UNDERSIEGE to Present Collective Work of Black Women Voices

National Black Theatre (NBT), in partnership with the Studio Museum in Harlem, will present Undersiege, a collective work centering the voices and experiences of Black women and femmes, on Friday, October 2, from 11:00 AM–12:00 PM at the Studio Museum in Harlem, located at 144 West 125th Street. Free and open to the public, the staged reading of new works is part of Fall of Freedom, a nationwide movement bringing artists, cultural institutions, and communities together through acts of creative expression.

Curated by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Tony Award-nominated playwright and MacArthur Fellow Dominique Morisseau, and directed by Jasmine Brooks, Undersiege was conceived in response to the continued silencing, displacement, and forced departure of Black women and femme leaders across American institutions.

The project emerged from a conversation between Nottage and Morisseau following the resignation of Hana Sharif from Arena Stage and amid a broader erosion of Black femme leadership across sectors. From the dismissal of Black women working in the federal government to the silencing and forced resignations of university presidents, politicians, civil servants, educators and artistic directors, the playwrights felt compelled to respond through a collective act of creative resistance.

After reaching out to more than 30 Black women and femme playwrights, many among the most widely produced and celebrated dramatists in the country, Nottage and Morisseau found that the urgency and concern behind the project were deeply shared. Undersiege brings those voices together in a collaborative work that speaks to the complexity, strength and humanity of Black women and femmes while challenging the forces seeking to diminish or erase them.

'When forces conspire to silence us, there is power in refusing to speak alone,' said Sade Lythcott, Chief Executive Officer of National Black Theatre. 'National Black Theatre is proud to present Undersiege as part of Fall of Freedom and to help catalyze a national gathering of theatres bringing these voices into communities across the country. More than fifty years ago, our founder, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, understood collective creative action as a force for transformation and liberation. Today, this gathering of Black women and femme artists resonates deeply with that legacy.'

Lythcott continued, 'It reminds us that our greatest power has never been our ability to resist what is, but our audacity to imagine and create what could be. Together, we become a chorus: an act of remembering, resistance, and radical possibility. We are not only answering the call of this moment. We are planting the seeds of what lies just beyond the horizon.'

With National Black Theatre leading the national activation, with support from Nottage and Morisseau, Undersiege will extend beyond Harlem through presentations by 13 participating cultural institutions across the country. Each organization will bring the work into its community, creating a growing national chorus against the erasure of Black women and femmes.

Participating Organizations

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.

The Black Rep, St. Louis

Karamu House, Cleveland

The Ensemble Theatre, Houston

The Hansberry Project, Seattle

True Colors Theatre Company, Atlanta

Baltimore Center Stage, Baltimore

Ebony Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles

Company One Theatre, Boston

Crossroads Theatre Company, New Jersey

Detroit Public Theatre, Detroit

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit

Obsidian Theatre, Detroit

Participating playwrights include a.k. payne, Aleshea Harris, Alle Mims, Angelica Chéri, C.A. Johnson, Charly Evon Simpson, Chisa Hutchinson, Christina Anderson, Dael Orlandersmith, Danai Gurira, Dominique Morisseau, Eboni Booth, Eisa Davis, France-Luce Benson, Gethsemane Herron, Goldie E. Patrick, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Jocelyn Bioh, Katori Hall, Kirsten Greenidge, Lisa B. Thompson, Liza Jessie Peterson, Loy A. Webb, Lydia R. Diamond, Lynn Nottage, Mfoniso Udofia, Nambi E. Kelley, Ngozi Anyanwu, Nikkole Salter, Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Pearl Cleage, Sarah Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Suzan-Lori Parks, Tracey Scott Wilson, Zola Dee and Zora Howard.

Fall of Freedom is a nationwide invitation for artists, creators and communities to unite through exhibitions, performances and public cultural events. Taking place October 2–4, 2026, the initiative calls upon cultural organizations across the country to create work that responds to the urgency of the present moment and affirms the essential role of artistic expression.

Event Information

What: Undersiege

Curated by: Lynn Nottage and Dominique Morisseau

Directed by: Jasmine Brooks

Produced by: National Black Theatre and the Studio Museum in Harlem

Date: Friday, October 2, 2026

Time: 11:00 AM–12:00 PM

Location: Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th Street, New York, NY 10027

Admission: Free and open to the public. Must RSVP to gain access.

Registration: Eventbrite

For additional information, visit nationalblacktheatre.org and falloffreedom.com.

About National Black Theatre

National Black Theatre (NBT) 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, is 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 communities. Under the leadership of Sade Lythcott, Chief Executive Officer, and Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director, NBT helps reshape 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 the Studio Museum in Harlem

Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, the Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. The Studio Museum's new home, situated at its longtime location on West 125th Street, opened to the public on November 15, 2025. Designed by Adjaye Associates with Corgan (formerly Cooper Robertson) serving as executive architect, the building—the first created expressly for the institution's program—enables the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.

For more information, visit studiomuseum.org.

About Fall of Freedom

Fall of Freedom is a national call to the artists, cultural workers and leaders across all disciplines to unite on October 2nd, 3rd, & 4th to counter authoritarian repression and censorship through a coordinated wave of creativity as a form of resistance. Fall of Freedom seeks to celebrate and assert the cultures, and artistic voices that form the backbone of a free society.