National Black Theatre Unveils 25-26 Season THE ALCHEMY OF RETURN: REMEMBERING IS A RADICAL ACT

National Black Theatre has officially unveiled its upcoming season. The Alchemy of Return: Remembering is a Radical Act expands on the idea that the future acts as a north star influenced by the impact of the past. 

“Our stories and history are powerful tools against erasure, both as a defense and as a healing force to affirm who we are. Each day, powerful systems try to rewrite our reality and limit our imaginations. This season’s work, curated with love, celebrates the richness of our culture and affirms that our gatherings, our history, and our creativity work as a mechanism to declare a future where we exist fully and freely.” - Jonathan McCrory Executive Artistic Director, NBT 

NBT’s 2025/2026 Season: 

The Peculiar Patriot (co-production with New York Theatre Workshop)

NYTW and NBT Present THE PECULIAR PATRIOT in association with Lena Waithe
Written and Performed by: Liza Jessie Peterson
Directed by: Talvin Wilks
Showing at New York Theatre Workshop starting in May 2026

Inspired by her decades-long work with prison populations, including on the notorious Rikers Island, Liza Jessie Peterson’s timely and urgent one-person show unpacks the human impact of mass incarceration in America. Fearlessly funny, smart and provocative, The Peculiar Patriot traces the migration of systemic injustice from the plantation to the prison yard.

Betsy LaQuanda Ross is a self-proclaimed “peculiar patriot,” who makes regular visits to penitentiaries to boost the morale of her incarcerated friends and family. Betsy is both victim and victor of this country’s prison system and her story turns statistics into achingly relatable stories, drawn from the experience of more than 2.5 million people behind bars. 

The play began development in 2003 with performances in more than 35 penitentiaries across the U.S. and was once again performed for inmates in January 2020 at Angola State Penitentiary. Hi-ARTS and National Black Theatre joined forces to produce the acclaimed world premiere in September 2017, working with more than 10 grass-roots organizations in criminal justice to help empower and inform the community. This touring production premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with National Black Theatre & Hi-ARTS, in April 2019. Peculiar Patriot will travel from Baltimore Center Stage in Fall 2025 to New York Theatre Workshop in Spring 2026.

The Peculiar Patriot team includes Andrew Cissna (Scenic and Lighting Design), Katherine Freer (Projection Design), LaToya Murray-Berry (Costume Design), Luqman Brown (Sound Design), Belynda M’Baye (Props Design) and James Blaszko (Tour Producer).

The Festival in Da Back (Public Presentation)

Written by: Brian Egland
Directed by: Nic Ashe
Hosted by HERE Arts Center from April 8, 2026 through April 12, 2026
Tickets will be available starting March 2026

Brian Egland is a member of the 2022 cohort of National Black Theatre’s I Am SOUL Playwright residency. The Festival in Da Back is a commissioned work born from this residency and Brian worked collaboratively with NBT, between Baton Rouge, Louisiana and NYC,  to develop this work on the heels of the global pandemic. This public presentation marks Brian’s NYC debut as a playwright.

In Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the crawfish capital of the world, they say there’s two festivals: the one out front, and the one in da back. But it’s what happens on the front lawn of 318 Dorset Street that cracks open a family legacy. Ghosts hum through the zydeco, dreams rattle in the cooler, and everyone’s waiting for someone who might never come home. The Festival in da Back is a richly textured, fiercely funny play about who we crown, what we bury, and whether the music that once moved us can still bring us home.

NBT’s 2025/2026 Alternative Learning Events

Inspired by our founder’s belief that we are all life-long learners, Alternative Learning and Social Impact programming is NBT’s unique approach to educating and empowering our community through innovative learning programs that are geared towards all ages. The programs center our healing arts and social impact pedagogy through classes, curated seminars, workshops, professional development opportunities, social impact content, and curriculum. Our practice integrates community-based learning to empower, equip, and enrich the lives of all participants.

Learn to Love Yourself Silent Disco & Portrait Series 
In association with Uptown Grand Central
Dates: Saturday, August 23 and August 30, 2025 | 3pm - 6pm
Taking place at Uptown Grand Central Plaza
FREE EVENT!

