026-2027 Season With AMERICA, WHO HURT YOU? and IMITATION OF LIFE
The five-production season features Sarah Jones, Lynn Nottage, John Legend, and director Whitney White.
Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre has announced its 2026–2027 seasonal theme, Just Beyond the Horizon, which will include a bold slate of premieres, public presentations, and community-centered events that celebrate Black storytelling, and utilize theatre as a tool to gather collectively to heal, address, and explore the pressing social impact issues of our time.
“With this season's theme, Just Beyond The Horizon, we are finding a new dawn, and architecting a new sense of hope,” said Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director of National Black Theatre. “It is with great honor that National Black Theatre is able to stand firmer in our firmament as the destination for Black Culture to be illuminated on the national stage.”
The season will feature the highly anticipated return of Tony Award-winning playwright and performer Sarah Jones with the North American Premiere of America, Who Hurt You?, a timely exploration of American history and identity directed by OBIE winner Eric Ting (The Comeuppance), co-produced with Theatre for a New Audience in association with Foment Productions and Jayson Jackson.
"I've spent my career using humor, empathy, and diverse characters from my real life to help audiences see themselves in one another. America, Who Hurt You? might be my most ambitious attempt yet to examine who we are as a nation and who we might become. To share this work with National Black Theatre — an institution whose legacy is rooted in truth-telling, healing, and liberation — feels profoundly meaningful. I'm thrilled to return to New York and invite audiences into this conversation," said Sarah Jones.
This season will also include the world premiere of Imitation of Life, a new musical, with book by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and music and lyrics by EGOT winner John Legend, directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Whitney White co-produced with The Shed.
"Imitation of Life has endured for generations because it asks timeless questions about identity, ambition, motherhood, and the sacrifices we make in pursuit of the American Dream. As we've reimagined this story for the stage, I've been struck by how urgently these themes still resonate today. It's been a joy to collaborate with John Legend and Whitney White to create something expansive, emotionally rich, and deeply human. I'm thrilled to share this work with audiences alongside National Black Theatre who has worked with us for three years to develop this work, an institution that is committed to pushing artistic boundaries and illuminating the complexities of our shared history," said Lynn Nottage.
"We count it a great honor and privilege as artists to tell stories that connect us to our history while helping us imagine a better future. With Imitation of Life, we have an opportunity to explore themes of love, identity, race, and resilience through songs that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. Collaborating with Lynn Nottage and Whitney White has been incredibly inspiring, and I'm honored to bring this new musical to life with National Black Theatre and The Shed. I can't wait for audiences to experience it,” said John Legend.
“Imitation of Life is a warning and love letter to all dreamers, creators, and those seeking new life and possibility on unknown shores. I feel incredibly lucky to be working in partnership with NBT, a historic institution whose leaders work tirelessly to uplift the Black community, The Shed, which continues to push artistic boundaries, and WJP, the creative force behind some of my favorite shows. I cannot wait for New York audiences to meet Lynn Nottage's ever thoughtful and soulful characters, and to be swept into this luminous world scored with John Legend's brilliant take on Americana. We are so excited to share this with you,” said Whitney White.
Additional programming includes a collection of public presentations of newly commissioned works by early-career playwrights Zola Dee, jeremy o'brian, and Calley N. Anderson. NBT's I Am SOUL Playwright Residence's newly commissioned work [Home] Going, a radio play by 2026 Kesseling Award winner Zola Dee's haunting story about generational memory and healing in the Carolina Sea Islands, directed by Josiah Davis; Egg; or anything dipped in egg gone soften by jeremy o'brian, a sharp contemporary comedy about love, longing, and self-discovery in New York City directed by Sideeq Heard; and The Grioraphet Speaks On Sundays by Calley N. Anderson, a visionary new work set in a post-collapse America where memory becomes an act of survival, directed by Jerrica White. Stay tuned for our social impact visual narrative that will dive deeper into our season theme.
NBT Season Passes will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, July 7, 2026 starting at $200 at www.nationalblacktheatre.org.
2026–2027 SEASON
North American Premiere
National Black Theatre and Theatre for a New Audience
In Association with Foment Productions & Jayson Jackson present
AMERICA, WHO HURT YOU?
Written and Performed by Sarah Jones
Directed by Eric Ting
Limited Engagement
September 11 – September 27, 2026 | Polonsky Shakespeare Center
In a nation divided by competing narratives, who gets to tell the story of America?
Tony Award winner Sarah Jones returns to the New York stage with a virtuosic new solo show directed by OBIE winner Eric Ting (The Comeuppance) that is hilarious, provocative, and deeply human.
Called “a once-in-a-lifetime artist" by Meryl Streep and “a master of the genre” by The New York Times, Jones embodies a remarkable cast of characters spanning 250 years of America's history. Through her singular blend of comedy, storytelling, and transformation, she invites us to reckon with the myths we inherit, the realities we share, and the future we are creating together.
