National Black Theatre Announces Fall Programming For Its 52nd Season

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT) announces Fall 2020 programming for its 52nd Season, "NBT Beyond Walls: Building The Future Now!" In response to the devastating impact of COVID-19, this season's fall line-up is composed of a series of original commissioned and digitally devised theatrical works that builds upon founder and CEO Emerita Dr. Teer's "A Letter to The Future."

In the midst of all the social unrest and possibility, this season's productions and partnerships examine how we want the future to look, how we can create it now, and who and what we'll find there. Primary partnerships for the fall include the voting non-profit When We All Vote and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama. Additionally, NBT is creating an open call for members of its community to submit their own Letter to the Future and participate in a time capsule to help inspire the future. To submit your response, click here! Submissions close December 31, 2020.

Established during the 50th season, National Black Theatre's program "NBT Beyond Walls" is an opportunity to harness NBT's legacy, pedagogy, and commitment to Black artistry and share it with other institutions, communities and audiences around the world. This fall, on the precipice of a major capital redevelopment, NBT will present four digital productions this fall including several commissions and an radio play from NBT's current I AM SOUL Playwright Resident. To stay engaged with its community, NBT will continue its popular NBT @ HOME series with curated conversations like THE DOWNLOAD, a monthly conversation around current events, NBT's legacy, and visions for the future. Happening every second Thursday of the month starting September 10, THE DOWNLOAD features NBT Co-Curator ChelseaDee, Interactive Social Media Manager Nia Farrell, CEO Sade Lythcott, and Artistic Director Jonthan McCrory.

"This fall is a powerful moment for NBT to empower the artists who help us innovate and imagine a different and new future," said McCrory, Artistic Director. "We have been bombarded with the unfortunate fatal and uncomfortable truth that the system we have been accustomed to is not working. Amplifying a 'salve' is what NBT has been known to do for the last fifty-two years, so let us build the future, NOW! The next generation is waiting, watching, and ready. They are counting on us to make a difference."

Unbought & Unbossed: Reclaiming Our Vote

September 16 - October 28, 2020

National Black Theatre presents Unbought and Unbossed: Reclaiming Our Vote to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification and uplift the local and general elections on November 3, 2020. In partnership with the voting non-profit organization When We All Vote, this digital series is grounded in the dynamic legacy of Shirley Chisholm and features several micro-commissions from Black women artists including Ngozi Anyanwu, Hope Boykin and Mahogany L. Browne. Their multidisciplinary digital works will generate community awareness and conversation around the power of the vote.

Inter//Stellar

October 15-18, 2020

Lead Creator / Director: Ebony Noelle Golden

Presented with New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama

In pursuit of joy, Luna B., Celeste and Natasha share an encounter that may change their lives forever... August 2020. Harlem, NY. Three evenings prior to an unprecedented cosmic event, INTER//STELLAR follows the lives of Luna B. (a chef), Celeste (an artist), and Natasha (an archivist) as they navigate the murky, muddy and mundane cosmologies of toxic social media, mental health ruptures, and the medical industrial complex. Conceived as a digital choreo-ceremony, the work invites these characters, and by extension all of us, to pursue joy, self-actualization and soul(ar) retrieval in a world riddled by spiritual charlatans, shapeshifters, and soul snatchers. Consultants for the development of this concept were Viktor Le. Givens (Creative Consultant, Dramaturg, Look Book Designer) and Paris Weeden (Assistant Director). This show will be devised in collaboration with Tisch Drama students.

Love Is The Message! Joy Is The Revival

October 15-18, 2020

Lead Creator / Director: Jonathan McCrory

Presented with New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama

Inspired by Arthur Jafa's seminal work Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, this new work, Love is the Message! Joy is the Revival., is a digitally devised storytelling experience that examines how powerful love is in this time of much transition, unrest, and death! Through a process of sharing personal stories, lessons, and musings, the ensemble will look at the ways that love shows up in our collective lives to provide, generate, and manifest a message. With joy on the horizon, we will find what can be revived and what our revival will look like. Dominique Rider joins the project as Associate Director. This show will be devised with Tisch Drama students.

Retreat (Radio Play)

November 19-22, 2020

Written by Tracey Conyer Lee

Directed by Zhailon Levingston

When justice fails us, we all do time. From his childhood friend to a dude he's never met, Curtis' life sentence has been placed on us all. Who gets exonerated? Whose appeal is heard? And who chooses solitary confinement? Inspired by a true story, Retreats' concrete walls and barbed wire fencing infest the prison of our minds, of our reactive life choices, and our inability to live free. #FreedomAndJusticeForAll. Presented as part of NBT's I AM SOUL Playwright Residency.

For up to date information about the season please check our website, nationalblacktheatre.org