"Fall in Love with yourself and have a love affair with yourself. You're the only one who can make yourself happy. You're the only one who can fulfill your life-long joy, Cause nothing can happen to you unless it passes through you." -
Dr. Barbara Ann Teer

A community-oriented event that brings art to Harlem. Named by Timeout New York as one of the city’s Best Things to Do, this family-friendly event will include a silent disco and portrait series, inspired by founder Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s lifelong commitment to her radical belief that love for “our Black selves” can be a concerted mechanism for liberation and eradicating oppression. The 4th annual Learn to Love Yourself series will see the return of Harlem mainstay DJ Stormin Norman handling entertainment, while photographers Salimah Ali (8/23) and Elliot Jerome Browne Jr. (8/30)  will capture portraits of attendees.

Black Theater Advance: A Salon Inspired by Catalyst & the Future of Black Theater

Co-curated and presented with Park Avenue Armory
Date & Time: September 6, 2025 (1pm - 7pm)
Taking place at 643 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065
Tickets are on sale now! https://bit.ly/450ecAT

The one-day salon event Black Theater Advance intends to advance the findings of NBT’s Catalyst program’s most recent iteration, Catalyst: Seeding Permanence for Black Theatre and the New Vanguard. These preliminary findings and critical frameworks provide a jumping-off point for artists, scholars, directors, cultural strategists, and audience members in attendance to imagine what the future of Black performance could be. Anchored by keynote speeches and intimate fireside chats with Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ain’t No Mo’ creator Jordan E. Cooper, and former Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at The Kennedy Center Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the day also includes active working sessions led by award-winning actor and dramatist Nikkole Salter and theatrical ceremonialist, culture worker, public scholar, and entrepreneur Ebony Noelle Golden as well as creative offerings from vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri and multidisciplinary musician Samora Pinderhughes, among others. Salon topics include: how artistic leaders are navigating and reshaping institutions; strategies for sustaining Black theater’s radical potential; building out a Bill of Rights for Black Theater; intergenerational dialogue across artistic and institutional divides; and bold visions for transformation in the field.

Legacy in Layers: The Formation of Our Roots

In partnership with The Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics

Dates: November 13th & November 20th 

 Join the National Black Theatre for an intimate celebration of memory, legacy, and reclamation to use the past to inspire the FUTURE.

This special gathering draws on rare archival artifacts—from digitized manuscripts and photographs to VHS tapes and original Reel2Reels—to spark new ways of envisioning the future, grounded in the rich legacy of NBT’s beginnings. Through our ongoing residency with the Hemispheric Institute, we’ve had the powerful opportunity to carefully unearth and preserve original assets from NBT’s origin story. Over the past two years, this partnership has supported the digitization of 29 archival media items, helping to protect and make accessible vital pieces of Black theater history for generations to come.

Together, we’ll reflect on the enduring power of Black theater, the necessity of collective memory, and the stories that continue to shape our culture today. This work is more than an archival project—it is a call to remember, to re-center the voices of our elders and ancestors, and to honor the lineage that informs our creative future. In a time when book bans and cultural erasure threaten our narratives, this effort helps carve new pathways for study, inspiration, creation, and healing. It ensures that the brilliance of Black cultural memory is not only preserved, but remains a guiding force for what’s next.

Schomburg Centennial: Hidden Figures Recentered

In partnership with The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Date: May 11, 2026

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—a national treasure and world-renowned institution located in the heart of Harlem. Home to more than 11 million items, the Schomburg Center is dedicated to preserving, sharing, and celebrating the richness of Black history and culture.

In celebration of this centennial milestone, National Black Theatre will present a special one-day event featuring five multidisciplinary micro-commissions that uplift the voices and legacies of Black women theatermakers. Drawing from the Schomburg’s expansive archives, each commission will creatively reimagine and respond to the work of a prolific Black woman creator through performance, sound, visual media, and storytelling—illuminating their enduring impact and cultural contribution.