World Premiere
The Shed & National Black Theatre Present
IMITATION OF LIFE
Book by Lynn Nottage
Music and Lyrics by John Legend
Directed by Whitney White
November 21, 2026 - January 3, 2027 | Griffin Theater @ The Shed
Inspired by the 1933 best-selling novel by Fannie Hurst and the beloved 1934 and 1959 Universal films, Imitation of Life follows two single mothers, one Black and one White, as well as their daughters, who build a shared life while each strives for success and love in a society divided by race and class. Set across the vibrant backdrop of 1920s Atlantic City and 1930s New York, this new, profoundly moving musical explores themes of identity, the American Dream, and what we leave for future generations.
National Black Theatre, John Legend and Mike Jackson of Get Lifted Film Co., Liesl Tommy and Jennifer Mudge of Crocodile Eyes, Universal Theatrical Group (UTG), Sue Wagner, John Johnson, Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon of LD Entertainment and The Shed serve as producers.
Public Presentation: Radio Play
[HOME] GOING
Written by Zola Dee
Directed by Josiah Davis
December 10 -13, 2026
Twelve-year-old Presence is on a quest to break a generational curse. For as long as she can remember, “the sadness" has plagued her family, culminating in her mother's latest mental breakdown after the forced sale of their ancestral home on the Carolina Sea Islands. Believing the answers to “the sadness” lie in the past, Presence escapes into the dreamworld, a fluid realm where time and space dissolve. Through this dream-state, Presence journeys back to Reconstruction-era South Carolina to confront her forefather, Ernest, and untangle the history currently unraveling her mother.
Public Presentation
EGG; or anything dipped in egg gone soften
Written by jeremy o'brian
Directed by Sideeq Heard
January 28 -31, 2027
A lovesick songwriter arrives in New York City with a notebook of love songs and a bad habit of choosing men who make him feel small. But when a game night forces him into the same room with his situationship and his gym crush, he must confront the unsettling truth that he might be bringing the poison to the party himself.
Public Presentation
THE GRIORAPHET SPEAKS ON SUNDAYS
Written by Calley N. Anderson
Directed by Jerrica White
Spring 2027
A century has passed since the United States' tech-fueled Icarian collapse. Many new things emerged in its wake, from cults and guerrilla groups to quasi-utopias and mutual aid societies. One presence has outlasted them all: the Grioraphet — a lineage of orators with an enduring purpose of looking back in order to move forward. But, on this Sunday, as the Grioraphet speaks to their gathering of followers, naysayers, and the generally curious, the world as they know it has shifted again, and the legacy of care they've built their life on may no longer exist.
In The Grioraphet Speaks on Sundays, apocalypse & human connection, bunkers & saviors, and past & present all collide as the Grioraphet asks: what becomes of us in an unmade world?
About National Black Theatre
National Black Theatre is a Tony Award and Emmy Award-nominated institution founded in 1968 by the late visionary artist Dr. Barbara Ann Teer. The nation's first revenue-generating Black arts complex, NBT is the longest-running Black theatre in New York City, one of the oldest theatres founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation, and has been included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. NBT's core mission is to produce transformational theatre that helps to shift the inaccuracies around African Americans' cultural identity by telling authentic stories of Black lives. As an alternative learning environment, NBT uses theatre arts as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social issues impacting our communities. Under the leadership of Sade Lythcott, Chief Executive Officer, and Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director, NBT helps re-shape a more inclusive American theatre field by providing an artistically rigorous and culturally sensitive space for artists of color to experiment, develop and present new work. nationalblacktheatre.org.
About Theatre for a New Audience
Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz and now led by Arin Arbus as Artistic Director and Dorothy Ryan as Executive Director, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is a New York home for Shakespeare and other contemporary playwrights. It nurtures artists, culture, and community. TFANA explores the ever-changing forms of world theatre and creates a dialogue between the language and ideas of Shakespeare and diverse authors, past and present. TFANA also builds associations with artists from around the world and supports their development through commissions, translations, and residencies. TFANA's productions have been played nationally, internationally, and on Broadway. In 2001, it became the first American theatre company invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company. In January 2025, Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre presented TFANA's The Merchant of Venice, featuring John Douglas Thompson as Shylock and directed by Arin Arbus. TFANA opened its first home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in the Brooklyn Cultural District in 2013.
About The Shed
Under the leadership of CEO Meredith “Max” Hodges and founding Artistic Director Alex Poots, The Shed is a cultural institution of and for the 21st century. It produces and welcomes innovative art and ideas, across all forms of creativity, to build a shared understanding of our rapidly changing world and a more equitable society. In its highly adaptable building on Manhattan's west side, The Shed brings together established and emerging artists to create new work in fields ranging from pop to classical music, painting to digital media, theater to literature, and sculpture to dance. It seeks opportunities to collaborate with cultural peers and community organizations, work with like-minded partners, and provide unique spaces for private events. As an independent nonprofit that values invention, equity, and generosity, The Shed is committed to advancing art forms, addressing the urgent issues of our time, and making work that is impactful, sustainable, and relevant to the local community, the cultural sector, New York City, and beyond. theshed.org @TheShedNY.
